Regularly, the phrase "mass-customisation" comes into design journalists' minds. Beginning from web-project like the Nike-ID site where people can customize the appearance of their shoes, to the Freitag bag configurator, people start expressing their individuality not only by choosing a brand (name) but by their own taste.
Nike-ID, costomers can customize their shoes
The customer gets an integrative part of the product's design development. Accordingly, Geoffrey Miller wrote in the August issue of "Icon":
"The key is to put the customer’s tastes and preferences – which reflect their personalities – into the product design loop." (Icon 08 / 2007, page 91)
As a result, the "design-ego" shifts from the creator to the user. Soon people gain much more influence about the product’s design parameter than just choosing some colours.
What's about the architectural world? Usually architects aren't much in favour of sharing authorship – they even deny further changes to their work. Maybe one of the reasons that architects hardly affect the single-family house market?
2 comment(s):
nice idea, but actually also mass producers like nike have their limits when it comes to shared authorship. i guess they would not accept their logo on a different design. try to costumize your nike id's with the word 'sweatshop' (http://shey.net/niked.html). i think also architects should more often refuse authorship on a design they cannot agree with, like lacaton vassal did (http://anarchitecture.blogspot.com/2007/06/ceci-nest-pas-une-anne-lacaton-et-jean.html).
Is this really any different than developers offering buyers the option of "customizing" their homes, with different colour schemes or floor layouts? Is the buyer really involved in the creative process of designing their home or are they just selecting prescribed options?
Check out www.theslowhome.com/blog/outrage/ You may find it interesting.
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