Part 6/11:
Central to this evolution of design is the economics of shareholder primacy, which gained traction in the U.S. during the 1980s. This school of thought emphasizes a business's responsibility to maximize profits for shareholders over all else. Publicly traded companies, in their quest for growth, prioritize uniformity and cost-effectiveness over creativity. As companies scale, design becomes increasingly homogenized to facilitate rapid replicability—leading to spaces and products that are visually indistinguishable.
Take restaurants, for example, where we now often encounter interchangeable aesthetics rooted in measurable metrics rather than unique character. Historically vibrant dining experiences have been replaced by sterile environments built to optimize customer turnover.