FAMILIAR HURT

Humans are very comfortable with the familiar. There is the old adage that we are creatures of habit. And I would surmise that this is entirely true. We are comfortable with the tried and true.

Designers need to be cognizant of where this familiarity comes from, and what effect it has upon our interaction with our clients. Kahneman uses the word “pastness” to begin to describe the familiar. (Thinking Fast and Slow, page 61)   He writes that we have a tendency to apply an artificial gravitas to what is simply familiar. Acceptance of the familiar is less stressful, and we as humans take the path of least resistance.

In most instances, this concept of pastness is an illusion. The familiar expands into a deeply held belief merely by circumstance. The studied seriousness that we apply to what is familiar is artificial.

Another way to say this is that just because something feels familiar, there may be no direct experience that you have had which makes it so. My default example in any instance like this is the gable roof. As an architect working in a small town culture in which everybody thinks that everything has to be historical, the gable roof certainly pushes all of the familiarity buttons in people. In fact, I have found that the gable roof does not have to be a good gable roof. (Not all gable roofs are created equal.) For most people, the inclusion of a gable roof nevertheless invokes this link to pastness, familiarity and easy acceptance.

So our bias for the comfortable acceptance of a gable roof is due to cognitive ease. It is not based on a heartfelt understanding of cultural forces based on direct experience. People have not made an in depth study or comparison. The historical acceptance of the gable roof is a habit. It’s familiar. As designers, we all need to understand this mechanism of our client’s comfort.

Let’s imagine you are sitting there enthusiastically presenting your transparent drawings to the people that pay you. You show them an interesting form generated by your transparent drawings. This form is not a gable. And then you get THE QUESTION; can’t you just make this roof a gable? When they ask this question, your clients are feeling some mental stress. They are out of the familiar. They hurt. There is a break with pastness.

Now you know what is really going on. Expect their hurt.  And then hopefully, with your beautiful transparent drawings, you will be able to move them to a state of greater cognitive ease.