Crocs and aesthetics in design
I was asked at an interview once if I could name something that was very popular despite not being aesthetically pleasing. I had to think about that for a long time because it’s actually very hard to come up with examples of products that fall into this category.
First, aesthetics are very subjective — two people look at an object from two different perspectives. One may love it, another may hate it. For instance, I don’t like the white plastic look of iPods because I think it looks dull and boring, but other people seem to love it because it’s different and trendy.
Second, the popularity of a product will often change people’s perspectives on its aesthetics. Take Crocs, for instance. When they first came out, I thought they were the ugliest shoes I had ever seen and I couldn’t imagine ever actually spending money on them. But now that they have become so popular and you see them everywhere, I find my opinion on how they look changing. Now they seem kind of cool.
In most cases, a product that is not aesthetically pleasing usually makes it big because of the features it offers. Crocs, the Honda Element, MySpace, iPods — all these products share two important features: they are distinctive and versatile. Often people are willing to overlook the fact that a product is not very pretty because it stands out and offers them exactly what they need. This is why I ended up buying Crocs a few months ago — and I love them!
(flickr tag: crocs)
