Coatings add functional and aesthetic value
The increasing demand for functionality and appearance has made a product’s “coating” the application of a specifically designed surface layer an important element of the design and production process.
Coatings add functional and/or aesthetic value ( Aesthetics) to a variety of products ranging from cars to pharmaceuticals. They are primarily used to insulate or provide protection against environmental influences such as heat, corrosion, or mechanical strain.
They can also be used to change an object’s surface-material properties such as electrical conductivity, elasticity, or water and air permeability.
There is a range of processes available for applying seamless and permanently adhesive surface layers to an object. These include various chemical, mechanical, thermal, or thermo-mechanical processes like vaporizing and spraying, or immersion in electroplating baths. Coatings are often quite complex in and of themselves, consisting of several separate cohesive layers that perform different yet coordinating functions.
In addition to defining the particular physical and chemical properties of an object’s surface, coatings play an important role in the interface between consumer and product.
By determining the outward presentation (color, haptic features) of any given product, coatings are often key factors in determining its market success of failure. In a world where the functions and attributes of designed products are increasingly difficult to distinguish from one another, coatings have also become critical to the process of product differentiation and branding.
In recent years, as developers have come to fully recognize the significance of coatings in brandrecognition, sales, and functionality, advances in design technologies have made it possible to provide an increasing number of products with sophisticated and function- specific designable coatings.
A growing number of products today are designed with coatings intended to address specific target groups through the use of aesthetic styling. In this way, coatings are also significant at the semiotic level ( Semiotics), reflecting the general socio-cultural trends of the market at any given moment.
In an age where production cycles are getting shorter and product differentiation is key, coatings are taking on a new degree of significance for designers today.