Products for Transformative Meaning: A Methodology for Sandbox Products As Emergent, Unorthodox Creative Tools Enabled by the Reframing of Design Praxis Through the Nexus Object Hermeneutic

Abstract

This thesis argues that the field of Industrial Design is philosophically ill-equipped to accommodate and adapt to the growing imminence of the Transformation Economy. At the cusp of a progression from mere commodities, services, or experiences, user preferences have begun to shift towards the desire for more meaningful engagement with products which openly address notions of holistic fulfillment, human flourishing, or eudaemonia. Closing this perceived “meaning gap” for users in the current product economy necessitates a genuine re-evaluation of contemporary design theory and praxis. This thesis argues that the dominant paradigm of the contemporary designer is negatively influenced by a progressive series of interrelated historical ruptures regarding ontology, metaphysics, theology, technology, materiality, and secularism.

This emergent desire for transformational value amongst certain user groups cannot be categorically met due to an embedded pluralism within the current design paradigm formed out of the Modern Movement, as well as modernism in a broad sense; these movements have openly opposed historical continuity regarding the a priori categories of philosophy which must first be coherent in order to form clarity regarding “transformation” or “eudaemonia”.

This presents a profound dilemma for designers insofar that the demand for this holistic fulfillment and transformational experience remains perpetually unbalanced by a lack of relevant methodologies for such products. The previous leniency upon tangible principles of functionalism and utilitarianism in industrial design is insufficient for this transformational category of user experience which corresponds to intangible aspects of object encounters.

In response to this dilemma, this thesis proposes the Nexus Object Hermeneutic as a new cognitive tool for designers: a mental model for re-categorizing objects based on their ontological efficacy rather than strict utility. This framework emphasizes how objects may influence user states of being and correspond to perceptual meaning and identity. This conceptual bedrock provides potential for engaging burgeoning categories of products which pertain to user transformation and ontological change rather than mere function. Out of this distinction emerges the Sandbox Product (SBP): a burgeoning category of unorthodox creative tools which facilitate creative empowerment, encourage layered engagement, cater to flexible use cases, foster re-enchantment of the external world, and provide playful experiences and novel aesthetics.

This thesis recognizes the user desire for creative fulfillment as a fundamental corollary within the emerging umbrella of transformational design propositions. This means that creativity corresponds directly with notions of eudaemonia and holistic human flourishing. Enabled by the provided philosophical distinctions within the Nexus Object Hermeneutic, a subsequent methodology will be provided for these Sandbox Products as a step forward into the world of transformational design.