The legibility economy
Attention is becoming a lesser cultural currency than legibility
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Companies influence culture through brands they create, campaigns they run, but mostly, through their products. Some products become cultural lexicon (Levi’s 501s), others shine brightly only to disappear a moment later (Cabbage Patch Kids), yet others are known to a select few.
All of them have cultural capital, which distinguishes them from commodities (things that companies like Target, Temu, and fast fashion brands make). Cultural capital is intangible, non-financial asset, like identity, status, or meaning that makes brand products desirable, recognized and referenced.
Attention, as important as it seems at the moment, is becoming less valuable than legibility. Legibility is, in literal terms, the ease with which a reader can decode symbols. In culture, it is a measure of the permeability of communication. It is the ability to discern meaning.
Legibility is the top cultural currency. Algorithms command attention, but they do not command legibility.
Job of brands is to make their products legible.
Legible products carry a meaning and a narrative. Ray Ban sunglasses or Bean Boot are legible. Legible products are a story (Birkin Bag, Pumpkin Spice Latte) or are part of a cultural or subcultural story, like Nike Dunks or Air Force 1 are part of hip hop and Ralph Lauren of American identity. Legibility is intrinsically linked with product wear, use, and its social and cultural context. Legibility is by default possible almost only in the analog culture, and to achieve it, brands need a social, cultural or subcultural association: any link to identity of a person or a group (Burberry-Britishness, Skims-Kim K), association with a specific ownable emotion (Coca Cola-happiness), feeling (Pumpkin Spice Latte-change of seasons) or behavior (Nike-running, Hermès-craftsmanship) or a particular place in the popular imagination (Juicy Couture-Y2K).
Knowledge products are extreme version of product legibility. They carry a specific, niche story, linked to a narrow historical context or a unique time and place (1980s California surfers, downtown New York art scene, Antwerp Six, Yugoslav Black Wave cinema) and are surrounded by obscure references known only to a particular subculture.
Product legibility determines its perceived value, price, and cultural currency. Cultural currency is the ability to influence what people talk about, how they behave, and what they deem valuable.
In the attention economy, cultural currency is created through timeliness (alignment with what culture is paying attention to now); shareability (ease of remixing, quoting, or showing); clarity (instantly understandable meaning); social proof
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