Expression modes used by consumers in conveying desire for product form: A case study of a car

Understanding consumers’ latent desires for product form has become an important issue in the product design community. Previous studies in this field generally achieved this objective by considering the usage of emotion-related words. However, this approach was limited in its ability to accurately reflect the consumers’ latent desires. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to identify the habitual expression modes used by individuals when conveying their desires for product forms. An oral styling procedure is conducted in which 23 subjects describe the form of their imagined car to a designer, who progressively sketches the car as it is described. Nine experts, including linguists, product designers, and marketing planners, are requested individually to analyze the descriptions provided by the subjects and to classify them into distinct expression modes. A hierarchical clustering method is employed to integrate the opinions of the experts. As a result, a total of five expression modes are identified, namely Explaining Form, Analogizing, Classifying, Conveying Emotions, and Associating. The results of a usage frequency analysis indicate that the five modes have virtually identical usages in the earlier styling stages. However, the Explaining Form mode dominates in the later styling stages. The results of this study provide a foundation for the future development of enhanced investigation techniques aimed at understanding consumers’ latent desires for product form.Relevance to industryThis paper identifies five expression modes commonly used by consumers when attempting to convey their desires for product form. The usages of these expression modes are analyzed in different styling situations. Product form designers can better understand consumer needs by using the five expression modes synthetically or individually as investigation tools according to the particular design conditions.