T R A N S I T I O N S I N T H E L I F E O F T H I N G S
(2020) In Diploma work IDEM05 20201Industrial Design
- Abstract
- The motivation behind the project was to examine if and how the product
attachment value could be prolonged through the form and features of the
product.
Existing research and literature was used to form an understanding on how
we value our belongings, from this four general determinants where clear:
pleasure, self-expression, group affiliation and memory. They, together
with the study of ordinary durables, also gave reason to believe that the
attachment value can be strengthened by design factors.
The general determinants where analysed and divided into eleven factors
that could potentially prolong the attachment value. A demarcation was
made to focus towards traditionally low value everyday products. This gave
the... (More) - The motivation behind the project was to examine if and how the product
attachment value could be prolonged through the form and features of the
product.
Existing research and literature was used to form an understanding on how
we value our belongings, from this four general determinants where clear:
pleasure, self-expression, group affiliation and memory. They, together
with the study of ordinary durables, also gave reason to believe that the
attachment value can be strengthened by design factors.
The general determinants where analysed and divided into eleven factors
that could potentially prolong the attachment value. A demarcation was
made to focus towards traditionally low value everyday products. This gave
the opportunity to focus on form factors without the interference of the
economic value. What was not found in the research was any exploration
of applying the strategies during product development.
Four of the eleven factors: personality, rejuvenation, surprise and olfaction
where further explored and applied to common low value household
products: ladle, tong, spatula and a funnel. The choice was made to
display the factors on the prototypes stronger and more obvious than on a
product for production.
It was clear from the start that this project would be difficult to evaluate
trough user tests. The factors are used on the products to prolong the
attachment value over a long period of time and this project stretched only
over a few months, which would make a user test irrelevant. What was
possible to evaluate was the experience of using the factors as a part of the
product development.
They provided a creative boost for most of the development, it formed new
ideas that wouldn’t have emerged without pushing for the specific factor.
To get a clearer communication the factor should however not interfere
with the function of the product or overlap drastically with other factors.
The main difficulty was when some of the ideas were pushing the products
towards becoming gimmicks. This occurred when the factor of product
attachment was only a feature of the product without any clear function.
This is visible in the spatula, a factor of surprise when the thermochromic
pigment react with heat, but nothing else, in the other products the factor
contributes to the function. The factors can’t be applied just because, they
need to somehow contribute to the function.
It was established early in the research phase that product attachment is
fluid and subjective. There is no one true answer to a strong product
attachment. It is often important of how we acquired the object, maybe we
bought it on a trip and have memories from the time of purchase, maybe it
was a gift and we treasure it because it reminds us of that person.
I believe that this project can contribute to clarify how product attachment
can be implemented as a strategy in the product development phase. The
project stress the value of seeing products not only through their function
but also the emotions they can elicit for the user on an everyday basis and
how the designer can have an important role in the emotional impact their
products have over time. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9008223
- author
- Olsson, Sofia
- supervisor
- organization
- alternative title
- How to prolong the attachment value for everyday household objects
- course
- IDEM05 20201
- year
- 2020
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- publication/series
- Diploma work
- report number
- LUT-DVIDE/ EX--20/50470SE
- other publication id
- ISRN
- language
- English
- id
- 9008223
- date added to LUP
- 2020-04-28 13:15:42
- date last changed
- 2020-04-28 13:15:42
@misc{9008223,
abstract = {{The motivation behind the project was to examine if and how the product
attachment value could be prolonged through the form and features of the
product.
Existing research and literature was used to form an understanding on how
we value our belongings, from this four general determinants where clear:
pleasure, self-expression, group affiliation and memory. They, together
with the study of ordinary durables, also gave reason to believe that the
attachment value can be strengthened by design factors.
The general determinants where analysed and divided into eleven factors
that could potentially prolong the attachment value. A demarcation was
made to focus towards traditionally low value everyday products. This gave
the opportunity to focus on form factors without the interference of the
economic value. What was not found in the research was any exploration
of applying the strategies during product development.
Four of the eleven factors: personality, rejuvenation, surprise and olfaction
where further explored and applied to common low value household
products: ladle, tong, spatula and a funnel. The choice was made to
display the factors on the prototypes stronger and more obvious than on a
product for production.
It was clear from the start that this project would be difficult to evaluate
trough user tests. The factors are used on the products to prolong the
attachment value over a long period of time and this project stretched only
over a few months, which would make a user test irrelevant. What was
possible to evaluate was the experience of using the factors as a part of the
product development.
They provided a creative boost for most of the development, it formed new
ideas that wouldn’t have emerged without pushing for the specific factor.
To get a clearer communication the factor should however not interfere
with the function of the product or overlap drastically with other factors.
The main difficulty was when some of the ideas were pushing the products
towards becoming gimmicks. This occurred when the factor of product
attachment was only a feature of the product without any clear function.
This is visible in the spatula, a factor of surprise when the thermochromic
pigment react with heat, but nothing else, in the other products the factor
contributes to the function. The factors can’t be applied just because, they
need to somehow contribute to the function.
It was established early in the research phase that product attachment is
fluid and subjective. There is no one true answer to a strong product
attachment. It is often important of how we acquired the object, maybe we
bought it on a trip and have memories from the time of purchase, maybe it
was a gift and we treasure it because it reminds us of that person.
I believe that this project can contribute to clarify how product attachment
can be implemented as a strategy in the product development phase. The
project stress the value of seeing products not only through their function
but also the emotions they can elicit for the user on an everyday basis and
how the designer can have an important role in the emotional impact their
products have over time.}},
author = {{Olsson, Sofia}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
series = {{Diploma work}},
title = {{T R A N S I T I O N S I N T H E L I F E O F T H I N G S}},
year = {{2020}},
}