090 Mimicry
Copying properties from familiar things in order to realize benefits of those properties.
• In design, mimicry refers to copying pre-existing solutions to problems. There are three kinds of mimicry: surface, behavioral, and functional.
• Surface Mimicry: copying the way things look (e.g., knock-offs of expensive brands or products).
• Behavioral Mimicry: copying the way things act (e.g., robots simulating human facial expressions).
• Functional Mimicry: copying the way things work (e.g., mimicking the keypad of an adding machine in the design of a touch-tone telephone).
• Mimicry is perhaps the oldest and most efficient method for achieving advances in design. Consider mimicry as one approach in solving problems, considering the surface, ...
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