the.com/customization
The illusion of choice that makes you feel like a designer, not a customer.
means The act of tailoring a product or experience to someone's individual preferences, from phone cases to playlists.
from Traces back to 'custom,' from Latin consuetudinem — 'habit' or 'usage,' the thing you're accustomed to. By the 1800s 'custom' described goods made to a buyer's specific order, as opposed to ready-made stock. 'Customize' emerged in American English in the early-to-mid 1900s, especially tied to car culture — hot-rodders 'customizing' factory models into personal statements. The '-ization' ending, that great bureaucratic suffix for turning any verb into a process, rode along to give us the word for how individual tailoring became an entire industry's selling point.
- default trap
- Most users never change a single setting
- paradox of choice
- Too many options lowers satisfaction, not raises it
- retail psychology
- Customizing something increases attachment and willingness to pay
- fake depth
- Often just preset combinations dressed up as infinite options