Object language
Objectives
Messages mediated by objects can—like spoken and
written messages—be true, almost true, or absolutely
untrue. They comply with Umberto Eco’s definition of
semiotics: “the discipline studying everything which
can be used in order to lie” (1997, 7). What objects
say about identity, provenance, function, operation,
user identity, and objectives can be true, false, or
anything in between. In Pretense Design we shall use
the verb “pretend” and the noun “pretense” rather
than “lie” to avoid stigmatizing the bona fide branch
of truth-bending design.
Designed artifacts pretend on behalf of
designers, manufacturers, sellers, and users to
gain advantages. Pretense is a means to ends. If
successful, pretense design makes somebody believe
something that the pretender prefers to project rather
than the pedantic truth. Showing without being, the
modus operandi of pretense design, goes beyond
the Shakespearean dichotomy, “to be or not to be.”
Pretense design is and is not.
Pretense design delivers material short cuts
from existing situations to preferred situations, to use
Herbert Simon’s definition of design.1 The motivation 1
Everyone designs
who devises courses
can be dislike of the present situation, desire for the
of action aimed at
preferred situation, or both. A wearer of a toupee, a changing existing
small hairpiece to cover baldness, probably wants to situations into
preferred ones
hide his true hirsute status. The Elvis impersonator
—Simon 1996, 111
wants to be The King, and the teen who bleaches
her hair probably dislikes her natural mouse shade as
much as she desires the attractive blondness.
38 Pretense Design
Humans are not alone in adjusting their
appearance to gain advantages. Animals also pretend:
they imitate, exaggerate, underplay, and suppress to
change not preferred situations into preferred ones.
With animals, as with humans, the pretense can be
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and several other insects pretend permanently to be
something that they are not, while chameleons and
other species save their disguise for special occasions
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Pretense on demand.
We shall classify pretense design according to
four objectives, all aimed at changing existing situations
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at giving a better understanding of pretense design.
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%HDXWL¿FDWLRQSUHWHQVHLVWKHDHVWKHWLF Pretense design
DGMXVWPHQWRIWKHGHIDXOWVLWXDWLRQ7KHWUXWKLVHGLWHG objectives:
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on standby, or suspended. • Amusement
• Amusement pretense deals with situational • Substitution
RWKHUQHVV7KHWUXWKLVRQVWDQGE\RUVXVSHQGHG • Deception
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standby or suspended.
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Pretense Design 39
Object language
Objectives
Objective Key quality Truth-bending
Beautification Improvement Edited / Standby / Suspended
Amusement Otherness Standby / Suspended
Substitution Likeness Standby / Suspended
Deception Cheating Suspended
Pretense design objectivess
The four pretense design objectives are not
watertight compartments, nor mutually exclusive by
any means. A trompe l’oeil painting may, apart from
providing amusement, also serve as beautification.
Pretense design is, as already established, a
communication issue and has several resemblances
with spoken and written language, including such
phenomena as euphemism, analogy, synonymy, and
lying.
Figure 9
Faux furs
Beautification,
amusement, and
substitution are not
mutually exclusive
pretense objectives.
They could all be in
play in these faux furs
flashed at President
Obama's inauguration
in 2013.
40 Pretense Design
9
Pretense Design 41
Object language
Objectives
Beautification pretense involves a surface
adjustment of a human or material thing. The basic
sought-after quality is beauty, but symbolism may also
be in play. To the extent that a tanned body is not only
considered more beautiful than an untanned body but
also is read as a sign of good health and success, the
beautification also involves a symbolic pretense. No
matter what, beautification pretense is about presenting
something in a nicer way; to use a linguistic analogy: it is
a euphemism.
In contrast to beautification pretense, amusement
pretense is first and foremost about symbolic
appearance; aesthetic appearance is a side effect. The
pretense medium is most often a material thing, but it
can also be a human. Amusement pretense may involve
simulation of a wide range of qualities considered
attractive: time, age, material, function, relentlessness,
and more. Not all users of amusement design objects
may distinguish between symbolic and aesthetic aspects,
but may just consider their Louis Seize reproduction
furniture more attractive than contemporary furniture.
But some users may enjoy the travel through time,
while still others may concentrate on the beauty with
no thoughts about the period. The linguistic analogy
of amusement pretense design is analogy: something
different combined with something shared.
42 Pretense Design
Substitution pretense is about keeping up
appearances. The pretense medium is most often
material things, but can also include human parts,
in the case of prosthetics. If totally successful,
the substitute is not distinguishable from what is
being replaced. While beautification pretense and
amusement pretense involve changes in aesthetic
and symbolic appearance, substitution pretense aims
to keep appearance unchanged. To use a linguistic
analogy, a successful substitution offers material
synonyms.
Deception pretense is about cheating in
function and/or substance. The pretense medium is
humans or material things, and involves aesthetic as
well as symbolic appearance; changes happen on
both dimensions. The linguistic parallel to deception
pretense design is lies—big lies.
Pretense design is an intentionally
counterfactual rewriting of a reality considered in
need of change. The rewriting is pleasant in the case
of beautification and amusement pretense; practical
in substitution and deception pretense; benign for
addressees in beautification, amusement, and (most
often) substitution; and malign for addressees of
deception and (sometimes) substitution.
Pretense Design 43