Nigel's examples and conclusion, including the understanding of Starck,
are excellent. To me, they open the door to asking why the products of
design are persuasive and influential in our lives at all.
A rhetorical analysis of the house in Brno, including the surrounding
social context and the changing attitudes of the owner, would be quite
interesting.
Regarding Starck, the rhetorical understanding of his success as a
designer should carry significance for other kinds of design practice.
I do not mean the obvious point that Starck persuades primarily by
"ethos" and the personality of his products. What I mean is that ethos
is one of several ways of creating persuasive products. Our social
scientist colleagues are very helpful in showing the subtle forms of
"pathos" in products. And our engineering colleagues are very helpful
in showing how the technological integrity of a product may be
persuasive with other people. All in all, ethos, pathos, and logos are
the elements of persuasive products--and the point of emphasis among
these three tells a great deal about the vision of the designer as well
as the nature of the product.
A case in point: fashion design places great emphasis on "ethos" or
voice and identity in its products--with relatively little attention or
concern for the engineering and mechanics of dress. In contrast, design
of a fire truck, while using some subtle elements of ethos, places great
emphasis on electrical and mechanical systems (logos) and the usability
of truck features (pathos).
As a final point, it is interesting to recall that Adrian Forty
emphasizes the role of design in communicating ideas in society. Though
he discussed this haltingly in his book in terms of "Structuralism," his
concerns are addressed perhaps even better by rhetorical tools of
analysis. He said as much to me several years ago when we were
discussing the role of rhetorical analysis in design.
Dick
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