Should product innovations look simple or complex? The effects of visual complexity on consumers' comprehension of product innovations

Consumers often have difficulty understanding the really new functions of product innovations. This study explores the potential role of product appearance, and more specifically visual complexity, to improve consumers’ comprehension of product innovations. Because visual complexity is directly determined by designers, it is essential to equip...

Extending product life by introducing symbolic meaning: An exploration of design strategies to support subjective well-being

Because products are often discarded while still fully functioning, it may be possible to support durability with design that stimulates a more enduring product-owner relationship. This paper is based on the proposition that one promising approach to support such prolonged relevance is by developing products with a higher predisposition for the...

Preliminary study on the effects of visual complexity on consumers response to product innovations

Challenges in the design of smart product-service systems (PSSs): Experiences from practitioners

Smart Product-­?Service Systems (Smart PSSs) are market offerings that integrate products and services into one single solution through the implementation of IC technology. Smart PSSs allow organizations to develop relationships with consumers in new ways and have a growing presence in the marketplace. As designers’ involvement in the design of...

Smart energy households' pilot projects in The Netherlands with a design-driven approach

Residential smart grid projects can be evaluated by a design-driven approach, which focuses on gaining insights for successful product and service development by taking the end-users as a starting point. Because only little experience exists with this design-driven approach, this paper addresses how four pilot projects with smart energy...

Characteristics of Smart PSSs: Design Considerations for Value Creation

This article draws the attention of design academics and practitioners to a new type of market offering: Smart Product-Service Systems (Smart PSSs). Smart PSSs integrate smart products and e-services into single solutions, bringing the potential to create innovative interactions between consumers and providers. The article outlines six defining...

Distinctive Characteristics of Smart PSSs

Advances in technology have facilitated the integration of products and e-services into innovative solutions, Smart Product-Service Systems (PSSs). This paper discusses six distinctive characteristics of Smart PSSs that can be influenced by designers, and have an effect on the perceptions of consumers: Consumer empowerment, individualization of...

Are modern products curved or angular?: The effect of the prototype shape on the received product meaning

Managers that want to incorporate a pre-defined product meaning in a design need to know how consumers relate product properties to product meanings. In past research the proposed relationships between physical properties and meanings are implied to be robust. This study showed that the physical property ‘curvature’ has a positive effect on the...