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The age of average

alexmurrell.co.uk

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Re: The age of average

#261

Post by Arrath »

Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #236
crazygringo wrote: post #123

What the article describes is correct, but I don't think the words "average" or "homogeneity" or "conformity" are the right terms, as they seem to carry negative connotations here. Rather, the right word is "convergence". The point is, people like certain things aesthetically. It used to be that artists and designers were still trying to figure out what looks good, and trying all the things. But now we've tried so ma…

Art nouveau buildings from the early 20th century are almost universally considered nicer than today's buildings, and yet they're no longer made. Not because we think modern buildings are nicer, but purely for a matter of cost. I suspect the same is the case (even if to a lesser extent) in electric toothbrushes and other items of our daily life.

The race to the bottom has taken a lot of brightness out of the world, its quite sad imo.

Anecdotally, my home town replaced a three way intersection with a nice roundabout and then put up a little art piece in the center of it. People complained to the heavens about a minor expenditure on an art installation when the money could have gone to, who knows, resurfacing a half block of sidewalk? Not everything needs to be so drab and utilitarian, yet despite the supposed massive output of the economy we've built, we must scrimp and pay bottom dollar for every last thing.

Re: The age of average

#262

Post by golergka »

ryandrake wrote: post #148
bumby wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've tried making this same point when it comes to auto designs (at least in the competitive, cost-sensitive ones). A lot of mid-sized cars look the same because the design constraints generally converge on the same handful of principles. They've converged not in the aesthetic sense as much as the engineering sense: because they work at a relatively low cost. (I'm speaking mainly about things like aerodynamics here,…

Even if they had to ultra-optimize the aerodynamics so all the cars look like the same bar of soap (they don't have to), they could still at least paint the damn soap a different color. But, no. All you see coming out of the factory are white, silver, gray, black, the occasional red and the occasional blue. What's driving this? That's what the article is about. Is it actually pull from customers, or is it push from t…

I'm a digital nomad. I've lived in a lot of Airbnbs, and I love the Airbnb look. You know why? Because when landlords are trying to get creative, the result is usually horrible.

Getting creative, if you're not a specialist in the field, would yield horrible results 95% of the time. Which is okay if you're doing it as a hobby, of course. But as a customer, I really don't want to be subjected to this.

And Airbnbs where landlords have actually hired a competent interior designer usually have "Luxe" brand and are clearly targeted towards people in a completely different tax bracket.

Re: The age of average

#263

Post by lfciv »

crazygringo wrote: post #123

What the article describes is correct, but I don't think the words "average" or "homogeneity" or "conformity" are the right terms, as they seem to carry negative connotations here. Rather, the right word is "convergence". The point is, people like certain things aesthetically. It used to be that artists and designers were still trying to figure out what looks good, and trying all the things. But now we've tried so ma…

And as some categories converge others change. Aesthetics can be dynamic. I thought this video recently was interesting discussing the way that modern computer animation became homogeneous to capture that "pixar" look – and subsequently how it's now changing with Into the Spiderverse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l96IgQmXmhM

Re: The age of average

#264

Post by taude »

crazygringo wrote: post #123

What the article describes is correct, but I don't think the words "average" or "homogeneity" or "conformity" are the right terms, as they seem to carry negative connotations here. Rather, the right word is "convergence". The point is, people like certain things aesthetically. It used to be that artists and designers were still trying to figure out what looks good, and trying all the things. But now we've tried so ma…

I also think they miss the point on AirBnb in that all those AirBnb's that have "brooklyn" style now is because it's a trend, and will need to be updated in 10 years for the next new trendy styling if they want to keep targeting those same global travelers. Ask anyone in the boutique/trendy hotel industry what their ROI is on their refreshed looks. (Might not be 10 years, but it's defintely less than 20)

Re: The age of average

#265

Post by renewiltord »

JohnFen wrote: post #257
crazygringo wrote: post #123

What the article describes is correct, but I don't think the words "average" or "homogeneity" or "conformity" are the right terms, as they seem to carry negative connotations here. Rather, the right word is "convergence". The point is, people like certain things aesthetically. It used to be that artists and designers were still trying to figure out what looks good, and trying all the things. But now we've tried so ma…

> Can't we just enjoy having nice things? Even if those things have converged aesthetically? They've converged because we think they're nice. But just because aesthetics have "converged" doesn't mean that everyone finds them pleasing. There's quite a lot of those converged aesthetics that I find unpleasant. Surely, there's still room for variety.

Things only exist if they are made. The ubiquity of this convergence then implies that those who make have similar tastes and those who have dissimilar tastes lack some fundamental capacity to construct.

Re: The age of average

#267

Post by pdntspa »

crazygringo wrote: post #123

What the article describes is correct, but I don't think the words "average" or "homogeneity" or "conformity" are the right terms, as they seem to carry negative connotations here. Rather, the right word is "convergence". The point is, people like certain things aesthetically. It used to be that artists and designers were still trying to figure out what looks good, and trying all the things. But now we've tried so ma…

Absolutely not. Variety is the spice of life, uniqueness is what gives it its verve and essence. The sameness of everything everywhere is absolutely suffocating.

I have long argued that we humans are obsessed with data when we shouldn't be. Intuition, taste, and artistry create the variety that gives everything character, and we systematically and violently beat it out through endless focus-group testing and lowest-common-denominator sterilization.

Re: The age of average

#270

Post by derbOac »

marcosdumay wrote: post #200
derbOac wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a piece going around awhile ago about the haunted Victorian mansion that seems relevant to me. E.g., https://www.washingtonpost.com/home/2022/10/27/why-victorian... The idea was the world went through a drastic change with WWII and the Victorian mansion started seeming like a ghostly remnant of the earlier age. Antiques Roadshow had a similar podcast where they discussed the "brown is down" phenomenon. Did…

The world before WWI was the one of art-nuveau and the first era of innovation. I don't know why the English-speaking cultures are so quick into reducing it into "Victorian", but it was recognized as a time of quick change.

Yes, good point. I was thinking as I was writing that it isn't exactly the world wars, something like the leadup into it and through the interwar period. I was more thinking of the post-industrial revolution in general, which was associated with tremendous societal change in general, not just militarily speaking. But you're right that the idea of a uniform "Victorian" period is a little weird and/or misleading.
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