Historicizing Shininess in Design: Finding Meaning in an Unstable Phenomenon

Maffei, Nicolas P.; Fisher, Tom

doi:10.1093/jdh/ept025

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…But regardless of their different hues, saturations and levels of finish, what all tweeted images share is a glowing brightness, as they glimmer on all sorts of screens. Shininess has been associated with the consumerism of capitalist modernity (Maffei and Fisher, 2013), and it seems that onscreen coloured luminescence is a key affective component of contemporary ‘platform capitalism’ (Srnicek, 2016).…”

Section: Affective Social Media: Flow Glow and Territorialisationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seeing the smart city on Twitter: Colour and the affective territories of becoming smart

Rose

Willis

2018

Environ Plan D

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Section: Affective Social Media: Flow Glow and Territorialisationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seeing the smart city on Twitter: Colour and the affective territories of becoming smart

Rose

Willis

2018

Environ Plan D

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“…Wonder what Apple is doing about that’ (Maharshstra, 2007). By drawing on prior experiences with photographs, records, gaming devices and computer monitors, potential users knew what to expect from shiny or glossy media surfaces that required handling 2 – though that shininess could take on different connotations depending on one’s context and positionality (Maffei and Fisher, 2013). For some, this accumulated wisdom made the idea of a touchscreen device that would put touching on display unappealing.…”

Section: A Smudge Is a Blemish: Violating Digital Aestheticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

You Must Touch It: Touchscreen Hygiene and the Sin of the Smudge

Plotnick

2022

Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Med

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This article examines how people have constructed touchscreen smudges, those oily marks left behind by users’ fingers on shiny glass, as a form of ‘mess’. It offers an historical account of smudges between 2007 and 2010, when users, corporations, journalists, third-party accessory manufacturers and others began to first frame smudges as a problem for mobile media due to users’ constant touching and the evidence of their finger trails which functioned as a kind of ‘ visible tactility’. Solutions took the form of engineering special screen coatings or cultivating responsible users who would maintain their devices through cleaning and caretaking practices. In both these cases, smudges were denigrated not for degrading media content or breaking the device’s functionality, but rather for violating high-tech aesthetics and drawing attention to porous, tactile and germ-riddled bodies. The piece, bringing together this case with the present, encourages scholars to attend to the ways that users are entreated to tame and groom both their bodies and their media devices in particular socio-historical contexts.

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“…Loss of empathy driven by 'cosmetic obsolescence' leads to dissatisfaction, detachment and premature disposal (Cooper, 2005;Lilley et al, 2016;Manley et al, 2015;Packard, 1963). Delight at the untouched appearance of new products which "invites sensual engagement" (Maffei and Fisher, 2013) rapidly changes to dissatisfaction with 'worn' or 'aged' materials which, coupled with persuasive advertising, drives the cycle of replacement of products which are often fully functional when disposed of (Hollander et al, 2017;Nobels et al, 2015;Woolley, 2003).…”

Section: Obsolescencementioning

confidence: 99%

Skin deep. Perceptions of human and material ageing and opportunities for design

et al. 2019

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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.

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Historicizing Shininess in Design: Finding Meaning in an Unstable Phenomenon

Cited by 6 publications

References 12 publications

Seeing the smart city on Twitter: Colour and the affective territories of becoming smart

Seeing the smart city on Twitter: Colour and the affective territories of becoming smart

You Must Touch It: Touchscreen Hygiene and the Sin of the Smudge

Skin deep. Perceptions of human and material ageing and opportunities for design

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