designing sticky products, part 3

This is part 3 of the series “designing sticky products.”  Please check out part 1 and part 2.

Can a one-of-a-kind object be sticky?

I talk a lot on this blog about product design.  And usually, what I mean are objects designed for limited-edition runs or small-batch manufacturing.  But I know that some of my readers are more oriented towards one-of-a-kind objects.  So for the third and final installment of my series “designing sticky products,” I want to look at how one-of-a-kind objects can be sticky.

Hopefully by now, you’re starting to understand the six principles of stickiness – simple, unexpected, credible, concrete, emotional, stories.  So, first, let me share a few images of work by Rachel Timmins, and ask you, what do you think makes her work sticky?

Rachel’s pieces have a clear core – her work is all about creating unusual mutant creatures.  In addition to creating unexpected creatures, Rachel also utilizes unexpected materials.  They are unexpected, yet credible, because they share some relationship with forms and creatures we are familiar with.  They are concrete – even though we don’t know what kind of creatures they are, we know what they are. They are emotional – and not just in the sense that the creatures show emotion.  Rather, they elicit emotion from the viewer.  Perhaps they make you laugh, or make you feel empathy towards the creatures.  No matter what, Rachel’s work prompts an emotional reaction.  And finally, Rachel’s work uses stories without beating us over the head with them.  It’s clear that Rachel’s work is narrative, but what it does well is it allows the viewer to create her own story.

The fact that Rachel’s work is narrative lends itself well towards some of the elements of stickiness – particularly emotional and stories.  But you don’t have to turn to narrative to make your own-of-a-kind work stickier.

The next time you create a painting, or a sculpture, or a one-of-a-kind wearable, ask yourself the following questions:

• What is my core concept?
• What can I do that is unexpected?
• How can I make my core concept more concrete for the viewer?
• Is this credible based on me and my previous work?
• What kinds of emotions will this prompt from the viewer?
• Is this piece worthy of a story?

Regardless of whether you create one-of-a-kind or production work, I hope that you write down the principles of stickiness and use them as guidelines when you work.  By building stickiness into your products, they’ll be more likely to spread on their own.  And that means less marketing*, and more time to spend creating more sticky products.  And isn’t that what we all want?

(*Note that I said less marketing, not no marketing.  Getting the work out there is still important.  A piece can’t become sticky if it sits in your studio and no one sees it but you.)