exploratory study that consists of interviews and research on ''i-Mac look'' style. It examines the ... product has become a strategic business option. Since.
CONCURRENT ENGINEERING: Research and Applications A Framework of Product Styling Platform Approach: Styling as Intangible Modules Richard Y. K. Fung*, Steven P. Y. Chong and Yi Wang Department of Manufacturing Engineering and Engineering Management City University of Hong Kong, 83 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Abstract: This exploratory paper argues that pleasure-oriented product development with manufacturing flexibility is the next challenge of mass customization if seeking pleasure is the nature of mankind. Preferable product style of a fashion trend is widely accepted to visually enhance a product to satisfy today’s consumer demands. Considerable work remains to be done to integrate product styling (process to create and deliver visual pleasure) with manufacturing flexibility, i.e. platform approach, reusability. This paper reports on the initial findings from an exploratory study that consists of interviews and research on ‘‘i-Mac look’’ style. It examines the relationships between product style/styling and fashion trend on consumer preferences. The findings indicate that style can be manipulated by a proposed set of complex attributes. A particular style plus its application method(s) together function as an intangible module to refresh ordinary products. Implications are drawn to develop two frameworks: product styling platform and a case-based indexing device for product styling. The case-based indexing device serves as a support for the product styling platform. This paper opens up an inquiry of visual pleasure aspects in present and future challenges of mass customization. Key Words: mass customization, pleasure-oriented product development, product styling, product attributes, case-based indexing.
1. Introduction Mass customization is the paradigm breaking manufacturing reality that has been initiating attempts to summarize recent trends towards manufacturing flexibility, and aiming at responsively offering individual consumer satisfaction. Most recent literature of mass customization conclusively suggests two dimensions to resolve the challenge of mass producing customized products in a seeming paradox of mass customization. The first dimension is to utilize modular design or integrated process to achieve manufacturing efficiencies that approximate those of standard mass-produced products. Tseng and Jiao [34] suggest a coherent framework for meeting the technological challenge of mass customization that can simultaneously satisfy three requirements within a single approach. 1. Reusability/commonality 2. Product platform 3. Integrated product development The second dimension is to find a means to include individual consumer desires and needs in product
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
design, i.e. the management of human factors in product design. Jordan, an ergonomic specialist, [20] claims that the ultimate goal of today’s product development is targeting at offering pleasure at multiple levels in order to completely meet human needs. Most recent attempts on mass customization found in the literature have raised implications for theory development, testing and applications across a broad horizon. However, criticism has been drawn that, without in-depth synthesis, the revolutionary paradigm of mass customization remains a repackaging of many ideas found in the manufacturing literature [22,34]. The common topic found in literature of mass customization lies in the first dimension of how to achieve the manufacturing efficiencies and how to meet the technological challenge of mass customization (see [9,17,18,22,34]). There are comparatively few studies of mass customization about how to satisfy consumers at multiple levels. To be extreme, there is almost no literature looking into manufacturing flexibility with the process of delivering pleasure to consumers. This paper argues that this is the next challenge of developing integrated process for mass customization if seeking pleasure is the nature of mankind. A consumer electronic product is one of the examples which shows that offering pleasure to consumers is the essence of mass customization. They seem to be
Volume 12 Number 2 June 2004 1063-293X/04/02 0089–15 $10.00/0 DOI: 10.1177/1063293X04044381 ß 2004 Sage Publications
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irrelevant to physical dimensions: their functional performance increasingly gains independence from size, shape and form on the one hand. On the other hand, their nearly identical performance and price transform the competition from offering new technical improvements to the challenge of whether designers can capture consumer’s pleasure sensations. Therefore, this paper selects a consumer electronic product as a case to demonstrate the quest of developing pleasurable products in order to reveal the possibility of mass customisation of pleasurable products. Moreover, Bloch [3] claims that the exterior form, or design, is the most fundamental characteristic of a product. The appealing product form distinguishes whether a product is more pleasurable, more attractive, and more likely to be successful in the marketplace. The history of design reveals that to beautify a product form is the essential component of industrial design [2]. To create such a stylized beautiful form is always the most significant process of industrial design, popularly called product styling. To beautify (or add visual pleasure) a product has become a strategic business option. Since the 1920s, the change of product style has been a market weapon as the initial success of Henry Ford showed [25]. Despite the significance of product styling, the relationships between product styles, the behavior of product styling (fashion trend) and consumers’ responses in marketplace are often overlooked in most of the related literature. This paper is meant to address these issues by incorporating product styling into manufacturing flexibility. This paper answers the following research questions by examining a case of consumer electronic products: 1. What is the reusability and commonality of a particular style providing that it becomes a fashion trend? 2. How can product styling be integrated with the platform approach? A model of consumer responses to product styling and a working model of consumer preferences to product styling are proposed to answer the first question. With the support of a case study – i-Mac, a framework of product styling platform approach has been developed to answer the second question. From Section 2 to Section 5 of this paper, the proposed models and their theoretical background are presented. Together they offer the rationales and concepts of how to articulate product styling for researching and exploring the above questions. Section 6 discusses the research methodology. Section 7 consists of the research findings and discussion. Section 8 presents the proposed frameworks of product styling platform and case-based indexing device. Section 9 is the conclusion.
2. To Offer Pleasure to Consumers as the Essence of Mass Customization In today’s markets, many marketed consumer (durable or non-durable) products seem to emphasize the customer’s aesthetic experience1 rather than delivering a superior technology. Further improvement of product performance and costs may not be rewarded with any value-added increment. In other words, consumer’s preference on a product is different today. Their product selection criteria emphasizes aesthetic preferences of a product form rather than the technical considerations. Jordan [20] argues that to deliver pleasure as a supplemental value is increasingly significant to meet today’s challenges. He [19] advances the hierarchy of user needs from Maslow in terms of human factors to claim that the highest range of consumer’s desire is pleasure. If offering a pleasurable product is the user’s ultimate need, considering pleasure is a must in product design in forthcoming competitions. On the other hand, he also argues that the ultimate goal of product development is targeting the physiological needs that bring pleasure in order to fully satisfy human needs at multiple levels. It may turn the enhancement of functionality or technical specifications of a new product away from being the first priority. Jordan proposes the four-pleasure framework that provides the four levels of product competitiveness [20]: 1. Physio-pleasure: Derived from the sensory organs, including touch, taste and smell. 2. Socio-pleasure: The enjoyment derived from relationships with others. 3. Pyscho-pleasure: It pertains to people’s cognitive and emotional reactions. 4. Ideo-pleasure: This pertains to people’s values, for example, the aesthetics of a product and the values that a product embodies. As a whole, Jordan’s ideas have been elaborated on Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs. His claims imply that if seeking pleasure is the nature of mankind, the delivery of pleasures is the essence of mass customization. 2.1 The Characteristics of Pleasure with Products and Visual Pleasure as a Beginning for Mass Customization of Pleasurable Products Before looking into details, there is a need to understand how we obtain pleasure. The study of pleasure is
1 Fiore and Kimle [12] state that aesthetic experience can be defined as the sensitive selection or appreciation of formal, expressive or symbolic qualities of the product or environment, providing non-instrumental benefits that result in pleasure or satisfaction.
