Enculturation, acculturation and design

A product is developed through many stages. First, a designer has to encounter the understanding of the market, the consumer’s need and their behavior. Then, designer would deliver the solution to the problem. Above all, the meaning of product design has a huge impact of the culture. Gender behavior, the norms, and value are affected by the culture. Ever since the childhood, we learn how to interact with our environment. From elders, teachers, friends, religion and media, we are able to receive information about the way of life. Mom would tell their sons, “Boys are not allowed to play with Barbie dolls,” and that boy will automatically think dolls are only for girls. As a result, he will have his stereotypical view of how gender should behave in society.

In the case study of Maines’ vibrator, it is evident that the meaning of the product and construction of female identity changes over time. In the trail of “Passion and Power,” one woman talks about how she came from a culture where they consider genitals as something you should be ashamed of. Also, another woman says, “I am an educated woman, I am an acknowledged and acclaimed artist, I am a person who is just dumber and shit about my body.” This illustrates the perseverance of the female struggle as their identity in society. Culture tells that an educated woman should not engage or excite over sexual pleasures. Thus, even though vibrator serves its need for women, the culture describes that vibrator is a socially sensitive product and it is not acceptable to be seen in public.

There is another socially sensitive product in the world of cosmetics. If the cosmetics were only focused on the exterior display of a person before, now it focuses too on display of the private parts. Beauty product called “Betty,” is a coloring for “Hair down there.” (http://www.bettybeauty.com/) The creator Nancy Jarecki inadvertently discovered a need of this coloring product among many women. Jarecki says, “Sophisticated women, who spent time and lots of money getting their hair just right, had no solution for coloring the hair down there. They were totally overlooking this crucial beauty area. It was clear women (even some men) were desperate for a product like this.” The launching of the color dye for hair down there to match the hair up there was successful and was an award winner in 2007 for Cosmetic Product Innovator. Betty was featured in many presses such as Vanity Fair and Vogue magazines. This product, like vibrator, may be seen as taboo, something one should keep it as clandestine product. Nonetheless, the shift of culture nowadays tells us that it is not big of a deal and that it is indeed a design solution for a need. People address need of social freedom. The demand for social freedom is spoken through the product and how it is portrayed in open advertisement such as magazines, TV, and other media sources.

I believe designer have a power to speak for social freedom and influence the shift in culture through his or her design. The culture tells us boys should not play with Barbie, but who created this rule at first hand? Designers learn of enculturation, but they should also take into account of the acculturation. With this acknowledgement, there would be an innovation that could interrupt the structure of belief that is embedded in our society.