The Cognition of Retro Design
Designs that return us to the past are having a growing impact. Retro design intentionally resurrects or recycles an artifact from the past feeding nostalgia and triggering reminiscing in consumers. We see retro designs in cars, buildings, furniture, websites, movies, fashion, restaurants, advertising and almost everything in our culture. Retro design shows no signs of being a fad but is morphing and expanding, reflecting a fundamental and perhaps unquenchable consumer need.
This consumer need is infact a cognitive need generated from the longing for the past often in a romanticized or idealized form (nostalgia). As an emotional state, nostalgia serves several important psychological functions including: reinforcing our sense of self, regenerating meaning and strengthening social connections (see this excerpt from the handbook of experimental existential psychology).
Remembering the past – even if we reconstruct it a bit to meet psychological needs – can be a bittersweet experience. Invoking it can create a state of cognitive dissonance (holding two or more conflicting beliefs or emotions at once). For example, a product might be designed to remind you of the happy times you had with your grandparents but at the same time remind you that they are no longer alive.
Retro design plays off of (paternalistically we hope) a strong cognitive bias held by most people – “remember the good old past”. Longing for the past, seems to be so strong that we will buy into any past even if it is not part of our experience. Specifically, younger people will buy retro products rooted in artifacts from earlier generation’s experience. This means I will be pulled in by the retro effect even if what is being recycled was not part of my personal childhood or earlier life experience. Paul Grainge calls this the “aestheticization of nostalgia”. Something satisfies my longing for the past if I can recognize that it comes from a stylized past - it does not need to be part of my personal past.
Reminiscing goes a step further in that it allows me to relive or remember personally experienced episode from my past. So the retro design of the new Ford Mustang might remind me of my first car and the time I…. This invokes another powerful cognitive effect – Savoring. In this case I am savoring the past which can put me in a state of pleasure, pride, gratitude or even awe.
So what are the implications for the cognitive designer? When using retro effects we should:
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Be clear what unmet cognitive need we are trying to satisfy (opportunity to tell my story, relive sense of pride from earlier time, discharge longing for the past, etc.)
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Decide between reminding users of “the past”, something in the past, or something in their past
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Support the reconstructive aspects of memory (romanticizing the past) in ways that lead to optimal cognitive functioning
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Manage potential cognitive dissonance (bittersweet memories) to ultimately help the user savior the past
Retro design hold the potential for creating rich cognitive states that transform otherwise ordinary artifacts into vivid personal experiences.
