Pink Is Not the New Black

Over the last 20 years, women’s attitude towards technology has shifted dramatically.  Who has the most megabytes is no longer purely the domain of men, the use of gadgets from netbooks to smart phones is now ubiquitous and women’s wants are playing an increasingly significant role in the design of the latest gizmos.

Women of all ages are using technology in their daily lives – from teenage girls addicted to online gaming, Facebook and Spotify; to mothers organising their children’s play dates by text, getting their retail therapy via Amazon and Skyping family and friends.  In fact, 45 per cent of all retailer consumer electronic purchases were made by women in 2007 – not to mention the female influence on most household purchases.  This shift in perception has resulted in a change in the way that technology is marketed to the fairer sex, but, unfortunately, the emphasis often seems to be on appearance rather than functionality. 

There’s no doubt that we’ve seen a plethora of hot pink gadgets ‘made for women’, from digital cameras to laptops, but the designers (probably male) seem to be missing the point.  To think that producing something in a ‘girly’ colour will make it appealing to women is patronising and plays to stereotypes – in fact these fluffy products are likely to alienate the market they’re attempting to attract.  Apart from anything else, don’t men realise that most girls reject pink around the age of five when they also cut the hair off their Barbies and we wouldn’t be seen dead with a garish gizmo?

Yes, aesthetics are important and women appreciate good design.  Just look at the success of Apple.  There’s no doubt that part of the popularity of the iPhone, particularly amongst female fans, is its sleek dark good looks combined with tactile functionality – it is a design classic.  Similarly, there’s something so pleasing about the look and feel of an iPod Nano in your hand that you wouldn’t want any other brand of MP3 player.

So what about Mr Jobs’ latest offering?  My immediate reaction on seeing the slim, shiny iPad was, I want one!  Sleek and stylish, it would be just the glamorous gadget to carry with pride, probably swathed in an equally expensive designer cover.  However, having read some of the less than favourable reviews of the ‘magical’ super-tablet, I’ve decided to wait for some of the technological glitches to be ironed out before I invest in this highly covetable object.

Women want more than sheer good looks – stylish products that are also effective are the key.  Again, harping back to Apple, the useability of the products I’ve tried is outstanding.  They truly are intuitive – women aren’t gadget geeks who are prepared to spend time reading complex instructions about every function, we just want to get on and do it.  The reason for buying a gizmo is to solve a specific problem and we want products that do this well, not gimmicks.

So please, all you high-tech designers, ditch the pink plastic – I don’t care whether it’s pastel pink or fuchsia, just give us stylish products that we’re proud to display, but also that do the job. 

PS Check out Popgadget - it’s a website dedicated to ‘personal tech and innovative lifestyle for women’.  Having written this blog, I was delighted to see a story on the site reporting that the 126th career chosen by Mattel for the iconic Barbie is computer engineer, with, of course, the requisite baby pink laptop…