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mainly in the domain of psychology, but it has been an influential knowledge for product development and marketing. However, this topic is much too broad to discuss thoroughly here. In order to grasp the essential concepts for studying pleasure with products, this paper will borrow the views from Jordan [20] and Runyon and Stewart [28]. Freudian theory is unquestionably the most thoroughly developed and influential theory of personality in the history of psychopathology and psychology. Runyon and Stewart [28] have quoted Freud’s pleasure principle for marketing: . Pleasure principle: Freudian theory states that tension is painful while tension reduction is pleasurable, in which the id demands immediate release of tension, or gratification of instinctual needs.
In brief, Freud’s structure of personality2 suggests how we seek pleasure at multi-levels. First, the id seeks immediate pleasure. Second, the ego contends with reality and interests in long-term pleasure, which develops through learning and experience. Last, the superego strives for perfection, and looks for feelings of pride and avoids feelings of inferiority or unworthiness for transgressions. In the context of products, Jordan [20] has quoted Lewis’3 two types of pleasure: need pleasure and pleasures of appreciation as his theoretical base: 1. Pleasure of satisfying need: It accrues by moving a person from a state of discontentment to one of contentment. 2. Pleasure of appreciation: A person obtains pleasure along with appreciation, no matter what their current level of contentment. Jordan [20] concludes that pleasure includes both thoughts of the elimination of, or absence of, pain and also as the provision of positive, joyful feelings. He claims that pleasure with products can be defined as benefits associated with products at three levels: practical, emotional and hedonic benefits.4 Although Jordan’s and Runyon and Stewart’s quotations are two separate thoughts, while considering pleasure with products, they are supplements to each other. The
sources of pleasure with products range from the physical world to the psychological world, and that echoes Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs. Hence, the physical and psychological aspects of pleasure are the two fundamental parameters of pleasurable products. According to Jordan’s Hierarchy of user needs [19], Bonapace [4] concludes them as the core parameters of the pleasurability5 of a product: 1. Objective parameters (quantified and/or measured) refer to physical product properties. 2. Subjective sensations (cognitive psychology) refer to sensations perceived by consumers. These ideas reflect the empirical reality that the quality of the pleasure of a product involves not only consumer’s subjective sensations, but also the physical product properties, as shown in Table 1. Beauty and decoration of objects are used as obvious examples to show the fact that humans have sought pleasure since the beginning of time when humans made their first decorative tool [4,20]. Visual pleasure is the most inherent quality of the pleasure of a product. Therefore, visual pleasure is selected as the beginning to open a new direction of mass customization in designing pleasurable products. If only considering the positive responses, the two parameters of visual pleasure can be redefined as the elicitation of beautiful feeling or appreciation (subjective parameters) and physical properties of the product appearance (objective parameters).
3. Design As a Traditional Means for Offering Pleasure Visual pleasure, ‘‘being beautiful’’, is always a significant supplement to the functionality of a product. Ornament, as the elaboration of functionally completing objects for the sake of visual pleasure, is as old as mankind [33]. It is the oldest means to develop diversified products by adding decorations to elicit consumers’ visual pleasure. It is traditionally a means to Table 1. User sensations and corresponding product physical properties [5]. User Sensations
Product Physical Properties
2
Freud’s significant concepts are the structure of personality including three major conceptual systems: the id, ego and superego [28]. (For details refer to literature of Freudian theory.) 3 Details refers to Lewis’ The Four Loves [23]. 4 The practical benefits are the fulfilment of instinctual needs that the product is used. The emotional benefits are those pertaining to how a product affects a person’s mood, i.e. exciting, interesting, fun, satisfying or confidence enhancing. The hedonic benefits are those pertaining to the sensory and aesthetic pleasures, i.e. beauty or aesthetic appreciation or plainly the physical sensation of touching or holding a particular product (see [20]). 5 Pleasurability has not been well defined in Bonapace’s SEQUAM [5]. As it has been mentioned alongside with usability, it can be understood as similar as the development of usability which is derived from quality of use. Pleasurability of a product thus implies the quality of pleasure a product offers.
