Source selection in product metaphor generation: The effects of salience and relatedness

To generate a product metaphor, designers must select a source, discern a property (or properties) of this source, and transfer this property to the product they design. The selection of any source in particular is affected by the extent to which it represents the meaning the designer intends to convey (i.e., its salience), and the strength of...

Metaphors we design by: The use of metaphors in product design

Imagine a coffee maker that subtly references the serving gesture of a butler or a car that explicitly mimics the sleek and streamlined form of a jet plane. Such metaphors are frequently used by designers as a means to render the values and meanings they want to assign to a product into a physical form. By their nature, metaphors build...