I never gave a thought to products I considered desirable, till I saw this ad for OP-1:
Here is my list of products I consider desirable:
- Apple products
- Eames designed products
- Teenage Engineering’s products
- Kindle
- Dieter Rams’s designed products
- Singgih Kartono’s radios
- Volkswogen Beetle/Camper
- Pixar movies
A pattern I have noticed with them is how little advertising these products have. I would even venture to say desirability is built into their products.
When a product is built with it, there is no need to make it appear desirable. Most products don’t, which is why advertisers think adding people/situations on the screen would some how make prospective customers think the product is desirable. Notice how cereal advertisements have a happy-clappy family eating breakfast together?
Such gimmicks trick customers into buying into an illusion rather than just the product. By using the illusion of attraction, success or happiness the advertisement assures you that you will experience the same when you use it. Usually this works, but when the product is desirable to begin with, this trick stands out – like in the ad above.
Desirable products sell, but designing something so has never been a primary concern for most manufacturers - who look to bolt it on either in the packaging, exterior look, or worse, in advertising. A good side-effect of desirable products is how little effort is required to sell them.
I only hope we can build more such products instead of trying to trick customers into buying sub-par ones.