Tactile sensations Prehensile sensations Functional sensations Thermal sensations Acoustic sensations Visual sensations
Surface quality, softness and grip Object shape, size and dimensions Ways of using, activating and manipulating the object Related to the conductivity and thermal capacity of the materials Sonority of materials, of object when being activated of feedback Surfaces and body colors, surface finishes and softness, forms and shapes
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create a small batch of luxury products (crafts) rather than a high volume of standard products (massproduced products). Ornament can be claimed as the oldest pleasure-orientated small batch product development approach. Moreover, mass-produced products also require beautiful forms which rely on design professionals. Since the late 1900s, design has been initiated as a form of machine art which has taken over the role of ornament in order to satisfy the majority’s demands for beautiful products [2,7]. The decorative spectrum between ornament and design is blurred in principle. Ornament is something added into the exterior of a product, while design is to create functional shape (form) of a product [33]. They principally posit at the both ends of the spectrum of the creation of visual pleasure. Today, design becomes a strategic option to obtain sustainable competitive advantage since design can sell [1,6,8,35,36]. It is also an effective means to quickly differentiate a base (sellable) product into diversified products as most Asian products have done. Since design is a significant, traditional and rapid pleasure-adding approach for new product development, it is thus one of the suitable streams of industrial knowledge to assist for mass customization of pleasurable product. 3.1 The Development of Design and Design Knowledge: The Evolution of Product Styling as a Means for Visual Pleasure Bloch [3] claims that the exterior form or design is the most fundamental characteristic of a product. When making a choice between two products that are equal in
price and function, target consumers will buy the one that is more attractive or appealing, the one deemed more beautiful. The appealing product form distinguishes whether a product is more pleasurable, more attractive and more likely to be successful in the marketplace. The principle of creating an appealing design is that it should be intrinsically linked with tastes and economic consideration, combining both ‘‘function with appearance’’ and ‘‘physical object with style’’ [2,6]. Chambers [7] states that product style is a design image that is applied to create a particularly appealing product form. ‘‘Style’’ as a term for describing a particular appealing product form is a characteristic mode which can distinguish whether it is a member of a particular fashion category or not (see [31]). Moreover, the history of design reveals that to beautify a product form is the essential component of industrial design [2]. To create such a stylized, beautiful form is always the most significant process of industrial design, popularly called product styling. Over a period of time, product styling is thought to evolve into a historical continuity of changes in design trends. Design, as well as product styles, has been growing from monotrend towards multiple trends, as Table 2 shows. The complexity to predict the trend of product styling has been growing also, as Mike Featherstone claims in his book Consumer Culture & Postmodernism: ‘‘Today there is no fashion: there are only fashions. No rules, only choices’’ [11]. The term ‘‘product styling’’ has emerged throughout design history from the time of ‘‘streamlining’’ style in America in the 1930s [2,7,10]. Four considerations of applying product styling have been suggested in Chambers’ study, ‘‘Design and Designers: a Sociological
Table 2. Overview of design evolution [2,7,10]. Period Origin Overview of the main design trend
1930s–1940s USA Streamlined visions: To be pinned on industrial designers, who brought functionalism. This movement soon became known as the international style.
1930s–1940s Britain/Germany Naturally Nordic: The enthusiasm for everything Nordic and ‘natural’, and the demand for ‘good design’, became ubiquitous in the living rooms of the middle classes.
Period Origin Overview of the main design trend
1960s Britain Shocking colors and ‘pop’ enterprises: Creators of crazy exhibitions and utopian designs that were mass-produced in Italy. These groups were part of a rebellion later defined as ‘‘Anti-Design’’.
1970s Worldwide The loss of recognizable national product aesthetic: ‘Black box’ style emerged and the success of Japanese products exporting into the Western market which becomes the key influence in creating international style.
Period Origin Overview of the main design trend
1980s Worldwide When design trends overflowed: The Memphis group finally shattered the hope that paradise was furnished with ‘good design’. Meanwhile the West came to enjoy luxury again. ‘Designer fashion’ emerged which questioned the ‘commanding’ role of mechanisation. Impacts from marketing.
1990s Globalisation vs. Localisation Trends in the global village: The world has finally become a cultural melting pot as a result of the globalisation of corporate design. It is looking towards the future while at the same time reflecting a decidedly nostalgic tendency.
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Study of the Processes and Meanings of Product Styling’’ [7]: 1. To construct a shape that is appropriate for mass production. 2. To design an appearance of a product that identifies the product’s function. 3. To create a product form that visually distinguishes it from competitors that contain the same function. 4. To illustrate a proposed superior quality through the product’s image. As the initial success of Henry Ford showed, the change of product style has been invented as a market weapon since the 1920s [25]. Product styling has been historically facilitated by the creation of ‘‘sales appeal’’ since the 1930s. The ‘‘streamlining’’ style also reveals that trends of fashion do exist to influence the preferences of stylistic product image. Today, product styling is a strategic business option. Although the chronic cycle of product styles can be directly observed, design is the discipline that has specific knowledge to decode such changes for initiating new fashions. This is the rationale of using design experts’ experience and knowledge to model the product styling process. Product styling is a means for creating visual pleasurable products.
4. A Proposed Model of Consumer Responses to Product Styling A model of consumer responses to product styling is proposed which advances Bloch’s conceptual model of consumer responses to product form (see [3]). Bloch’s model proposes that a product form can consequentially Product styling: Design constraints
Objective parameter: Physical Properties
Style (n)
elicit consumers’ psychological and behavioral responses. The creation of product forms is directed by the design goals and design constraints. It also claims that a consumer’s characteristics, taste, preferences, cultural factors, social factors and a congruent of them moderate his/her reactions to appeal or avoid a product form. As prior sections have claimed, the only way to convince today’s consumers to buy a particular consumer product is to beautify it, which implies reliance on product styling. Thus a model of consumer responses to product styling is proposed, as shown in Figure 1. In summary, the proposed model advances the Bloch’s model by considering pleasure with product. It comprehensively models the product styling that creates a particular product style to elicit consumer psychological responses and actions. 4.1 A Proposed Working Model of Customers’ Preferences to Product Styling: Reusability/ Commonality of a Particular Product Style In order to incorporate manufacturing flexibility into product styling, a working model of customers’ preferences to product styling is proposed (Figure 2). It argues that a particular product style could be reusable if it becomes a fashion, which means it has been being adored by the critical mass of the potential consumers. Moreover, the better reusability and commonality of a fashion style implies some kind of manufacturing efficiencies for improving the process of product styling. However, there is very little literature to discuss how to distinguish the common and reusable components of a style especially relating to manufacturing. Despite Sproles’ ideas for fashion and fashion cycles [31], most of the literature describes the nature of styles as mostly
Psychological responses to product from I Cognitive responses •Product beliefs •Categorization II Affective responses •Positive responses •Negative responses
Subjective parameter:
Behavioral responses Approach
Avoidance
Appreciation of beauty
Moderating influences Figure 1. A model of consumer responses to product styling. (Italics represents new entities and normal typeface represents original entities in Bloch’s model [3].)
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Fashion trend: Providing prediction of preferred style
Product styling: Design constraints
Consistent purchasing & adopting by consumers
Physical attributes: Particular Style (Reusable style)
characteristically interrelated symbols /forms
Consumer’s psychological responses: Appealing
Informative attributes: Mutual agreed product messages / appreciation
Not appealing
Purchasing
No Purchasing: Consumer changes his / her preference
Moderatin influences Figure 2. A working model of consumer’s preferences to product styling.
in the domain of art. Therefore, this section will first present Sproles’ ideas of fashion cycle and the proposed ultimate attributes of a style. The discussion of the working model can be found in Section 4.1.3. Section 5 covers the Meyer and Lehnerd’s Concepts of Product Platform which is the theoretical background for the framework of product styling platform.
