Perception-oriented product design as a design challenge

Abstract

Product development focuses on creating a geometric-material entirety. Several engineering disciplines as well as industrial design contribute to reaching this objective. Depending on the specific profession and perspective, the term geometric-material entirety may refer to the form of a component, the form of an assembly or even the complex shape of a product. Both engineers and industrial designers share the common goal of producing a product’s geometric-material entirety. Common and interdisciplinary challenges clearly manifest themselves in form- and shape-finding processes which make up a large part of the product development process.

Designing means creating order. If an engineer is aware of the aim of creating order as part of a form- and shape-finding process and if he or she understands how order in terms of design can be created, he or she will be open to the decisions made by a product designer. Principal findings and recommendations can even be derived for development work in engineering design which help reach and advance objectives pursued in product design. For this reason it is a key factor in the form- and shape-finding process to identify design problems from an aesthetic point of view in order to facilitate a cooperative and integrative approach followed by both engineers and industrial designers in product development.

Design aspects in terms of colour, material and surface aesthetics are indispensable to product design development as they are always associated with form- and shape-finding processes. This article focuses on the categories of form and shape because this is the area where most links to engineering disciplines exist. Furthermore, it is here where particular importance is attached to form and shape perception as an element of product perception.