In Western society there is an obsession, fuelled by pervasive advertising, with hiding the effects of ageing and maintaining skin that exudes ‘youthful
perfection’. Rapid unsustainable purchasing and disposal of mass-produced objects is, in part, driven by ‘cosmetic obsolescence’ - changes to the pristine material surface which are perceived as damage and degradation. We consider the parallels between these attitudes to changes in material surfaces and human ageing, and propose that actively considering future material change in product design could increase product longevity with both environmental and social benefits.
Funding
The authors would like to thank the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council who funded preliminary work which provided the basis for this paper as part of the Closed Loop Emotionally Valuable E-waste Recovery project (CLEVER; EP/K026380/1) and subsequent Impact Acceleration Account ENabling Designers to Understand mateRial changE (ENDURE) project.
History
School
Design
Published in
The Design Journal
Volume
22
Issue
Sup1
Pages
2251-2255
Citation
BRIDGENS, B. ... et al, 2019. Skin deep. Perceptions of human and material ageing and opportunities for design. The Design Journal, 22 (sup1), pp.2251-2255.
Source
13th International Conference of the European Academy of Design (EAD) 2019
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in The Design Journal on 31 May 2019, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/14606925.2019.1595022
Acceptance date
2019-01-07
Publication date
2019-05-31
Notes
This paper was presented at the 13th International Conference of the European Academy of Design (EAD 2019), Dundee, UK, 10-12 April 2019.