4.1.1 SPROLES’ PRINCIPLES OF FASHION AND FASHION LIFE CYCLE: REUSABILITY/ COMMONALITY OF PRODUCT STYLE Sproles [30] claims that the cycle of fashion (fashion and clothing), is more distinctive in the marketplace than the concept of the product life cycles portrayed. He also claims that ‘‘Fashion’’6 is mostly used as a generalizable concept to signify consumers’ aesthetic choices ranging from autos and housing to foods and music. He also reports that ‘‘Fashion’’ will diffuse across classes and social networks as a result of marketing strategy (communication and pricing), massed availability in all related social networks, i.e. retail stores and marketplaces. Thompson and Haytko [32] give a good illustration of fashion phenomena for consumption: ‘‘‘Fashion’ is the logic of planned obsolescence – not just the necessity for market survival, but the cycle of desire itself’’. This is a well-known empirical phenomenon in the marketplace
6
‘‘A fashion is a style of consumer product or way of behaving that is temporarily adopted by a discernible proportion of members of a social group because that chosen style or behavior is perceived to be socially appropriate for the time and situation’’ [31].
because of the matter of traditional marketing policy, i.e. newly launched products always feature fresh styles. In other words, ‘‘fashion’’ is another term to describe the cycle of product style that features the adoption pattern of a particular appealing product form that may go through the introduction, growth, maturity and decline stages along the time line. Likewise, if a particular appealing product form is being adopted as a fashion, it will spread out until almost all potential consumers have adopted, eventually reaching the decline stage. This means style can be reusable for creating a new product with an appealing product form until it reaches the decline stage.
4.1.2 A PROPOSED SET OF (COMPLEX) PHYSICAL AND INFORMATIVE ATTRIBUTES OF PRODUCT STYLE Theories that describe the nature of styles are mostly derived from the history of art [24]. Lloyd-Jones defines style as the collection of characteristically interrelated symbols and forms. Although such a definition has been used for the culture study about taste, since this definition can apply to visual design, it gives an idea of what a product style is. It also echoes to the two parameters of pleasure with product (see Section 2.1). This implies a product style can be represented by physical attributes and symbolic attributes. As Section 2.1 mentioned, product physical attributes can be defined as the collection of characteristically interrelated physical properties of a product form, i.e. surface, colors, finishes, textures, forms and shapes. These are the physical features of a product form.
A Framework of Product Styling Platform Approach
However, the symbolic attributes of a product style have a wider consumer aspect that cannot be precisely defined or fully explained. In order to develop a better understanding, Dr Carl G. Jung’s concept of a symbol is borrowed, (Dr Jung is one of the great scholars in psychology.) Jung [21] states that a symbol is a term, a name or even a picture that may be familiar in daily life, yet which possesses specific connotations in addition to its conventional and obvious meaning. He also explains that a word, a name, or an image is symbolic when it implies something more than its obvious and immediate meaning. Jung’s ideas of symbolism provide the principle of what is the symbolic attribute of a product style: the further and additional meanings of a product style. In the context of products, Chambers [7] gives a similar but richer description. The design becomes the message in which material objects (products) are translated into cultural symbols. ‘‘Style’’ is alternatively stated as a medium to communicate the commercially created meanings or artificial cultural code, i.e. product identities [7]. Further to Chambers’ ideas, Gronow [15] discusses taste and fashion, and states that a style is a meaningful image that characterizes the unifying features of a consumption object – a product for example. He argues that the meaning of a style should be common to many people, at least within their peer group, and cannot be unique while considering consumption objects (products). Therefore, a marketplace can be seen as a forum where product images are expressed, disposed and communicated in terms of marketable messages [29]. That means that the accumulation of product messages/ design images in the marketplace will build up additional meanings of a product style, and will further represent consumers’ identity and preferences. In turn, the accumulation of product messages/design images become information to partially reveal the symbolic and additional meanings found in the product style. Such information that describes partial symbolic meanings of a product style is proposed as informative attributes. For example, most of the professional digital cameras found in the market have been in black color. After this design image is accumulated and accepted, this becomes the informative product attribute to symbolize the ‘‘professional style’’ of a digital camera. The Cannon G5 which is in black color has been labelled as ‘‘pro’’— professional—despite the fact that its exterior is identical to the G3, with the only difference being that it is black in color (see PC Market Vol. 516, p. 64, 2003). Although the symbolic attributes of a product style are never precisely defined, the accumulated product messages as informative attributes of a product are tangible and well defined. Hence, physical attributes and informative attributes together formulate a complex set of style attributes that can mostly represent the objective and subjective parameters of a product style.
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Physical attributes, informative attributes and their control statements7 are defined as the following: . Physical attributes consist of the measurable variables – physical features of a product form. . The composition statement is a statement for physical attributes that are about the structure of the characteristic relationships between physical attributes. . Informative attributes contain tangible information with symbolic meanings. . The symbolization statement is a statement for informative attributes to describe what and how the messages are attached to the particular product form feature(s) in order to symbolize deeper meanings.
4.1.3 A PROPOSED WORKING MODEL OF CUSTOMERS’ PREFERENCES TO PRODUCT STYLING As Sproles [30,31] claimed, fashion trend is a common marketing phenomenon while a particular fashionable design and its images become preferred style to apply to products. The first proposition of the model states that fashion trends can predict the consumers’ positive response to the similar stylistic product form. The second proposition is that most of the consumers’ major psychological responses have been led by a fashion trend so that the consumers’ psychological responses are unlikely to be changed, unless a new fashion trend emerges. Therefore, the simple working model is proposed to model these relationships, as Figure 2 shows. The model hypotheses, if consumers will consistently make a particular product style as a purchasing choice, will be the reference to predict the growth of adoptions of similar stylistic product form. The concept of the set of physical and informative attributes can be applied to distinguish a particular product style. The distribution of a particular style may go through a life cycle, then the process of product styling can reuse a particular style to create a new but similar stylistic product form to consistently attract consumers to take purchasing action, until it becomes obsolete. However, most literature about manufacture’s flexibility of product styling relates to the fashion and clothing industries. There is less literature on the reusability and commonality of a particular style other than for the fashion and clothing industries. Therefore, this paper’s hypotheses, H1 and H2, are supported by the evidence found in the exploratory study and provide cues to answer the research questions 1 and 2.
