The Substance of Style: How the Rise of Aesthetic Value Is Remaking Commerce, Culture, and ConsciousnessWhether it's sleek leather pants, a shiny new Apple computer, or a designer toaster, we make important decisions as consumers every day based on our sensory experience. Sensory appeals are everywhere, and they are intensifying, radically changing how Americans live and work. The twenty-first century has become the age of aesthetics, and whether we realize it or not, this influence has taken over the marketplace, and much more. In this penetrating, keenly observed book, Virginia Postrel makes the argument that appearance counts, that aesthetic value is real. Drawing from fields as diverse as fashion, real estate, politics, design, and economics, Postrel deftly chronicles our culture's aesthetic imperative and argues persuasively that it is a vital component of a healthy, forward-looking society. Intelligent, incisive, and thought-provoking, The Substance of Style is a groundbreaking portrait of the democratization of taste and a brilliant examination of the way we live now. |
From inside the book
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... design center that cus- tomers can visit to brainstorm and develop new products, inspired by the materials available ... industrial designers and mar- keting people “talk about their dreams.” We enter through humdrum gray offices, walk ...
... industrial designer said of his field , aesthetics is " fundamen- tally the art of using line , form , tone , color , and texture to arouse an emotional reaction in the beholder . " Whatever information aesthetics conveys is ...
... Design is not about the perfect thing anymore , but about help- ing a lot of different people build their own personal identities , ” says an influential industrial designer . Modern design was once a value- laden signal - a sign of ...
... designers is mass customiza- tion . Industrial design guru Hartmut Esslinger ( the source of “ form follows emotion ” ) imagines modularly designed products that could be recombined " to offer 100,000 individual versions , " expressing ...
... industrial designers employed in the United States jumps 32 percent in five years. Design schools are so full of students they can hardly find faculty to staff the courses. “We're seeing design creep into everything, everything,” says ...
Contents
The Rise of LOOK AND FEEL | 34 |
SURFACE AND SUBSTANCE | 66 |
MEANINGFUL Looks | 93 |
The Boundaries of DESIGN | 122 |
SMART AND PRETTY | 164 |
Notes | 193 |
Acknowledgments | 229 |
Other editions - View all
The Substance of Style: How the Rise of Aesthetic Value Is Remaking Commerce ... Virginia Postrel No preview available - 2009 |
The Substance of Style: How the Rise of Aesthetic Value Is Remaking Commerce ... Virginia Postrel No preview available - 2003 |
The Substance of Style: How the Rise of Aesthetic Value Is Remaking Commerce ... Virginia Postrel No preview available - 2004 |