The last topic in this brief survey of visual engagement experiences is the materials used to produce products. Materials shape the user experience physically and have an enormous impact on a product's attractiveness and desirability. People's relationship with various materials is elemental and often charged with strong preferences and biases.

For example, basic "natural" materials, such as wood, cotton, and leather are considered by some to be more durable, wholesome, and pure. In a world of dwindling natural raw materials such materials are often more expensive, and the products made from them more exclusive.

We first experience products through sight, and our impression of a product is often established within milli-seconds of looking at it, well before we touch or use it. E-commerce websites provide a better experience than their forerunners, the mail-order catalogues because they offer a superior visualization. There are photos of the products in various angles, 360 degree rotation, a zooming option to take a closer look at the details of the material, videos and animated simulations of use--all are some of the experiences that respond to customer needs for a visual inspection of the product. By sight, we can assess whether the product is hard or soft, smooth or course, heavy or light, new or worn-out, and form an independent--if not always accurate-- impression of the product's quality.

The development and widespread use of synthetic polymers, commonly known as plastics, throughout the twentieth century, has revolutionized product experiences. It can be argued that plastics changed human society, exponentially expanding the availability of consumer and commercial products world-wide at large quantities and low cost. The following dialog, from the movie The Graduate (1967), reflects how the promise and possibilities of this new material were seen at that time. 

Lightweight, strong, easy to mold and inexpensive compared to natural materials, plastic was the first modern material that enabled designers to dream up new visual experiences of physical products. The following image shows some of those products:

Using plastics, products like the ones in the picture above, can be produced in any colors, be translucent or opaque, soft or hard, smooth or rough, and most interestingly, they can look like natural materials such as wood, metal, leather, or glass. The ability to simulate natural materials can backfire when customers perceive the substitution as inferior. Apple's hardware products, such as iPhones and MacBook Pro laptops, are encased in aluminum shells to differentiate them from competing products encased in plastic that appears to look like aluminum.

Constant advances in science and manufacturing, such as nano-technology and 3D printing, introduce "smart" materials with specialized properties. Examples are materials that are resistant to water, heat, or radiation, self-healing materials, and materials that feature adhesiveness and conductivity.