7
Control statements are the statements that characterize a style by describing the interrelations of its symbols and forms. This definition echoes to Lloyd-Jones’ ideas [24].
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H1: In consumer electronic industry, product styling can also reuse a particular style of the fashion trends to differentiate derived products. H2: The commonalities of the styles of a consumer electronic product can be distinguished and managed by the set of physical and informative attributes.
5. Meyer and Lehnerd’s Concepts of Product Platform: Background for the Proposed Product Styling Platform Approach There are three technical requirements to support manufacturing efficiency: reusability/commonality, product platform and integrated product development. This paper mainly focuses on the platform approach as a start for product styling since it is a moderate technique. It embeds reusability/commonality and leads to integrated product development. The essential concept of the platform approach originates from Meyer and Lehnerd’s study [26] in the mid 1990s. Product platform is defined as sets of subsystems and interfaces, and these subsystems together form a common architecture spinning across multiple products [26], as shown in Figure 3. In short, product platform is constructed by architecture, subsystems, interface, module and tangible product attributes. Architecture is the structure for arranging the subsystems and interfaces. Subsystems are assembled by modules. A module can also be defined as a grouping of physical or conceptual components including mostly tangible product attributes [9]. To obtain and petition the discrete functional subsystems, product modularization is a must. Two principle processes in the product platform approach are product modularization that decomposes it into modules and reassembling product modules into derivative products.
identify the reusability and commonality of product styles of consumer electronic products. It includes interviews and a case-based research of a particular ‘‘product style’’. Five Hong Kong professional design experts with more than seven years expertise were interviewed to validate the contents of H2 and partial contents of H1. They were asked whether there is a fashion trend and how to predict the consumer’s preferences to product styles. Case-based research of a particular fashion of consumer electronic products was conducted through collecting bundles of product information. Since the style of ‘‘i-Mac’’ or ‘‘i-Mac feel’’ has been preferably applied to differentiate consumer products within four years, this paper claims that it has emerged as a fashion trend and been selected as the case study. The findings fully support H1. Visual content and textual content analysis were employed as major tools to analyze the collected data. In general, visual content analysis is to count and sort the distinctive visual contents of different products from the data sets. This method is used to sort out the products with common physical attributes similar to the i-Mac style. The textual contents analyzes were used to detect the informative attributes of the i-Mac style. The search for the data is bounded within four years period (1998–2001) in Hong Kong. The data were retrieved from the available archives ranging from the publications of IT products and information found in general magazines, including PCXPress, PCWorld, e-Zone, PC weekly and other related websites. The findings serve to answer Question 1, and lead to a solution for Question 2.
7. Research Findings and Discussion
7.1 Interviews of Hong Kong Professional Design Experts 6. Research Methodology An exploratory study of product style was conducted, based on the working model of consumer’s preferences to product styling. It aims to research empirical supports for the hypotheses H1 and H2 in order to
S1
S2
S3
P1
P2
P3
Derivative Products
Figure 3. Product Platform: Subsystems and interfaces serving as a common architecture for multiple products [26].
Five Hong Kong professional design experts with more than seven years experience were interviewed to validate the contents of H1 and H2. They were asked whether there is a fashion trend and how to predict the consumer’s preferences to product styles. They all agreed that fashion trends do exist not only in the fashion and clothing industries, but also other industries, and that can be used to predict consumer’s preferences. Their opinions echo Sproles’ fashion cycle [30,31] and support H1. Those with more experience have looked at product style in broader dimensions. In brief, tracing style trends can be done by tracking the design features and investigating the connotation embedded in the marketing information, as shown in Table 3. Table 3 is the summary of the opinions. It shows that the first four methods (No. 4 is similar
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Table 3. Interview results on how experts trace fashion trends. Methods to Trace the Style Trends
Who
Individual’s intuition Following buyer’s (or merchandiser’s) visions To directly observe the distinctive design features and their changes in international trade fairs or markets To directly observe the distinctive design features and their changes of internationally famous fashion designers To analyze the distinctive designs and advertisement in Elite Magazines or Product Categories To analyze the changes of connotations embedding in fashion articles To collect worldwide product information from product categories, trade fairs and magazines to draw a global view of product styling
All All All except a a
b, c, e
c e
a. Fashion Designer with eight years experience. b. Jewellery Design Manager with more than 15 years experience. c. Jewellery Design Consultant with more than 15 years experience. d. Product Design Manager (Design Consultant Firm) with eight years experience. e. President (Electronic Product Manufacturing Firm) with more than 20 years experience.
to No. 3) are common. The Method 5 is moderate and the last two methods are rarely used. The first five methods are based on the design professionals’ direct observations and their peers’ opinions. They focus on observing the distinctive design features of available products, and the data are derived from international trade fairs, magazines, product categories, etc. However, the two most experienced experts extract the product messages (informative attributes) from marketplaces or fashion articles rather than just focusing on design features (physical attributes). The results support the second hypothesis that product style can be distinguished by the set of physical and informative attributes. As a whole, the design experts’ experience and opinions support the proposed working model (see Figure 2). Since the interviews only cover five cases, the results are only indicative. 7.2 A Case-based Research of a Specific Fashion Trend – ‘‘i-Mac look’’ This section presents the case of the fashion of i-Mac style. It includes four sections: brief history of the launch of i-Mac style, the physical attributes of i-Mac style, the informative attributes of i-Mac style and discussion of the relationships between the two attributes. 7.2.1 THE HISTORY OF AN i-Mac COMPUTER Using i-Mac style as a case study is important because a distinctive fashion trend of ‘‘i-Mac’’ as an appealing product style has emerged within a short time. The
Figure 4. The Black and white image of i-Mac Computer and its round mouse.
