Material change: transforming experience

Abstract Our relationship with materials, and the materials themselves, are constantly changing. Designers and manufacturers typically focus on the pristine object that entices the purchaser, with little consideration of how materials will change over days, years, or centuries of use, and how in turn this will influence the product’s life: from careful use to abuse and from reuse to disposal. Attitudes to material aging are highly variable, subjective, and shaped by myriad factors, which include both individual and societal influences. In this chapter a tentative framework for understanding the influence of material change on people’s experience of the material world which surrounds us is presented. The framework includes the consideration of the condition of the object, how its condition will change with use, and how this will influence people’s response to that object. Throughout the chapter diverse forms of material change that show the importance of time, context, and esthetics in influencing how material change is experienced are illustrated as case study examples. The chapter culminates with considerations on how material change may direct, inform, and create user experiences through shifting attitudes and behavior as an overt design strategy.