Column: Motsyk

Judging books by their covers

‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’ goes the classic saying, but let’s be honest, how many times have you ever bought a book in your life partly because you liked how it looked? Ok, in principle, you didn’t only buy it because of its appearance, and at the time of purchase you weren’t judging its contents either, but let’s face it: unless you were specifically looking for it, you would have never even picked up the book in the first place, had the cover not caught your attention. We like to think of ourselves as well-rounded, deep individuals, but we’re all guilty of shallowly judging contents by their outer appearance, and not only when it comes to books.

If you go on youtube and watch ‘unboxing’ or ‘haul’ videos, in which people show what they bought or ordered, you’ll probably notice how much attention is paid to the product’s packaging, and not just the ‘functional’ packaging like the PC casing or lipstick tube, but everything down to the cardboard box and bubblewrap it came in. These things seem trivial at first, something the company that made the product would never even think to advertise. However, they reveal the nature of our true being — that we form first impressions of something in first moment we come into contact with it.

Further, the charm of good packaging works past the moment of unboxing. Think of other products you use every day: what is it about them that makes them great to use, aside from fulfilling their intended purpose? The chair you’re sitting on, the lamp illuminating the room, your fancy android phone…all of these things were designed not only to fulfill a specific purpose but to be aesthetically pleasing as well. A chair wouldn’t be any less of a chair if it was ugly, but you probably still wouldn’t want to sit in it. That’s because the aesthetics of the chair adds to the general user experience.
The user experience - not just the functionality - is important to us as consumers, and companies are picking up on this quickly. I recently placed an order for some cosmetics, which arrived beautifully packaged in a lacquered box, complete with a ribbon and thank you note from the manufacturer. Though I don’t normally get too excited by these sorts of things, I was very impressed by this presentation. It was a small gesture, but it immediately formed a positive image of the company in my mind, even before I tried its products.

The same philosophy can of course be applied to people. We like to say that we don’t want to be judged based on our appearance: a potential employer should hire us for our brains and capabilities, and a potential love interest should like our great personality (damn the good looks), so ‘packaging’ shouldn’t matter, right? To a certain extent, yes, but consider the people you’re meeting for the first time: they don’t have much to judge you by except your outermost layer, and if that can immediately put you in a positive perspective in their eyes, then why not give it that extra bit of effort? Changing your habits to improve your overall appearance is a small gesture that can make a big difference: it won’t automatically guarantee that everyone will like you, but it will definitely improve your user experience.

Olga Motsyk is an MSc aerospace engineering student from Kiev, Ukraine. She can be reached at olgamotsyk@gmail.com