I got to thinking about the history of design. I can imagine back when a person hand-crafted a chair or sewed a shirt they may have given thought to the design of the object. I’d assume that unless it was commissioned by a buyer they were far more concerned with utility and construction than aesthetics.

When people were able to make products faster and with less effort I imagine their priorities changed. That’s when capitalism became a factor in the design process– producing more products means they’d likely create inventory. Need keep the selling inventory to make a profit, so they’ve got to produce something that people want to buy. I’d guess the driving factors for consumers would be need, price and/or design.

I’m interested in the moment in history when people started considering how to sell their new mass-produced wares. Specifically, was there a period of time when idea bubbles appeared and people said “Eureka! I will compete in the marketplace with the lowest cost item and design be damned!”

How did it come to be that people choose low cost over aesthetics for products like decorative outdoor fencing? Fake Christmas trees? My personal bugaboo is vinyl siding (and please don’t look to my house as the pinnacle of beauty. Believe me, the moment we have $10,000 it’ll be clad in the most gorgeous Hardy Board.)

Yesterday I was driving down a road of million-dollar houses and saw what I thought might be vinyl fencing. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t. But that’s what got me thinking– if you’re going to have a house that’s a million dollars, it’s kind of incumbent upon you to make it look like a million bucks. You know? Of course you’d have to consider the value of your house when making improvements (who’s going to shell out the big big bucks for your vinyl-clad house?) I’m not so much making an argument about taste. There are plenty of ugly, hugely expensive houses out there. But you can’t go cheap and cheesy with your money–even if your taste isn’t mine.

I really thought I had a good argument going here. But the little voice in my brain is saying that sometimes things are expensive and are really POS [that stands for pieces of S] while other times a lesser price can be just chock full ‘o value. I’m stumped on this one. May I revisit when I have a clearer answer to this personal brain teaser?

Thank you for the free pass. I appreciate it.