"Design needs to be plugged into human behavior." Tim Brown has a point.
Many times, the form is directly linked to its content. There are many examples of this, from objects that can only serve one purpose, like a car. Its form is obviously designed to serve one purpose, though its many different parts can be taken to be used for something else.
Form is the literal object. The external. What we see visually, what we feel tactilely. Content is the internal. What we imagine its use to be, what we can use it for.
Sometimes, the designer thinks for the people. They must make their product people-friendly, easy to figure out the content, simply from looking at the form. There are no VCR-look-alikes.
One must also take into account culture and location. For example, there was the toothpick from Japan that had the part that broke off into a toothpick rest. Though Americans looking at the toothpicks would just see a decorated toothpick, Japanese people would see something that they would use every day. There’s also the tiny hotels the Japanese are fond of, as well as the overabundance of vending machines that sell everything one could ever think of. Many Americans would not be able to fathom the usage of any of these, and all of those would have to be taken in context.
One also needs to think about how time changes cultures. Something that was useful thirty years ago may not be useful anymore. Take into consideration cell phones. Back then, cell phones were humongous compared to current day models. They would not fit anywhere, at all. In this way, technology and time have obviously been big factors.
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