The designer speaks, and the user speaks back. Over time, the communication becomes involved. This may occur as a product becomes older and worn, or as a user becomes older and worn: users change their innate responses to the object based on past experiences, perhaps through rote memorization or perhaps through a more associative integration of product into lifestyle.

The ultimate goal of design, then, is to have a subtle, lasting and intuitive dialogue with a person: the same sort of dialogue a married couple may share after years together - the type of dialogue that occurs at a glance and often without a great deal of rational introspection.

This dialogue has been referenced by Richard Buchanan as being rhetorical in nature.

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