Ruth Mugge

Design Strategies to Postpone Consumers' Product Replacement: The Value of a Strong Person-Product Relationship

From an environmental perspective, the early replacement of durables is generally detrimental. This article examines ‘ensuring a strong person-product relationship’ as a design strategy to postpone product replacement. If a person experiences a strong relationship with his/her product, this can result in more protective behaviours towards this product and in product longevity. A crucial precondition for a long-lasting relationship is that consumers feel the product is irreplaceable. Such a condition is obtained only when a products meaning is deeply anchored in a specific product and the product and its meaning are inseparable. Designers can encourage the products irreplaceability by stimulating the formation of memories associated with a product or by creating unique and personal products. Several examples of design strategies are discussed.

Aesthetic appraisal of product designs: independent effects of typicality and arousal

Theories differ on how typicality and arousal influence aesthetic appraisal and whether these processes together interact or have independent effects on aesthetic appraisal. This research investigates the simultaneous effects of typicality and arousal on aesthetic appraisal for product designs by manipulating both processes separately: typicality by prototype deviation and arousal by colour saturation levels. We demonstrate that typicality has a curvilinear relationship with aesthetic appraisal. Additionally, arousal has a positive linear relationship with aesthetic appraisal of product designs. Moreover, arousal can influence aesthetic appraisal independent from typicality.

Emotional bonding with personalised products

This study investigates the effect of personalising a products appearance on the emotional bond with a product. We present a conceptual model for the relationships between the effort invested during the process of product personalisation, the degree of self-expression, and the degree of emotional bonding. Data from a questionnaire study in which respondents (n=149) filled out questions concerning their (non-) personalised bicycle support our expectations. By personalising the products appearance, a person invests effort in the product. Our findings show that the amount of effort invested has a direct effect (as a result of the extended period of time spent with the product) and an indirect effect (via the personalised products self-expressive value) on the strength of the emotional bond with the product. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of these findings for product designers.

Washing when the sun is shining! How users interact with a household energy management system

To make optimal use of sustainable energy, domestic electricity consumption should shift to match local supply conditions. Energy management systems (EMS) are a new sustainable technology that can help to disrupt consumers’ habits concerning electricity consumption, whilst reinforcing desired behaviours. This research examined the factors that influence the likelihood that people will shift their electricity consumption to match sustainable supply. Twenty-one interviews were conducted with households who had used the EMS ‘Smart Wash’ for several months. The findings showed that the likelihood of behaviour change is influenced by a combination of the users motivation, specific contextual factors and the design of the EMS. Based on these results, several recommendations are given for the future design of EMSs. Practitioner Summary: Energy management systems (EMS) are a new technology that encourages people to shift electricity consumption to match local solar supply. Interviews among users of an EMS showed that the likelihood of behaviour change is influenced by the combination of the users motivation, contextual factors and the EMS design.

Newer is better! The influence of a novel appearance on the perceived performance quality of products

Understanding how consumers perceive products based on their appearance is of great importance to designers. In this article, we explore the level of novelty of a product appearance as a general design guideline to evoke positive associations about the products performance quality. Novelty implies the deviation in a product appearance from the current design state. Based on the literature, we theorise that consumers associate products with a novel appearance with technological advancement and thus with a greater performance quality. Data from two studies in which participants were asked to evaluate washing machines and single-lens reflex cameras support our expectations that the level of novelty of a product appearance positively affects the perceived performance quality of the product.

Product design and apparent usability. The influence of novelty in product appearance

This research enhances our understanding of the relationship between aesthetics and usability by investigating the effects of novelty in product appearance on the apparent usability of a product. In two experimental studies using washing machines and digital cameras as stimuli, we systematically manipulated the level of novelty (low vs. high) in the product appearance by changing the products color or shape. Participants were presented with one of these product appearances and a list of the products technical specifications. Next, participants indicated how difficult or easy they expected the usage of the product to be. Our findings demonstrate that because people associate a high level of novelty with technological advancement, novelty in a product appearance negatively affects their expectations of a products usability at the point of sale. Furthermore, novices are more likely to use the level of novelty as a cue for a products apparent usability than experts.

