Data driven product design
Connected devices present new opportunities to advance design through data collection in the wild, however it is still unclear how. Through a series of workshops, we investigated industry and academia perspectives on the preferable future of data-driven product design. Research type:
My role:
Team: DAN BURNETT, Lancaster University JAMES THORP, Lancaster University DANIEL RICHARDS, Lancaster University DAVE MURRAY-RUST, University of Edinburgh Paper: https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3313831.3376560 |
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Problem
Once released onto the market, physical products can be used in contexts and for purposes that the designers may not have anticipated or observed within controlled testing. Insights into these contexts could be valuable for product design and development. |
Opportunity
Data-driven approaches are standard design research tools within the digital industry, for example A/B testing. The growth of connected products, such as smart consumer devices, is creating opportunities to similarly rethink the way that physical products are developed. |
Research aims
This work aims to map the space of choices available to design teams. To try and shed light on how real-time data streams might be better utilised to accelerate and enhance design cycles, we conducted a series of workshops with experts working within product design and IoT. |
Lessons learned
We found opportunities for collaborative sensemaking, for broadening views on what data could be used for, and the possibilities for personalisation and customisation of physical objects. |