i-Mac Computer is a good example demonstrating that product style can be a means to get above average performance in consumer product competition. i-Mac was created as Apple’s computer for the new millennium by Steve Jobs. It was positioned as the most original new computer since the Macintosh series launched in 1984. It was targeted at the low-end consumer market and designed with the Internet concept. It was announced in May 1998 and delivered in August 1998. It brought a new paradigm of computer with distinctive appearance, style and ‘‘all-in-one’’ configuration in 1998 (see http:// www.apple-history.com). The distinctive style of i-Mac is comparatively more significant than its functional performance, created by new functional form and new cultural meanings (the Internet assessable computer) to visually enhance a computer. There were sharp criticisms about the i-Mac’s lack of USB, that it was not good for gaming, and it was unable to be upgraded (Scott Link, December 16, 1998, see http://www.theimac.com). Figure 4 shows a black and white image of i-Mac Computer. Despite the sharp criticism, i-Mac was a top selling PC in 1998 in the United States. When the model of i-Mac first went on sale, it helped boost Apple’s overall retail market share to 10%, up from 5% (see The New York Times, December 23, 1998). The boom of its successful sale attracted many others to follow or even copy its form features. Moreover, Apple has sued eOne, because eOne has totally duplicated the style of i-Mac computer. This copy-cat incident has impacted on the future of copyright law in America, since the courts have granted copyright protection to ‘‘stylized’’ items (May 2000 PCweekly). 7.2.2 FINDINGS I: PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES OF i-Mac STYLE The continuous emergence of consumer electronic products with stylistic ‘‘i-Mac look’’ without significant performance improvement indicates that the ‘‘i-Mac
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look’’ has become a fashion trend. The composition of the i-Mac style is stated as the jelly-bean-shaped translucent ‘‘Bondi Blue’’ plastics with white color and all-inone casing (see http://www.apple-history.com, The New York Times December 23, 1998). The purpose of this composition statement is to define the structure of the characteristic relationship between design features and forms (physical attributes). It is the definition of a particular style (i-Mac style) to distinguish which are its followers through pair-wise comparison.8 Figure 5 shows the results of counting the emergence of new consumer electronic products that have been carrying ‘‘i-Mac style’’ over a period of three years starting from 1998 to 2001. It depicts the pattern of the behavior of the fashion trend of the ‘‘i-Mac look’’ including three stages: introduction, boom and decline. It suggests a kind of fashion lifecycle that can exist in consumer electronic products industries. The results show that i-Mac style could be used to bestow on ordinary products, like mice, speakers, MP3 etc., despite their diversified design constraints and requirements. 7.2.3 FINDINGS II: INFORMATIVE ATTRIBUTES OF i-Mac STYLE Since 1999, many marketing messages have emerged to describe products with i-Mac style. From describing the similarity of the physical features of i-Mac Computer style, to a stand alone label for i-Mac style, to an ‘‘i’’ – a symbol of Internet. Table 4 and Figure 6 show that the cumulative messages adding to the style of the i-Mac Computer which finally symbolize the Internet, brands of Apple Computer and trendy (this description only validated in 2001–2002) digital product. In fact, the symbol ‘‘i’’ becomes a cultural connotation, attached to products to symbolize the internet, i.e. i-Pod, & i-SCSI. In brief, the cumulative messages adding to i-Mac style reveals the enrichment process of symbolization and the pattern of the growth of the informative attributes of a particular product style/ fashion. This is the symbolization statement of i-Mac style that shows the characteristic of the informative attributes of ‘‘i-Mac’’ as the fashion. 7.3 Summary and Discussion Both the interviews and the research into i-Mac style support the proposed working model. The overall findings provide evidence to support the first hypothesis
8 The method of pair-wise comparison is designed as follows: The composition statement is set as the standard of the i-Mac style. Use this standard to compare with the new products appearing in the selected magazines in pairs. The pairs include the style of a new product and the standard. If they match with each other, the new product is in i-Mac style (judging by the design expertise of the author).
Figure 5. The count of new products with ‘‘i-Mac style’’.
Table 4. The product messages of ‘‘i-Mac look’’ from Dec 1998 to Dec 2001. Time Message Time Message
1999 Nov i-Mac trend 2000 July i-color
1999 Dec i-Mac concept 2000 Aug i-Mac colors
2000 Mar i-Mac, i-Mac feel 2001 Nov i-SCSI
2000 April i-Mac feel, i-base
More Symbolic
i-colors i-Mac feel i-Mac look
More Tangible Figure 6. The symbolisation of aesthetic connotation of ‘‘i-Mac look’’.
that fashion trends do exist in consumer electronic products, and a particular product style can be reusable if it becomes a fashion. The case of applying i-Mac style to bestow on ordinary products offers backup for decomposing a particular product style by applying the set of complex product attributes. The composition statement that describes the physical attributes and structure of i-Mac style can be used to distinguish and manipulate the commonalities of the physical attributes of i-Mac style. And the cumulative product messages (informative attributes) reveal the symbolic meanings that are attached to i-Mac style. H2 is supported. The case presents the reusing of i-Mac style to differentiate products with various design goals and constraints by product styling. In other words, product styling is the process to retrieve the reusability and commonality of a particular product style of a fashion trend, in which the set of complex attributes and composition state-
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ments are descriptions to control the particular product style. However, the case study is lacking in contexts of their styling process. It cannot offer any answer to how to create a brand new product style, nor how to project tomorrow’s fashion trend, nor how to concurrently reuse a particular style and match it with different design requirements. Despite the fact that the basic propositions of the working model are accepted as common marketing phenomenon, they may not be valid for all situations (refers to Section 5.3). Therefore further research is required. Moreover, product styling is still an uncodified process for reusing a particular product style which relies on designer’s experiences [37]. Despite the fact that casebased research can only illustrate the framework of product styling, it can still reveal that a particular style plus the application of reusing this style formulate the specific product styling process (styling) to bestow on ordinary products. This means a particular ‘‘styling’’ serves as alternative intangible component/module for refreshing existing products through attaching to ordinary products, as Figure 7 shows. Because there is very little literature on the reusability of a particular product style, more research is required.
