The Science of Cute

Oktapodi

2009-01-02T15:58:00.000-08:00

Oktapodi
Uploaded by gamaniak

Grandma's Dead

2008-12-15T09:24:00.000-08:00

The ultimate proof of cuteness's effect on the psyche:

Check it out at B&N, or send an e-card of one of the pages here.

Comet Chair and Ottoman

2008-12-06T02:40:00.000-08:00

It's not for me (I think it's the salmon color), but I can't deny that it's cute.

Cute Cues:

Short, Stubby Legs
Wobbliness (Legs splay, which reminds me a bit of Bambi trying to walk on ice.)
Disproportion (The seat is quite oversized.)
Roundness
Simple Geometry

Mini Classic Furniture

2008-12-06T02:23:00.001-08:00

"Cute" isn't the first thing you think when you take a look at the Eames Lounge, but when it's this tiny, I sure do. And they add a cute little monkey for good measure.

Via Apartment Therapy

Well, I've given my final presentation and therefore moved onto the next phase in my project––furniture design. I won't be doing any this semester, but the next few weeks are going to be spent getting cute furniture inspiration (finally!). So I may have the odd cute kitten video, but furniture is the focus now.

Sloths!

2008-12-04T01:17:00.000-08:00

It's even cute when it's scratching its butt!

VW Poster Part 2

2008-11-23T09:07:00.000-08:00

Well, I couldn't help it, but at least I can cross something off my to do list. Here's my informational poster (pre-critique) on The Science of Cute:

It's Almost Thanksgiving Break Time!

2008-11-22T23:41:00.000-08:00

[Everyone in unison] YAY!!!

VW Poster

2008-11-21T17:22:00.000-08:00

I've been working on ideas for my final poster for the project, and have come up with the idea of showing one of my case studies. It was important for me to show a product as opposed to a baby or animal, as this is for a design studio. And it was also imperative that I use a popular product, one that people have seen often, in order to be familiar with its cute features.

So, I decided on the VW Bug. I wanted to show it extra large, front and center, but couldn't find an image large enough, so I decided to make one myself, using Illustrator:

And here it is in a few choice colors.

Labbit

2008-11-13T20:33:00.000-08:00

KidRobot is merging cute with... manliness? Anyway, I like it!

Sealion

2008-11-04T14:09:00.000-08:00

This was sent to me by a friend. Like her, I "almost passed out from cuteness."

Logo

2008-11-04T00:37:00.000-08:00

I have come up with a name for the book I am making that contains all the research I have been doing:

OMG, Cute! The Science Behind a Cultural Phenomenon

I may want to change the subtitle to something involving "design," but I'm not sure what that would be yet. I have also designed the graphic that will be used for the cover, the presentation, and the promotional poster.

I have decided on making two books for my thesis, one for each semester. The first, a pink book with a white logo, will be my "design brief" and include my research. The second, a white book with a pink logo, will document the design phase, from initial sketches to built project.

Pandamania: Hard-Wired

2008-10-29T01:35:00.000-07:00

Meaghan Wolff wrote an article for The Washington Post on the biological reasons behind our reaction to cuteness. She cites Psychology professor Stephan Hamann's various studies on the brain's reaction to pleasant stimuli.

"[Hamann] has conducted a number of studies on brain responses to pleasant stimuli, including pictures of cute baby seals and puppies. He uses functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which is sensitive enough to measure tiny changes in brain activity.

Hamann's studies found that "cute" pictures cause increased activity in the middle area of the orbital frontal cortex, located behind the bridge of the nose, and in the amygdala, the emotion-control center of the brain responsible for fear and arousal.

According to Hamann, increased activity in the middle orbital cortex is usually associated with pleasure and positive emotion. Some evidence suggests the brain activity there is greater when the stimulus is "neotenous," which is to say it has juvenile characteristics -- a button nose, big eyes, a large wobbly head, chubby extremities or pudgy cheeks."

"Men and women showed nearly identical responses to cute stimuli, even if for social reasons they rate it differently."

The Cute Show

2008-10-28T03:39:00.000-07:00

An episode of "The Cute Show," this one featuring hedgehogs. Favorite part: the hedgehog slo-mo, hands down. It's like hedgehog karate. Hilarious!

From vbs.tv.

Everything's Bigger in Texas

2008-10-28T01:37:00.000-07:00

Today marks a proud day in history, as Carnival Cruise Lines broke the world record for "World's Largest Beach Ball" today in downtown Dallas, Texas. The ball neasures 3 stories tall. Awesome? Yes. Cute? Definitely!

