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NON-OBJECTS: THE STUDY OF MASS-PRODUCED FUNCTIONAL OBJECTS IN THE DOMESTIC ENVIRONMENT

C. L. Soares

Abstract

This article is part of a broader study focused on the perception of functional domestic objects. We propose the analysis of user perception of said objects, through literary revision of key authors and concepts, and also via an enquiry and photographic records of the objects of study in their domestic environment. By promoting investigation of user perception we aim to provide product designers with information and potentially tools which will be conducive to a more informed approach during the design process. “Never have more of us had more possessions than we do now, even as we make less and less use of them. The homes in which we spend so little time are filled with things.” [1] “(…) A deficit in the study and theory of use has long been known without any recognizable professional efforts to close this gap through research and intellectual efforts.” [2] Working towards the concept of non-object, as a category of objects, arose from Marc Augé’s Non-Places book which is central in our research. We wondered if, in a mass-produced world, we could also identify and name a category of objects as non-objects? The revision of key authors and theories by designers, philosophers and social theorists such as Braudillard, Brandes, Norman, Dormer, Merleau-Ponty, Flusser, Sudjic, Dorfles, Thackara, Katz and Lukic, amongst others, help us in our investigation, and support its need, and is instrumental in outlining the scope of the non-object concept.

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/SGEMSOCIAL2017/HB51/S17.047

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