8. Proposed Conceptual Frameworks of Product Styling Platform and Case-based indexing Today, there are fashions, as Featherstone [11] claims. This implies there is more than one style and one method of styling. As a result, there are many product styling processes, combining both styles and style applications, to be manipulated for creating diversified
Product 1 Product 2
products with various visual enhancements. If product styling is the intangible module, then, there is a set of intangible modules to create a set of derivative products with different fashionable styles today. If the set of derivative products is constructed by platforms following Meyer and Lehnerd’s ideas, the product styling as intangible modules can combine to function as an additional platform to incorporate visual pleasure into this set of derivative products. This means a product styling platform is constructed by the subsystems of ‘‘styling’’ modules as the outer casing adding to a product architecture. If there are many ‘‘styling’’ modules, which are lessons learnt by designers, the product styling platform could be constructed to bestow on the original set of derivative products. In brief, a particular ‘‘styling’’ module is a set of descriptions and control statements to characterize a particular product style and its application method. These mainly exist as designer’s intents rather than fully codified information, and which are based on designer’s experience and lesson-learned. Figure 8 presents the conceptual framework of product styling platform approach. Moreover, the proposed framework is a conceptual solution to the second question: ‘‘How can product styling be integrated with the platform approach’’. An example would be the customization of the colors of Nike shoes (http://nikeid.nike.com/). As mentioned previously the experience of the fashion and clothing industries could be applied, therefore, a product styling platform may be suitable to customize the visual pleasure for consumer electronic products. As mentioned earlier, product styling still includes many uncertainties, i.e. the creation and identification of a new fashion trend are uncertain. But professional
Styling as intangible module: Method to apply Sty1 (PS1)
Product n
PS1
New Product 1
PS1
New Product 2
PS1
New Product n
A particular product style (Sty1): Physical attributes • Composition statement • Informative attributes • Figure 7. Styling as intangible modules: style plus its application method.
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P1 Product Styling Platform
S1
S2
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P1
PS1
P2
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(Additional)
+
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More Derivative Products Styling as intangible modules (Lessons learnt)
PS1
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Figure 8. The creation of new modules via attaching product styling modules (physical and informative attributes).
• • • •
Case A “Styling” (PS1) Style1 Application(s) Product type First launch
A01:Physical attributes • Design features • Composition statement
A02: Informative attributes • Messages • Symbolization
A01.1: Design constraints • Materials • Production methods
A01.1: Design goals • Benefits • Interfaces / ergonomic
A99: Confirmation • Confirmation of a fashion trend
A03: Marketing phenomenon • Products with similar style • Consumer feedback • Substitutes
A03.1: Consumer info • Age / professions
Figure 9. The framework of index structure of product styling in case memory.
design experts do learn to identify fashion trends and create new product style by getting experience to assess design situations. However, retrieving the appropriate information from available archives requires considerable design experience as the interviews reveal. To optimize the reward of a model, to develop a systematic framework with practical applicability is important
[13,14,16]. Therefore, a framework of case-based indexing is developed to support the above product styling platform approach to assist design experts in organizing the information of cases of product styling, as Figure 9 shows. The framework addresses the reuse of experience in product styling by using the index to retrieve the appropriate cases from case memory.
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In principle, the proposed case-based indexing approach employs a partial concept of case-based reasoning. In the interim, the approach serves something like case-based aiding systems or retrieval-only systems as Ockerman and Mitchell define [27]. Moreover, it still relies on designers’ expertise to select and offer appropriate briefing to retrieve the right case and information in order to identify the fashion trend. Therefore, further research is needed to develop a complete case-based reasoning system for product style platform approach. Although the proposed frameworks require further work, they do suggest a systematic and formal means to explicit information of product styling so that the consumer preference on product styling can easily be communicated across multi-disciplinary design team. In other words, this also serves as a bridge to the area of developing an intelligent information framework for managing intangible consumer requirement (see [16]).
9. Conclusions With the consideration of mass customization, this paper presents research that aims to incorporate the delivery of visual pleasure into manufacturing flexibility. It lies in the knowledge domain of industrial design. Bloch’s model of consumer’s responses to product form provides a systematic approach to the study of design issues. This article develops two models: first, a model of consumer responses to product styling, and second, a working model of transforming consumer’s preferences to product styling which advance Bloch’s model to be ready for product styling. A set of complex product attributes is proposed to manipulate product styles. Five Hong Kong professional design experts with experience have been interviewed whose opinions support the proposed models. They all agree that fashion trends do exist and can be used to predict consumer preferences. Based on the set of complex product attributes, research has been conducted to investigate the case of ‘‘i-Mac style’’ as a particular fashion trend. The findings of the case study support the proposed models that a particular product style can be reused if it becomes a fashion. An implication is drawn that styling is an intangible module to bestow on ordinary products. A framework of product styling platform approach is then developed to answer the question: how product style can be integrated into the platform approach. Moreover, a framework of case-based indexing device is developed to support the above product styling platform approach by organising the information of cases of product styling. As a whole, this paper explores the behavior of product style and fashion trend through a case study of ‘‘i-Mac style’’. The proposed framework is suggested as a potential solution to the question of ‘‘How to integrate product style into platform
approach?’’. Moreover, this paper is only a ‘‘start’’ rather a conclusion. It has opened up an inquiry of visual pleasure aspects in today’s and future challenges to mass customization. Acknowledgement The work described in this paper was partly supported by a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project No: CityU1028/99E). References 1. Baker, M. and Hart, S. (1999). Product Strategy and Management, London: Prentice Hall Europe. 2. Bayley, S. (1979). In Good Shape: Style in Industrial Products 1900 to 1960, London: The Design Council, pp. 1–5. 3. Bloch, P.H. (July 1995). Seeking the Ideal Form: Product Design and Consumer Response, Journal of Marketing, 59, 16–29. 4. Bonapace, L. (1999). The Ergonomics of Pleasure, In: Green, W.S. and Jordan, P.W. (eds.), Human Factors in Product Design: Current Practice and Future Trends, London: Taylor and Francis, pp. 234–248. 5. Bonapace, L. (2002). Linking Product Properties to Pleasure: The Sensorial Quality Assessment Method – SEQUAM, In: Green, W.S. and Jordan, P.W. (eds.), Pleasure with Products: Beyond Usability, London and New York: Taylor & Francis, pp. 189–217. 6. Bruce, M. and Bessant, J. (2002). Design in Business: Strategic Innovation Through Design, Harlow, England: Financial Times/Prentice Hall. 7. Chambers, D.A. (1983). Design and Designers: a Sociological Study of the Processes and Meanings of Product Styling. (Thesis), Wetherby, West Yorkshire: Document Supply Centre, British Library. 8. Cooper, R. and Press, M. (1995). The Design Agenda: A Guide to Successful Design Management, Chichester: Wiley. 9. Du, X., Jiao, J. and Tseng, M.M. (2000). Architecture of Product Family for Mass Customisation, In: ICMIT, pp. 437–443. 10. de Noblet, J. (ed.) (1993). Industrial Design: Reflection of a Century, Paris: Flammarion/APCI. 11. Featherstone, M. (1994). Consumer Culture and Postmodernism, London: Sage Publications, pp. 83–84. 12. Fiore, A.M. and Kimle, P.A. (1997). Understanding Aesthetics for The Merchandising and Design Professional, New York: Fairchild Publications, pp. 3–4. 13. Fung, R.Y.K., Popplewell, K. and Xie, J. (1998). An Intelligent Hybrid System for Consumer Requirements Analysis and Product Attribute Targets Determination, International Journal of Production Research, 36(1): 13–34. 14. Fung, R.Y.K., Tang, J., Tu, Y.L. and Wang, D. (2002). Product Design Resources Optimisation using a NonLinear Fuzzy Quality Function Deployment Model, International Journal of Production Research, 40(3), 585–599.