Just look at this video taken at the dropping of the beach ball:

I laughed out loud when all the people put their hands up in anticipation to hit the ball. It reminds me of that part in Toy Story where all the aliens are in the claw machine and they look up at the claw and go, "Ooooooo."

This event calls out to our inner children, I believe. Adults have forsaken work time for play time, if only for a few minutes, and I think part of the cute connection relies on the playfulness that this depicts.

Cute Cues:

Roundness
Unsteadiness (Slowness)
Smallness in comparison to other objects (People are dwarfed)

When Cute Design Goes Ugly

2008-10-27T14:10:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of Fail Blog.

Hello Kitty

2008-10-27T13:19:00.001-07:00

Cute Cues:

Small nose
Eyes and nose set on lower half of head
Large ears
Large, rounded head
Simple geometry

Other points of interest:

Innocence portrayed by bow tie
Lack of mouth/voice

Opinions to be developed further. Quotes to be gathered.

Kawaii: The Culture of Cute

2008-10-27T07:01:00.000-07:00

Excerpts from Natalie Avella's Graphic Japan: From Woodblock and Zen to Manga and Kawaii.

A Brief History of Kawaii

"Kawaii, meaning 'cute,' must be one of the most loved and most widely used words in Japan. Kawaii essentially means 'childlike,' and, according to academic Sharon Kinsella, who has studied the phenomenon, it celebrates all that is: 'sweet, adorable, innocent, pure, simple, genuine, gentle, vulnerable, weak, and inexperienced in social behavior and physical appearance.' ...The word kawaii is derived from kawajushi, a word that first appeared in dictionaries prior to 1945. It had principal meanings of 'shy' or 'embarrassed,' but possessed secondary meanings such as 'pathetic,' 'vulnerable,' 'darling,' 'loveable,' and 'small.'" (211-213)

"Kawaii first appeared in the 1970s, at the same time as the emergence of a new craze among teenagers, especially girls, for cute, babyish handwriting, ...[which was a rebellion] against traditional Japanese culture and identifying with European culture. ...As the handwriting craze developed, so did a fashion among young adults for childish behavior, baby-talk, and wearing childish clothes. ...Dressing up continues to be practiced by Japanese youth." (213)

"A love of cute characters appears to transcend both age and gender." (211)

"Cute is not just eye candy on the surfaces of consumer products; kawaii characters also function as a polite way of conferring guidance and information to the public. ...In a country where people are brought up on a diet of manga and anime, cartoons are a common language." (212)

"Creating quasi-relationships with cute, inanimate objects is a relief from, or compensation for, the alienation that many people feel." (214)

"For corporate business, kawaii helps to give a friendly face to an otherwise impersonal corporate identity, giving people a way to build a personal relationship with a particular brand." (212)

"Japanese tend to enjoy funny topics for daily conversation, such as 'what kind of dumb things they've done,' or descriptions of their own mistakes. This is an attempt to disarm the listener, and to develop more intimate relationships. Similarly, funny mascots tell you that the owner is friendly and unpretentious." (212)

"In Japan, group harmony is valued above individual expression." (214)

Other Sources for Studies on Kawaii

"Modern consumers might not be able to meet and develop relationships enough with people, but the implication of cute goods design was that they could always attempt to develop them with cute objects." Source: Kinsella, Sharon. "Cuties in Japan." Women, Media and Consumption in Japan. University of Hawaii Press.

"Kawaii gives people a way to hang onto childhood and thereby postpone the pressures of adulthood. ...Adulthood was not viewed as a source of freedom and independence, it was viewed as quite the opposite, as a period of restrictions and hard work. ...Cute fashions idolize childhood because it is seen as a place of individual freedom unattainable in society." (Kinsella)

"Wearing a cute mascot in public is a way to communicate with others like yourself. There is a consensus that a person who likes cute things is good. If you show a funny mascot, people assume that you are an easy-going and open-minded person. Your mascot makes people around you believe you are more approachable. The mascot also" Source: Kato, Miki. "Cute Culture." Eye. Issue 44 Summer 2002.

