the four functions of a great product

Late this March, my wife and I made a late season attempt to climb a frozen waterfall on Mt. Murchison. The avalanche hazard was a touch treacherous, as was the risk from ice falling from overhead. We found a safe way through the snow slabs at the base of the route and onto the ice but two pitches up a large chunk of ice came crashing down within about twenty feet of Tania. I pulled the plug and we left. Ever since my best friend was killed by rockfall while guiding in the Valley of the Ten Peaks, I've been understandable testy about hangfire overhead.

While making the long and sunny decent from Murchison, I started thinking about other activities Tania and I could do other than climbing. I've been climbing for 28 years and have successfully made the transition from "bold" climber to "old" climber. This day felt particularly intense given the hazards and so I stumbled on the unlikely activity of golf as an alternative. Welcome to middle age my son.

As middle age encroaches, it seems so does golf. It's a pedestrian activity, done in mild climates and the only risk for me is getting hit by a flying club from my hot-tempered wife. It's a challenging sport for sure and since we are already used to swinging ice axes, golf clubs would be a short jump.

We played a few times last year, but prior to that it was in our early twenties that each of us last played. I had given up golf back then because I lacked the maturity to simply enjoy the sport for what it is. I was very competitive back then and put a lot of pressure on my self to do well. Last year was genuinely fun and we enjoyed each other's company immensely.

One of the great things about heading back into the sport in our forties is we have dumped the delusion that we don't need lessons. So we are committing ourselves to going to golf camps and learning the game from the ground up. We are both naturally athletic and so it should be a great new game to play together.

Neither of us owns any equipment either, so we are heading to the golf store to remedy that problem. This is always an interesting part of the experience for me as a professionally trained product designer. I want the best tools to go with any endeavour I embark on.

The first function of golf clubs obviously is to hit the ball well. At this basic level, the product is a tool. It has a very specific mechanical function. The great thing about being a baby boomer is that manaufacturers have redesigned every category of sporting equipment to make our lives easier as we age. First it was shape skis and then it was the Big Bertha. Golf equipment today has become very advanced and has taken out much of the really hard learning required in the 70s when I started the game at age 7.

The second function of the product is aesthetic: the product as a piece of art. Maybe I'm weird here for a man, but given my design background, I want to use and experience things that are beautiful. How they look and feel is a very important part of the experience. The aesthetic dimension of any product or service is the spiritual component of its consumption. it can be architecture or industrial design of any scale. It's not just the clubs but the course and the clubhouse that form a part of the whole experience.

The third part of the product is symbolic. It matters to me what the company that makes the product stands for, what core values have informed the design and manufacturing process and the philosophies that have wound their way into the creation. I like Callaway because they have a tradition of innovation, just like most of the other companies I buy from (Apple, Patagonia, Black Diamond, Armani, Etro, Mercedes-Benz, BMW.) It's not about buying brands for the sake of buying brands; these particular brands have come to stand for something I like. I have an emotional connection to them.

The final part of the product is the artifact itself, as an object of physical construction: new advanced materials and manufacturing processes coming together to create something durable and well-made. At this level the object is an expression of the care and love of the people who make it.

This is what makes something the best of its category when the technical, emotional, spiritual and physical dimesnions come together into a well-integrated package.