Product personality: From analysing to applying

Nowadays products are expected to undertake their functions properly and the competition for satisfying consumer is in the field of attachments and emotional characteristics. Products have a symbolic meaning in addition to their utilitarian benefits. This symbolic meaning that refers to physical and is described with human characteristics is called product Consumers make a psychological comparison between their self-concept and the image of a and the result of this comparison can positively influence evaluation. The main mission of a designer is a problem solving one and designing a appearance is a problem solving process as well. Students during the industrial design studios learn how to utilize design techniques in product's functional problem solving, but the emotional design aspects and techniques are usually neglected. Therefore, students should learn how personal characteristics in objects' form can be recognized and how they can apply in product's appearance. This paper introduces the method of product personality design as a problem solving process. This pedagogical process of product personality has been developed to help industrial design students to improve their abilities to understand form's capabilities and utilize them in designing products' appearance. After learning and practicing this process, students are able to express roles of a product's visual elements performing in personality. Furthermore they can translate these performances into rules and finally employ rules as solutions in design as problem. The process includes three main phases of analysing, translating and applying.