Form May Follow Function, But Engagement Always Leads.
As a student of architecture I am well versed, maybe indoctrinated with the design principle "Form Follows Function." A principle associated with the birth of modern architecture at the turn of the 20th Century and equally relevant to every aspect of creativity and design.
Whether you are conceiving a city masterplan, designing a library, creating packaging, an in store experience, a WEB3 activation or a product drop that straddles different realities the principle suggests that the customer experience is the nucleus that everything else surrounds. In other words the functionality leads, what it looks like - follows.
However at the turn of the 21st Century, with the competition for audience attention being described as the "New Oil" - the world's most precious resource, does the principle still hold true or has another contender entered the ring? Can it be argued that both form and function are nothing without engagement?
Think about it, without that initial, emotional human engagement, all innovative interactivity and aesthetic magnetism is defunct. The priority is to engage the audience, to pull them away from the myriad of other distractions on offer and then follow with innovative form and radical function to reel them in further.
When Steve Jobs introduced the world to the ipod and transformed the way humans experienced music his pitch started with engagement, the form and the functionality followed.
Before he unveiled the Dieter Ram inspired ground breaking aesthetic form, before he demonstrated the innovative functionality of the "Click-Wheel' navigation he engaged the audience with one spell binding emotional statement, a slogan: "Imagine 1000 songs in your pocket." The audience was hooked.
The form and function followed engagement.
More recently when McDonalds introduced the new 'Travis Scott Meal' they pitched with an engaging experience in place of a transactional offer that transformed the menu experience and saw unloved menu items trialled and sold out.
"Come and enjoy what your favourite artist enjoys." pitched an engaging Meal Experience versus a transactional Meal Deal.
This engaging idea attracted super fans in their millions and was followed with both form and function. In this case Limited-edition merch like t-shirts, jackets, and $300 jeans, plus fries and a drink through the frictionless UX of the new McDonalds app.
The form and function followed engagement.
When it comes to transformational customer experience, we must think beyond the transactional, we must engage the audience first then sucker punch with radical form and function.