"If you invite a Japanese acquaintance to dinner, and ask them what kind of restaurant they would like to go to, they will probably answer, 'anywhere you like.' Not having an individual voice is considered a traditional virtue in Japan and this is based on the idea of amae," which means to "act like a child." (Kato)

A Biological Homage to Mickey Mouse

2008-10-27T06:21:00.000-07:00

Snippets from a short article written by Stephen Jay Gould (in his larger collection of articles called The Panda's Thumb), centered on Mickey Mouse's evolution during 50 years.

"The original Mickey was a rambunctious, even slightly sadistic fellow. ...As Mickey's personality softened, his appearance changed. Many Disney fans are aware of this transformation through time, but few (I suspect) have recognized the coordinating theme behind all the alterations. ...In short, the blander and inoffensive Mickey became progressively more juvenile in appearance." (95-97)

Copyright Walt Disney Productions

"To give him the shorter and pudgier legs of youth, [Disney artists] lowered his pants line and covered his spindly legs with a baggy outfit. (His arms and legs also thickened substantially–and acquired joints for a floppier appearance.) His head grew relatively larger and its features more youthful. The length of Mickey's snout has not altered, but decreasing protrusion is more subtly suggested by a pronounced thickening. Mickey's eye has grown in two modes: first, by a major, discontinuous evolutionary shift as the entire eye of the ancestral Mickey became the pupil of his descendants, and second, by gradual increase thereafter. ...Mickey's ears moved back, increasing the distance between nose and ears, and giving him a rounded, rather than sloping, forehead." (98-99)

These features match almost perfectly with Lorenz' features of youth: "a relatively large head, predominance of the brain capsule, large and low-lying eyes, bulging cheek region, short and thick extremities, a springy elasticity, and clumsy movements."

"[We must] ask why Disney chose to change his most famous character so gradually and persistently in the same direction? ...The abstract features of human childhood elicit powerful emotional responses in us, even when they occur in other animals. I submit that Mickey Mouse's evolutionary road down the course of his own growth in reverse reflects the unconscious discovery of this biological principal by Disney and his artists. ...To this extent, the magic kingdom trades on biological illusion–our ability to abstract and our propensity to transfer inappropriately to other animals the fitting responses we make to changing form in the growth of our own bodies." (100-104)

Basically, Mickey changed in order to keep with one of Walt Disney's many rules of thumb: "Keep it cute!"

Copyright Walt Disney Productions

Egg Pants

2008-10-26T23:24:00.000-07:00

Saw these a while back and made a mental note to post them here. They are adorable!

Egg Pants have three stubby "legs" which will keep your breakfast eggs standing tall. They're white on the outside and yellow on the inside, just like the eggs they hold.

While the material looks like ceramic, it is actually quite soft and flexible. The flexibility allows these little cups to stretch and give a perfect fit to all different sizes of eggs.

Dip-molded PVC.

They're available at Design Glut.

Cute cues:

Anthropomorphism (Clothing for an inanimate object)
Roundness
Short, stubby appendages

Emotional Design

2008-10-26T21:58:00.000-07:00

The following are a few choice quotes from Donald A. Norman's Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things:

"[We have a] tendency to read emotional responses into anything, animate or not. We are social creatures, biologically prepared to interact with others, and the nature of that interaction depends very much on our ability to understand another's mood. Facial expressions and body language are automatic, indirect results of our affective state, in part because affect is closely tied to behavior. ...We have evolved to interpret even the most subtle of indicators. ...Interpretations of inanimate objects might seem bizarre, but the impulse comes from the same source–our automatic interpretive mechanisms. We interpret everything we experience, much of it in human terms. This is called anthropomorphism, the attribution of human motivations, beliefs, and feelings to animals and inanimate things. The more behavior something exhibits, the more we are apt to do this." (135-136)

This relates well to Lorenz' Innate Releasing Mechanism, an involuntary biological response to an experience.

Stefano Pirovano's Te o Tea Strainer, made by Alessi.

"At first sight, the arms and legs of the figure are simply cute, but when it becomes apparent that the cuteness is also functional, then 'cute' becomes transformed into 'pleasure' and 'fun,' and this, moreover, is long-lasting. ...I spent much of the next hour trying to understand what transforms an impression of shallow cuteness into one of deep, long-lasting pleasure." (106)

"The essence of the surprise was the separation between the two viewings: first the tea strainer alone, then on the teacup. ...What transforms the strainer from 'cute' into 'fun'? Is it surprise? Is it cleverness? Certainly both of those traits play a big role." (106)

Here, Norman relates cuteness with pleasure, which brings me to designer and human factors expert Patrick Jordan's Four Kinds of Pleasure:

Physio-pleasure: Sights, sounds, smells, taste, and touch.
Socio-pleasure: Derived from interaction/communication with others. Usage.
Psycho-pleasure: Deals with one's reactions and psychological state during use or interaction. Resides at behavioral level.
Ideo-pleasure: Reflection of the experience/interaction. Appreciation of object. For example, if one displays the object prominently, it gives them ideo-pleasure to show their value judgments to others.