PRODUCT ATTACHMENT: DESIGN STRATEGIES TO STIMULATE THE EMOTIONAL BONDING TO PRODUCTS

Publisher Summary This chapter is concerned with why people develop strong relationships to certain products and how designers may influence the degree of attachment through product design. An attachment is an emotion-laden target-specific bond between two persons. Product attachment is defined as the strength of the emotional bond a consumer experiences with a specific product. The object to which a person experiences attachment triggers one’s emotions. In contrast, products to which people do not experience attachment often do not elicit any emotions at all. Although people usually experience positive emotions toward the product to which they feel attached, several arguments can be given for why research on (positive) emotions is inadequate to understand the experience of attachment to a product. The occurrence of positive emotions is not sufficient to conclude that a person is attached to a product. Many products can instantaneously elicit strong positive emotions even without any direct contact with a product. Products to which one feels attached are generally considered to be special and significant to the owner. Another consequence of attachment is that it results in specific protective behaviors, because people cherish their relationship with the object and want to preserve the object. When a person feels attached to a product, he/she is more likely to handle the product with care, to repair it when it breaks down, and to postpone its replacement. Experiencing positive emotions in response to a product does not necessarily bring about these protective behaviors.

Incorporating consumers in the design of their own products. The dimensions of product personalisation

Product personalisation gives individual consumers the opportunity to act as co-designers and partly determine the appearance or functionality of the product they buy. Whether product personalisation can provide a competitive advantage depends on how it is implemented in new products and to which target group it is aimed. This article presents a classification study to uncover the dimensions of product personalisation to provide designers with an overview of the spectrum of personalisation options. Our research distinguishes the following seven dimensions: Mental effort, Physical effort, Flexibility, Initiation, Goal of product personalisation, Personalisation moment, and Deliberateness. On the basis of the outcomes of the study, new personalisation options can be developed. In addition, specific implications for targeting consumers are discussed.

The importance of being 'well-placed': the influence of context on perceived typicality and esthetic appraisal of product appearance

Earlier findings have suggested that esthetic appraisal of product appearances is influenced by perceived typicality. However, prior empirical research on typicality and esthetic appraisal of product appearances has not explicitly taken context effects into account. In this paper, we investigate how a specific context influences perceived typicality and thus the esthetic appraisal of product appearances by manipulating the degree of typicality of a products appearance and its context. The findings of two studies demonstrate that the perceived typicality of a product appearance and consequently its esthetic appraisal vary depending on the typicality of the context in which the product is presented. Specifically, contrast effects occur for product appearances that are perceived as typical. Typical product appearances are perceived as more typical and are more esthetically appealing when presented in an atypical context compared to when presented in a typical context. No differences in perceived typicality and esthetic appraisal were found for product appearances that are perceived as atypical.

Is there a market for refurbished toothbrushes?: An exploratory study on consumers' acceptance of refurbishment for different product categories

Refurbishment is the process of collecting used products, assessing their condition, and replacing and/or upgrading parts in order to resell them to other consumers. Although refurbishment is increasingly seen as both economically and environmentally advantageous, it remains questionable whether consumers will accept refurbishment as a viable alternative for all sorts of product categories. In-depth interviews among 18 participants were conducted in which participants were asked to sort 30 product categories on their likelihood to accept or reject a refurbished product from this category and to elaborate on their underlying motives for this. The results revealed the following reasons for either accepting or rejecting a refurbished product for a certain category: financial, functional quality, aesthetic quality, warranty, contamination, and personalisation. Based on the type of product category (e.g., hedonic vs. functional, high vs. low involvement), these reasons are either more or less important to consumers. When designing for refurbishment, designers need to tackle the relevant reasons for the specific category in their design process to stimulate consumers to accept refurbished products.