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15. Gronow, J. (1997). The Sociology of Taste, London and New York: Routledge, pp. 95–98. 16. Harding, J.A., Popplewell, K., Fung, R.Y.K. and Omar, A.R. (2001). An Intelligent Information Framework Relating Consumer Requirements and Product Characteristics, Computers in Industry, 44(1): 51–65. 17. Hart, C.W.L. (1995). Mass Customisation: Conceptual Underpinning, Opportunities and Limits, International Journal of Service Industry Management, 06(2). 18. http://www.emerald-library.com/brev/08506bc1.htm 19. Jiao, J., Tseng, M.M., Duffy, V.G. and Lin, F. (1998). Product Family Modelling for Mass Customisation, Computers & Ind. Engg, 35(3–4): 495–498. 20. Jordan, P.W.(1999). Pleasurewith Products: HumanFactors for Body, Mind and Soul, In: Green, W.S. and Jordan, P.W. (eds), Human Factors in Product Design: Current Practice and Future Trends, London: Taylor and Francis, pp. 206–217. 21. Jordan, P.W. (2000). Designing Pleasurable Products: An Introduction to The New Human Factors, London and New York: Taylor & Francis. 22. Jung, C.G. (1968). Man and His Symbols, New York: Dell Publishing. pp. 3–5. 23. Kotha, S. (1995). Mass Customisation: Implementation the Emerging Paradigm for Competitive Advantage, Strategic Management Journal, 16, 21–42. 24. Lewis, C.S. (1960). The Four Love, London: Fount. 25. Lloyd-Jones, P. (1991). Taste Today: The Role of Appreciation in Consumerism and Design, New York: Pergamon Press. 26. Menge, J.A. (Nov. 1962). Style Change Costs as a Market Weapon, In: The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 76(4): 632–647. 27. Meyer, M.H. and Lehnerd, A.P. (1997). The Power of Product Platforms: Building Value and Cost Leadership, New York: Free Press. 28. Ockerman, J.J. and Mitchell, C.M. (1995). Case-based Design Brower to Support Software Reuse: Theoretical Structure and Empirical Evaluation, Int. J. HumanComputer Studies, 51, 865–893. 29. Runyon, K.E. and Stewart, D.W. (1987). Consumer Behavior and The Practice of Marketing, 3rd edn, Columbus: Merrill Publishing Company, pp. 341–345. 30. Sebeok, T. (1987). Messages in the Marketplace, In: Umiker-Sebeok J. (ed.), Marketing and Semiotics, Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 21–30. 31. Sproles, G.B. (1981). Analyzing Fashion Life Cycles – Principles and Perspectives, Journal of Marketing, 45(Fall): 116–124. 32. Sproles, G.B. and Burns, L.D. (1994). Changing Appearances: Understanding Dress in Contemporary Society, New York: Fairchild Publications. 33. Thompson, C.J. and Haytko, D.L. (June 1997). Speaking of Fashion: Consumer’s Uses of Fashion Discourses and the Appropriation of Countervailing Cultural Meanings, Journal of Consumer Research, 24, 15–42. 34. Trilling, J. (2001). The Language of Ornament, London: Thames & Hudson. 35. Tseng, M.M. and Jiao, J. (1998). Concurrent Design for Mass Customisation, Business Process Management Journal, 4(1): 10–24. 36. Walsh V., Robin R., Bruce M. and Potter S. (1992). Winning by Design: Technology, Product Design and International Competitiveness, Oxford: Blackwell Business.
37. FIORES II (2002–2003) (Formalization and Integration of an Optimized Reverse Engineering Styling Workflow Phase II), is a project funded by the European Commission working in the field of Computer Aided Aesthetic Design (CAAD). http://sumatra.mv.uni-kl.de/FIORES/ FIORES2/FIORES2.html
Richard Y. K. Fung Dr Richard Y. K. Fung obtained his B.Sc. Honours degree in Production Engineering and his Master of Philosophy in Manufacturing Resource Planning both from the Aston University in Birmingham, UK and his PhD in Customer Requirement Management from Loughborough Un iv ersity, UK. He has worked in the industry for over twelve years, has been involved in different manufacturing areas including product development, production planning and control, design and implementation of management information systems, as well as management consultancy in UK. Dr Fung joined the City University of Hong Kong in 1989, and he is now an Associate Professor in the Department of Manufacturing Engineering and Engineering Management. His current teaching and research areas cover quality management, customer requirements analysis, quality function deployment, one-of-a-kind production, supply chain management, and applications of artificial intelligence techniques, such as neural network, fuzzy systems and genetic algorithms, in solving industrial/manufacturing problems.
Steven P.Y. Chong Steven P.Y. Chong is a PhD Candidate in the MEEM Department of City University of Hong Kong. He is a full member of Hong Kong Designers Association, and a professional industrial designer with good working experience in various fields. He received his MPhil and Bachelor degrees from the School of Design of Hong Kong Polytechnic University. His research interests include design theory, industrial design knowledge management and its application in design management.
A Framework of Product Styling Platform Approach
Yi Wang Mr Yi Wang is a Research Associate in the MEEM Department of City University of Hong Kong. He received an MSc degree in Computer Integrated Manufacturing from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and a BEng degree in Mechanical Engineering from Sichuan University, China. He has worked as a Production Engineer in Singapore and as a College Lecturer in China. His research interests include design theory and supply chain management.
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