Norman also states that 'fun' and 'pleasurable' are still very elusive concepts.

"What is delightful depends a lot upon the context. The actions of a kitten or human baby may be judged fun and cute, but the very same actions performed by a cat or human adult can be judged irritating or disgusting." (106)

He suggests that more than one type of pleasure is in play at any one time. Visual cues may be what initially attracts you to a kitten, but the socio-pleasure you get from interaction with the kitten or the mental high you get from playing with the kitten (the psycho-pleasure) are what forge the bond between you and the animal.

The MINI Cooper

2008-10-26T19:03:00.000-07:00

Stock Photo.

Blueprints.

Reviews:

"Whatever one may think of the Mini Cooper's dynamic attributes, which range from very good to marginal, it is fair to say that almost no new vehicle in recent memory has provoked more smiles." Source: Swan, Tony. "Behind the Wheel/Mini Cooper; Animated Short, Dubbed in German." The New York Times.2 June, 2002.

"Evoke(s) strong, positive emotions such as love, attachment, and happiness... The car is so much fun to look at and drive that... you overlook its faults." (7) Source: Norman, Donald A. Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things. Perseus Books Group; Cambridge: 2004.

This quote, by Norman, makes a similar assumption as Konrad Lorenz when he discussed humans' proclivity toward experiential attachment. If a possession is attractive to you, you will become attached to it and be happy when you interact with it. When this happens, you are more likely to overlook the object's negative aspects.

"But none of that is the real reason we're buying the Mini. The car is cute. It has a magnetic personality. We loved its oversized speedometer and the wacky location of its tachometer atop the steering column. We loved the reaction it drew from onlookers everywhere. ...Some of our friends and family members also called the Mini Cooper 'cute' but said they would never buy a car 'that small.' We don't care. We drove it. We love it." Source: Brown, Warren. "Cute Little Detour? We'll Take It!" The Washington Post. 2 June, 2002.

"Hands down, the MINI Cooper is one of the cutest, most adorable cars on the road. The slightly prominent headlamps and oval grille convey the look of a surprised toddler on Christmas morning. The car's profile looks like a baby bootie, ready to be bronzed and displayed on a mantel." Bugg, Sean. "The Cute Factor." Metro Weekly. 3 March, 2005.

Results from Cute Survey:

"It's so small and has a rounded silhouette--seems to have a 'face,' too."
"Small. Round features such as the lights and rear-view mirrors."
"The name alone is cute. ...It’s little and can navigate down small streets like in all those slightly comical chase scenes, the headlights are like big eyes."

The MINI set a precedent when it was redesigned in 2001. Today's automakers realize the power of cuteness in car design, and designers have continued to create evermore cute automobiles.

The Smart Car.

The Nissan Pivo Concept Car.

Book Layout

2008-10-26T18:45:00.000-07:00

This is an updated book layout. As I continue to complete my literature review, it will become more detailed, but this is the basic format.

Title Page
Contents
Introduction
PART I: What is Cute? The History of Cute.
- Brief history of how we evolved into cuteness. Survival of the Cutest.
- Konrad Lorenz; Evolution and Biology of Cute
- Stephen Hamann; Psychology of cute
- Stephen Jay Gould; Evolution of Mickey mouse
(Transition: How Cuteness has evolved from theory into a modern cultural phenomenon.)
PART II: Cuteness Today. Cute Takes on Culture.
- American Culture of Cute
- Japanese Culture of Cute: Kawaii
- Cuteness merges with other characteristics
(Transition: Taking mass trends and observing individual opinions.)
PART III: Observing Cute. Trends in Cute Design.
- Survey Results
- Reaction Observations
- List of Cute Cues
- Case Studies
(Transition: Taking these studies and applying them to design.)
PART IV: The Future of Cute
- Marketing and Cuteness (Cuteness and the Economic Crisis)
- Developing a Case for Cuteness (Defending against the anti-cute)
- Using What I’ve Learned (Future Cute Projects)
Conclusion

In Honor of the Upcoming Holiday

2008-10-24T09:59:00.000-07:00

Halloween is fast approaching, and you know what that means:

Anthromorphizing poor little innocent animals!

