Product Concept Design (eBook)

Product Concept Design has been written by a collection of researchers and practising designers from leading companies such as Nokia and Volvo. The book explains the process of conceptual design of new manufactured products and shows these the principles involved are employed in real examples of consumer products from some of the world’s most important corporations detailed by the designers themselves. The Nokia Research Center employs 20,000 people in 11 countries and has a turnover of €3.76bn.

Preface 5
Table of Contents 11
1 Introduction to Concept Design 13
1.1 About design, delivery and manufacturing 14
1.2 Visionary cruise liners 16
1.3 The future of home, work and leisure 21
1.4 The biological laundry 23
1.5 Three kinds of concepts 26
1.6 The general objectives of concept creation 31
1.6.1 Concept design for product development 32
1.6.2 Concept design for innovation 32
1.6.3 Concept design for shared vision 35
1.6.4 Concept design for competence 36
1.6.5 Concept design for expectation management 38
1.7 The properties of a concept 40
1.8 References 43
2 The Concept Design Team 44
2.1 Team members 46
2.1.1 User research expert 48
2.1.2 Domain expert 49
2.1.3 Design expert 50
2.1.4 Communications expert 51
2.1.5 Feasibility specialist 51
2.1.6 Team leader 52
2.1.7 Setting up a concepting team 52
2.2 Helping the team to work together 55
2.2.1 Methods for working together 56
2.2.2 Physical premises 57
2.2.3 Balancing the team size 58
2.3 Briefing the team 60
2.3.1 Business strategy and the generic objectives of concepting 61
2.3.2 Vision as a starting point for concepting 62
2.3.3 Ownerships in the concepting process 63
2.3.4 Trust 65
2.4 Individual team members 66
2.5 References 67
3 Processes of Product Concepting 68
3.1 Introduction 69
3.2 Three generic design activities with main two phases 70
3.3 Information-intensive process 73
3.4 Concept generation and presentation 75
3.5 Concept evaluation 78
3.5.1 Team evaluation 79
3.5.2 Concept evaluation with users 81
3.5.3 Concept evaluation criteria 82
3.6 Iterations and continuity 84
3.7 Timing of concepts 87
3.8 Process for user-experience design at the Nokia research center 89
3.9 IDEO's Deep Dive process 91
3.10 Decathlon Imaginew 93
3.11 References 101
4 User Information in Concepting 102
4.1 Frameworks for user information 104
4.2 Collecting user information 110
4.3 Interpreting user information 115
4.3.1 Applying interpretation models 115
4.3.2 Categorisation based on the material 116
4.3.3 Condensing and combining 118
4.3.4 Direct interpretation 118
4.4 Relationship between users and designers 119
4.4.1 Engineer designer and component user 121
4.4.2 Dodor designer and patient user 122
4.4.3 Student designer and master user 123
4.4.4 Coach designer and athlete user 123
4.4.5 Artist designer and muse user 124
4.4.6 Chef designer and customer user 125
4.4.7 Director designer and actor user 125
4.5 Concepting in an in-car communications user interface 126
4.6 Four-wheel kick-bike concept development 134
4.7 References 141
5 Strategic Concepts in the Automotive Industry 143
5.1 Concepting in the car industry 144
5.2 Strategic functions of concept cars 146
5.2.1 Exploring market reactions and expectations 147
5.2.2 Shaping attitudes and paving the way for innovations 147
5.2.3 Maintaining brand relevance 148
5.3 Design concepts at Volvo 149
5.4 Revolvolution 155
5.5 Recent Volvo concepts - design in evolution 159
5.5.1 Safety concept car - dynamic safety 159
5.5.2 Versatility concept car - Scandinavian functionality 160
5.5.3 Your concept car - feminine interpretation of Volvo design 162
5.5.4 Three concept car - the new small Volvo? 163
5.6 Concluding remarks 165
5.7 References 165
6 concepts in Uncertain Business Environments 166
6.1 Introduction 167
6.2 Uncertainty and new product development 168
6.3 Product development concepting in uncertain conditions 172
6.4 Finding the optimum concepting strategy 179
6.5 Conclusion 181
6.6 References 184
7 Vision Concepts 185
7.1 Concept development outside the research and development time frame 186
7.2 Vision concepting process 188
7.3 Six global scenarios 195
7.4 Concepts for short-range mobility and robotics 197
7.5 Conclusions 202
7.6 References 203
Contributor Biographies 204
Subject Index 208

"7 Vision Concepts (p. 178-179)

Mikko Saaskilahti, Roope Takala

7.1 Concept development outside the research and development time frame

Almost all companies find themselves at some pOint in a situation where they are unable to provide the right products to address the existing market demand!. The company has perhaps failed to anticipate market changes, and so when it eventually comes face-to-face with the new competition it has no time, no skills and no resources available to respond to it. Vision-based concept creation and concept development outside the normal R&D time frame is a means of preparing for changes in the business environment.

Vision concepting (see the description in Chapter 1) aims to sketch out future products and product portfolios far beyond the normal product development perspective, up to 15 to 20 years ahead. These concepts can be used to answer the question: "What kind of business will we be in in 15 years time?" Creating a vision concept gives a view beyond the blinding, close-range blur, which includes factors such as the current competition, the prevailing operational practices and the existing set of resources and competences.

It enables the taboos oftodays business to be challenged and modified in order to identify possible future paths. This book discusses several reasons for generating concepts. One of these is that, by introducing concepts such as Volvos concept cars (see Chapter S), the manufacturer can propose new ideas that the public can become familiar with and take on board. The company can also study the reactions and feedback from the market.

Concepting can be used to generate a dialogue between the company and its customers. In the case of vision concepts, the customer base for the futuristic ideas is not yet in place and consequently it is not necessary to communicate these concepts outside the company. Instead, the material created is intended to support strategic decision-making and the long-term development of the company, rather than to achieve short- or mid-term gains by creating the foundations for the next few product generations - the objective is to create motivational targets to aim at. Product concepts for the future cannot be created without observing the signs of change in the present.

This can be done by linking the product concepts to future scenarios. Future scenarios have been used as a tool to probe the possibilities of different futures in futurology!3]. The main industrial use of these studies has been to describe the possible changes in the business environment at a macro leveIl4]. However, these scenarios can also be used to determine the corresponding feasible product concepts. For different scenarios the company needs specific survival strategies and, of course, the companys product portfolios will also differ.

Using vision concepts gives the company a new angle for analysing its responses to future challenges at a product portfolio level. A company that has made its preparations by developing scenarios and vision concepts can adjust its strategy with the aim of making the chosen vision the reality of the future. It will be able to analyse the type of product offerings that will give it the flexibility to survive and succeed in any of the various future scenarios. Implementation of the strategy may lead, for example, to new operational policies being created, new technologies being adapted, company functions being developed and new knowledge being gained or acquired from other companies."