the materials we use to make a thing probably influence how beautiful it will be as much the conceptual design of it does. or as marshall mcluhan put it, “the medium is the message.” often, the materials you choose make a very big statement about how much you value the idea you’re trying to communicate. is you’re business card laser printed on a thin stock? it will send a message about how you view your company/yourself.

this is not to say however, that more expensive is better. for example, our company prints our business cards on the backs of cereal boxes. the stock is quite thick so as to have a nice tactile quality. furthermore, this helps us send the message that we want to conserve. that we are at least in some way trying to be conscious about the impact that our materials have on the environment.

and cheaper on the front end doesn’t necessarily translate to long-term savings. in brooklyn, it seems to be popular right now to “restore” the facade of a building with what appears to me to be styrofoam and some sort of mudding spread on top of it. you can poke a hole in it with a fork. how long will that last compared to brick or stone, or even glass or metal? and beyond all of that, it just looks contrived rather than authentic, in my opinion.

as we undertake design projects, the impact of the materials we choose on the beauty of the project must be a major consideration.