Courtesy of Cute Overload.

Cuteness and the Economic Crisis

2008-10-24T09:08:00.000-07:00

I read an interesting article over at Change Order, a blog about the integration of design and business.

David Sherwin, who wrote the article, made an interesting speculation: With the recent "financial tsunami" that has hit the world, companies are making a mad dash to merge in order stave off bankruptcy. For example, WaMu's merger with Chase. With that, new questions emerge: What will happen to their branding? And with the unavoidable recession looming in consumers' minds, can cute branding survive?

"WaMu had invested countless billions of dollars to paint a perky, friendly face on money. The WaMu marketing machine had been laser-focused on less-sophisticated, higher-risk consumers, putting forth a friendly facade that was dubbed by their former CEO, Kerry Killinger, as the 'Wal-Mart of Banking.'"

Just check out this ad for WaMu that uses the irresistability of puppies and the adorable tagline "Whoo-Hoo!" to sell its services:

He suggests that this fresh, young image will now serve to repel the very same people it used to attract. And his logic, simply put, is thus:

Cuteness relies on optimism, and optimism relies on prosperity. Without that prosperity, people are no longer looking for the cute, friendly face in advertising. They are looking for a real, grown up, fact-based brand. While I believe this to be true, I also think that cuteness in advertising still has its place.

Advertising relies on one basic thing: happiness. Cuteness can bring that happiness–it can reassure, and in these troubling times, reassurance is key.

Cute, Quaint, Hungry, and Romantic

2008-10-18T11:26:00.000-07:00

I've taken some quotes from Daniel Harris's Cute, Quaint, Hungry, and Romantic: The Aesthetics of Consumerism. This book is far from a study in consumerism–I'd say it is more an anti-consumerist opinion piece. And while Harris makes some interesting connections, his ready-made hatred of anything popular or unrealistic turns any semblance of fact into a wordy rant. He goes so far as to compare teddy bears to adult sex dolls and the act of hugging a stuffed animal to necrophilia. He operates from as distorted a world view as those he demeans:

"The cute world view is one of massive human chauvinism, which rewrites the universe according to an iconographic agenda dominated by the pathetic fallacy... The cute vision of the natural world is a world without nature, one that annihilates "otherness," ruthlessly suppresses the non-human, and allows nothing, including our children, to be separate and distinct from us." (12)

While he completely skips over scientific explanations and evolutionary theories, he does make an important case for the social implications of cuteness, so it's included in my research. Read on for some more quotes:

"Cuteness suggests guilelessness, simplicity, and a refreshing lack of affectation." (2-3)

"Cuteness is not an aesthetic in an ordinary sense of the word and must by no means be mistaken for the physically appealing, the attractive. In fact, it is closely linked to the grotesque, the malformed." (3)

"The grotesque is cute because the grotesque is pitiable, and pity is the primary emotion of the seductive and manipulative aesthetic that arouses our sympathies... The aesthetic of cuteness creates a class of outcasts and mutations." (4)

"Something becomes cute not necessarily because of a quality it has but because of a quality it lacks, a certain neediness and inability to stand alone, as if it were an indigent starveling, lonely and rejected because of hideousness we find more touching than unsightly." (4)

"Cuteness has become essential to the marketplace, in that advertisers have learned that consumers will 'adopt' products that create, often in their packaging alone, an aura of motherlessness, ostracism, and melancholy." (5)

"Cuteness, in short, is not something we find in our children but something we do to them... it almost always involves an act of sadism on the part of its creator, who makes an unconscious attempt to maim, hobble, and embarrass the thing he seeks to idolize." (5)

"Adorable things are often most adorable when in the middle of a pratfall or a blunder." (6)

"Although the gaze we turn on the cute thing seems maternal and solicitous, it is in actuality transformative and will stop at nothing to appease its hunger for expressing pity and big-heartedness, even at the cost of mutilating the object of its affections." (6)

"If cuteness is the aesthetic of deformity and dejection, it is also the aesthetic of sleep." (7)

"The imitative nature of cuteness can also be seen in the relation of the aesthetic to precocity." Precocity is the development of certain capabilities at an earlier age than usual.

Overall, it's a good read, but rather depressing. Time for a kitten picture.

There. I'm better.