Sitting Pretty

There are three different components of Emotional Design:
-functionality
-aesthetics
-logic/thinking aspect to an artifact (can be tied into aesthetic)

To say one likes something because "it's so pretty!" is not usually considered a reasonable and fact based answer. Rather, it is based on some emotional fluff- a term usually used by the feminine mind (unless it's a car or something like that). On the other hand, giving a reason under the category of functionality is quite different because it gives the object a sense of purpose beyond that which meets the eye. It's useful therefore it can be engaged with the rest of the body. No one can argue it's functionality. If you find it useful, great, it's something worth purchasing.
However I beg to differ.
I think to be able to say something "is pretty" happens when the eye finds something pleasing in connection to an object. I think that many people often regard 'pretty' things lack in function and if its only role is to entertain the eye- well it makes it a rather disposable, temporary subject because beauty and novelty can fade. And I find that many female shoppers often justify buying something because they talk themselves into finding its functional side while we all clearly know it's for its appearance. We tend to play the 'function' card when it's really the aesthetic one we're pulling at.
But honestly, what is wrong with getting something that is just 'merely' pretty? It's not about practicality- we get so much of that. Personally I like extremely useless things- things that I would not necessarily purchase because they're so useless, it seems silly to get in the first place. I really like coffee table books- and they're not even for reading so much as to display somewhere. I like looking at the pictures and that's about it. So when people ask what I want for, say Christmas or birthday, I end up saying what people want to hear- something that seems reasonably useful and less silly.
Haha. For my high school grad gift, my mom actually agreed to purchase me a custom-made elven house modelled after Rivendell. Yes I was into miniatures (it became rather useful because I started learning the history of furniture and how to work with wood... I learned to varnish and stain things etc) and yes I was very into my LOTR. That never happened but it just shows how I like very useless things.
If I made a lot of money, I'd buy antique kimonos. I also really really really want a design library modelled to Belle's library in 'Beauty and the Beast' at a much smaller scale of course. Or like the one in 'A Series of Unfortunate Events'.
But all useless, pretty things give me something that functional, practical things, like computers, don't: they spark my imagination and creativity by just merely gazing at them. It mesmerizes me. Beauty is often downplayed as a temporary, short term emotional effect that is induced on people for a second and is quickly discarded like photographs. Beauty is often seen as a more subjective thing over functionality which leans more to objective. We often make up reasons for beauty. If we look at a the Mona Lisa, we read so much into it from its supposed masculine side to the 'mysterious smile' (I don't find anything mysterious really), we lose its initial aesthetic appeal. We break up these paintings into a million pieces, fragmenting what was a picture of wholeness and casting it into some analytical/historical/philosophical/psychological/sociological means as to why it's a 'successful' painting. People can't just like something because they just like it. They have to justify the reason why they like it but perhaps there really is no reason. Perhaps when beauty occurs, we are a loss for words. There is no reason why we like it other than the fact that it is rather pretty. And that's perfectly fine. There is no need for justification. It's perfectly understandable. In Genesis, when His work was finished, God merely said, "it is good."
Beauty is a healing agent. I've noticed that many doctors offices have paintings or photographs of nature on their walls facing the patient. When I'm under the stress of school, all I want to do is sit and watching a really pretty movie and do homework. Or go outside and stare at the blue sky and get some fresh air. I have a folder in my computer that consists of editorials and fashion photographs which have caught my eye and all I like to do is open them and just look at them. Somehow it rejuvenates me. I like flipping through magazines because they're so fantastical.
So the next time you encounter something attractive: know that there is not necessarily a justification for being drawn to it. They are just as powerful as those objects that were created for function. My host family in Kosovo owned this set of metal champagne glasses, a coffee serving set and wine glasses which cost $1300 Euros. I asked her why she bought it, she told me it gave her a sense of joy to just look at it every day. Though I don't understand the beauty in expensive metal silverware, I understood how it gave her life a little bit of texture. And it is good.