SWA #5

1.) I have chosen the pillow as my text.
2.) The pillow’s main purpose is to comfort and provide a comfortable sleeping or resting surface.
3.) Examining the pillow more closely, one can find many purposes that the pillow serves which may be taken for granted in every day life. Pillows can be used to relieve stress, elevate, cushion, and support. If one looks very closely at the type, style, or number of pillows a person chooses, it may even tell something about that person and, particularly, what kind of sleeper they are.
4.) The features I will mainly be focusing on include the simplicity of the pillow, the way it is made and the different types of designs that can be found. When I analyze each of these features, I am hoping to find that the different kinds of pillows, like fluffy ones or firm ones, will lead to a discovery of much more than just that of the make of the pillow. I intend to show that a lot of times, the specific kind of pillow, color, or size, actually tell a lot about what kind of sleeper a person is or what one looks for when they think of sleep.
5.) The designer does not necessarily go for looks all that much in a pillow because pillows are intended to be covered. The designer can, however, focus on the inside of the pillow. Since the pillow’s main job is to provide comfort, the inside must be filled with the right amount of hard and soft material to make the pillow comfortable. Also, it can have down feathers, or cotton, or a number of different materials that one may prefer. Designers want the pillow to seem comfortable just by the way it is puffed up or squishes in when one touches it. Feel is a very important aspect of this form of design. The way a pillow is sold can also provide an image of softness or comfort. For instance, if it has a picture of a person sleeping peacefully, it may attract the consumer. Size also matters when it comes to choosing a pillow. There are many different sized pillows, made for different purposes. But, I would say touch is the most important aspect because regardless of the size or the picture on the front, the buyer will most likely press on the pillow or lay one’s head on it to test it and decide if it is right for them. However, name brands like Tempur-Pedic have become popular, and may sway someone into choosing their product over another. But, they have become so famous because of the uniqueness of their pillows. Their pillows are made of different material than a lot of regular pillows, and they are said to mold to one’s head. This strategy of providing consumers with a new and different kind of pillow is just another way designers try to attract pillow buyers.
6.) The audience is just about everyone for this particular text. Just about everyone in America has at least one pillow or has slept on one at one time. This is the audience the pillow is aiming at- everyone who wants to sleep well- which makes up just about the entire population. I fit into this category as a busy student and tired kid who wants to lay down and have a good night’s sleep every night. I look to my pillow to provide me with this, as do most people.

Thesis: Upon deeper analysis, the pillow, in all its simplicity, provides much more than it is given credit for, including stress relief and fung-shui, as well as an idea as to what kind of sleeper each pillow owner is and how this basic object can affect people every day and every night.