In your opinion, is design for “bobos” (bohemian bourgeois) or intellectuals? Would you be prepared to forgo a restaurant outing or your next holidays so you could treat yourself to a designer item? The question is, are we all talking about the same thing when we talk about design? It’s such a subjective issue that it’s difficult to establish a universal definition for it. We associate it with the notions of “stylishness”, “graphic design” and of course “decorating” and “interior design”. As part of its drive to make the world of design accessible to as many people as possible, until May 13th 2015, ibis Styles is running a totally connected operation on instagram: #captureibisstyles. To mark its launch, the brand is providing unprecedented insight into how people view design in France and six other countries.
• Half the people surveyed believe that the principal aim of a designer object is to “surprise”.
• For over two-thirds of the French, the world of design is best represented in furniture items.
• 45% of the people surveyed associate design with a fashion or trendy concept.
• More than half of Brazilians hope and even dream of being able to treat themselves to a designer object one day.
• 53% of French refuse to pay more for a designer object.
ibis Styles or design for everyone
ibis Styles, the brand of economy hotels with unique personalities and multiple designs of Accor, has endeavoured to study and shed light on the way the notion of design is viewed and interpreted in seven countries.
To do so, the brand, which has over 270 hotels around with world, each with their own distinctive styles, surveyed groups of 300 people (half men and half women) representative of the populations in France, Germany, Brazil, Spain, Italy, United Kingdom and Poland, or a total of 2,100 individuals. Their views, desires, expectations, and more, were all analysed exhaustively in order to decipher and understand how they relate to the world of design.
And the timing is perfect because, in all the countries that were surveyed, design and economy hotels are two, perfectly compatible worlds! Topping the list were the Brazilians, with 90% of them approving the combination of these two worlds.
Design, a multi-faceted concept
Design is perceived as something emotional that is tied in with sentiment and pleasure. Half the people surveyed believe that the principal aim of a designer object is to “surprise”. In fact women are more receptive to designer objects, with 52.5% of them declaring so, compared with 45.9% of the men. 41% of the people surveyed, all countries included, agreed that design creates value through the aesthetic appeal it contributes to an object. 36% of the British also associate design with usefulness.
The survey reveals that design is materialized and represented in different ways from one culture and country to another. For over two-thirds of the French, the world of design is best represented in furniture items. 40% of the English see design through the prism of architecture. Spaniards see it more in terms of one’s look and 36% of them associate it with ready-to-wear fashion. Lastly, 53% of the Germans believe it is present in everyday objects.
45% of the people surveyed associate design with a fashion or trendy concept. For 94% of them, elegance is one of its key characteristics.
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