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Relational messages in product design

Published: 19 October 2011 Publication History

Abstract

This paper introduces the concept of relational messages to examine the social and psychological aspects of product design. The concept mainly draws on communication theories and insights arising from empirical research regarding users' emotional responses to service tangibles. It offers an alternative set of lens for product designers to examine their creative practice, and serves as a useful framework for researchers to analyze the psychological impact of design work. Examples of relational messages in service tangibles, products for shared use and gift products are discussed. The paper rounds up by highlighting implications for design and future research possibilities.

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cover image ACM Other conferences
DESIRE '11: Procedings of the Second Conference on Creativity and Innovation in Design
October 2011
358 pages
ISBN:9781450307543
DOI:10.1145/2079216
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

Sponsors

  • Eindhoven University of Technology Department of Industrial Design: Eindhoven University of Technology, Department of Industrial Design
  • European Union: European Union

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 19 October 2011

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Author Tags

  1. product design
  2. product experience
  3. relational message
  4. relational value
  5. service design

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DESIRE '11
Sponsor:
  • Eindhoven University of Technology Department of Industrial Design
  • European Union
DESIRE '11: Creativity and Innovation in Design
October 19 - 21, 2011
Eindhoven, Netherlands

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