Product development with a focus on attractive product expression: an analysis of case studies

Josiena Gotzsch (), Jean-Jacques Chanaron () and David Birchall ()
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Josiena Gotzsch: MTS - Management Technologique et Strategique - EESC-GEM Grenoble Ecole de Management
Jean-Jacques Chanaron: GATE - Groupe d'analyse et de théorie économique - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - ENS LSH - Ecole Normale Supérieure Lettres et Sciences Humaines - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, EMSI - Ecole de Management des Systèmes d'Information - EESC-GEM Grenoble Ecole de Management
David Birchall: Henley Business School [University of Reading] - UOR - University of Reading

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Abstract: Creating outstanding products is vital for a company's endurance in competitive markets. A mix of functionality, ergonomics, aesthetics, symbols and price aspects all play a role in making a product desirable.Some products carry a personal meaning for its user. Others communicate its user's identity or the company's brand image. This study concentrates on communicative and meaningful aspects in a product's design. It examines how the creation of a communicative design occurs during the new product development process. The present research has an exploratory nature. For the field research, the case study method was chosen and a guideline for semi-directed interviews developed. This interview guideline was used to analyse multiple product development projects in two distinct companies. In two projects, specific attention was given to communicative aspects in the product‘s design. These two projects are examined in this paper.In the two selected projects, the product development teams carefully studied the users' preferences for aesthetics and product messages. A user-centred approach was used in both development processes. The choice to purposely improve the communicative value of the product's design was on the one hand influenced by the limited possibilities to create other advantages, such as improving the product's functionality or reducing its cost price. A weakness in the competitor's design strategy allowed the successful improvement of the product's communication on the other hand.

Keywords: User-centred Product; Design Management Process; New Product Development Process; Development Product Expression; Product Meaning; Product Language; Product Value (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
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Published in International Journal of Product Development, 2006, 3 (3-4), pp.467. ⟨10.1504/IJPD.2006.009903⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00135751

DOI: 10.1504/IJPD.2006.009903

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