Aesthetics

Postrel makes several claims in her article about “The Aesthetic Imperative.” The first, most obvious one is that now, more than ever, aesthetics matter. She is arguing that 21^st century humans are not about conformity and utilitarianism, but instead about customization and the appeal of how things look to us. She also argues that just because this is happening, it doesn’t mean that there is a universal opinion on what has good aesthetics, or that everything is beautiful, but simply that we are expecting good design to be used across the board—even in things that traditionally serve as pure function.

The data presented to back up these claims is fairly extensive. She quotes experts like the former president of the Art Center College of Design saying “we are by nature—by deep, biological nature—visual, tactile creatures.” She also provides a personal example of a shopper buying a stylish (and highly priced) iMac computer saying “Aesthetics, whether people admit it or not, is why you buy something.” This is particularly true in the computer buyers’ case because a Dell computer with similar features often costs hundreds less, but lacks any sort of pleasuring aesthetics. In addition, she makes

The bridges she uses are mainly associative. She is saying that these aesthetics are important to us because they bring up deep personal, emotional, and sometimes universal feelings. Most people are universally drawn to the big-eyed Disney animals because they remind us of babies, which we have an innate attraction to. Some of us might like pop music because it reminds us of our youth, but others may appreciate instead the catchy melodies on purely musical terms. She is saying that since we’re such visual and aural people, these things matter to us a great deal.

I think that the visual world is extremely important. I’m one of those people who will pay thousands of dollars for a computer simply because it looks cool, and also someone who values form as almost equal to function. When buying a car how it looks is equally as important as how it drives, and I am happy to have hundreds of different models to choose from to fit my individual style. Style is important to me—and I’m willing to show that with my wallet.