7 Strengthening Aesthetic Individualization in Product Design …
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One of the currently most popular ways to individualize the aesthetic of a product is
mass customization, which will be described more detailed in the upcoming chapter.
Still, the current methods of mass customization limit the possibilities of customers
to integrate their ideas into the design process since modules which are being put
together by the customers are predesigned by product designers before the customer
is integrated into the design process. Therefore, the freedom of the consumers to
influence the aesthetic properties of the product is always limited and the fit of the
aesthetic features of the product and the needs of the consumers is not necessarily
given.
This paper will give insights on how aesthetic mass customization influences the
attachment a consumer has to a product and thus the sustainability of a product can
be improved. More than that it examines the limits of mass customization to always
find the aesthetic fit to the customer’s needs. Based on these findings a research
questions is analyzed. It is to be found out, if a greater degree of product individualization correlates with a greater degree of product attachment, product longevity
and thus sustainability. Furthermore, it is examined for which product categories a
higher degree of individualization is wanted. In a next step an open-result workshop
with relevant stakeholders was conducted to collect possible strategies to strengthen
degree of aesthetic individualization while at the same time to take into account the
principles of the efficiency of mass production.
7.2 State of the Art
There are a large number of descriptive models of product-consumer attachment. The
drivers for increased attachment are diverse. As mentioned by several authors, the
main factors that generate an increased product attachment are the product’s aesthetic
and functional fit to the consumers’ specific needs and wants, the personal memories
that one associates with the product, and the temporal expenditure that consumers
have to make in order to acquire the products (Schifferstein and Zwartkruis-Pelgrim
2008; Mugge et al. 2009). Many of the drivers for increased product loyalty can be
observed in highly individualized products. Mass customization is a frequently used
approach for individualizing products. In the following section of the paper, current
principles of mass customization are briefly presented. Afterwards, we investigate
how the integration of customers into the design process can be further strengthened
so that customers have a stronger connection to the products and become more
ecologically and economically sustainable for the manufacturing company.
7.2.1 Mass Customization
The principle of mass customization was decisively influenced by Joseph Pine. He
was one of the first scientists to popularize the term as early as 1992. Pine defined
99
One of the currently most popular ways to individualize the aesthetic of a product is
mass customization, which will be described more detailed in the upcoming chapter.
Still, the current methods of mass customization limit the possibilities of customers
to integrate their ideas into the design process since modules which are being put
together by the customers are predesigned by product designers before the customer
is integrated into the design process. Therefore, the freedom of the consumers to
influence the aesthetic properties of the product is always limited and the fit of the
aesthetic features of the product and the needs of the consumers is not necessarily
given.
This paper will give insights on how aesthetic mass customization influences the
attachment a consumer has to a product and thus the sustainability of a product can
be improved. More than that it examines the limits of mass customization to always
find the aesthetic fit to the customer’s needs. Based on these findings a research
questions is analyzed. It is to be found out, if a greater degree of product individualization correlates with a greater degree of product attachment, product longevity
and thus sustainability. Furthermore, it is examined for which product categories a
higher degree of individualization is wanted. In a next step an open-result workshop
with relevant stakeholders was conducted to collect possible strategies to strengthen
degree of aesthetic individualization while at the same time to take into account the
principles of the efficiency of mass production.
7.2 State of the Art
There are a large number of descriptive models of product-consumer attachment. The
drivers for increased attachment are diverse. As mentioned by several authors, the
main factors that generate an increased product attachment are the product’s aesthetic
and functional fit to the consumers’ specific needs and wants, the personal memories
that one associates with the product, and the temporal expenditure that consumers
have to make in order to acquire the products (Schifferstein and Zwartkruis-Pelgrim
2008; Mugge et al. 2009). Many of the drivers for increased product loyalty can be
observed in highly individualized products. Mass customization is a frequently used
approach for individualizing products. In the following section of the paper, current
principles of mass customization are briefly presented. Afterwards, we investigate
how the integration of customers into the design process can be further strengthened
so that customers have a stronger connection to the products and become more
ecologically and economically sustainable for the manufacturing company.
7.2.1 Mass Customization
The principle of mass customization was decisively influenced by Joseph Pine. He
was one of the first scientists to popularize the term as early as 1992. Pine defined