Boogazine - Maslows hierarchy of needs.

I've not posted on my blog for a while as i have been away but today i've gone back to research for my Boogazine. I'm still interested in the idea of looking into how the world of psychology is so intertwined with design. Below is Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of needs. Abraham Maslow was a professor who founded a major branch of psychology known as humanistic psychology, which examines very personal concepts like basic needs and self-actualisation. Humanistic psychology is widely used in marketing to truly understand the motives that drive a consumer to buy a specific product.

The idea with this pyramid is that the basic needs are at the bottom of the table and so they need to be met before progressing up the list. So for example, when buying a car the 'safety' section would usually be considered first for example; cost, how safe the car is going to be. Once this is sorted you can start to think about maybe the style and make (esteem/self actualisation).

So, in design it can often be more important to work out what it is that the customer wants from a product/ design and who they are as opposed to fully focusing on making the design look the best. A piece of furniture may be the most stunning piece of design you have seen but it may be too expensive, not the right size or too uncomfortable to even consider buying.

Read more at http://designshack.net/articles/business-articles/design-meets-psychology-putting-maslows-hierarchy-of-needs-to-work/#uSlwbo17Ic58gMI1.99