What drives new products?

New products come from two directions:

• Market pull — demand from users/consumers pulls a product into being (people wanted lighter, faster phones).
• Technology push — a new technology or material makes a product possible before there is obvious demand (lithium batteries enabled cordless tools).

Development is also shaped by user needs, aesthetics, cost, fashion and trends, and a product moving through its life cycle (introduction, growth, maturity, decline).

Planned obsolescence deliberately limits a product life to drive repeat sales — increasingly criticised on sustainability grounds.

Pull or push?

Ergonomics and anthropometrics

Ergonomics is designing products to fit the people who use them. It draws on anthropometrics — measured data on human body sizes.

• Designers use percentiles. The 5th percentile value is exceeded by 95% of people; the 95th percentile by only 5%.
• Clearance (doorways, legroom) is designed for the 95th percentile so the largest users fit.
• Reach (a control, a shelf) is designed for the 5th percentile so the smallest users can still reach.
• Where one size cannot suit all, designers build in adjustability to cover the 5th-to-95th percentile range (e.g. an office chair).

Inclusive design aims to include as many users as possible, including older and disabled people, rather than only the average (50th percentile).

Which percentile?

Design movements and designers

Key movements and their ideas:

• Arts and Crafts (William Morris, late 1800s) — reaction against poor-quality machine goods; celebrated handcraft and natural forms.
• Bauhaus (Walter Gropius, Germany, from 1919) — unite art with industry; simple geometric forms; form follows function.
• Modernism — function and simplicity over ornament.
• Memphis (Ettore Sottsass, Milan, 1981) — bold colours, playful, decorative shapes rejecting plain Modernism.

Influential designers include Dieter Rams (Braun; ten principles of good design; less but better), James Dyson (dual-cyclone vacuum), Charles and Ray Eames (moulded plywood/plastic chairs) and Philippe Starck (Juicy Salif for Alessi).

Sort the names and terms

Tap an item, then the group it belongs to.

Whose principle?

Social, cultural and economic factors

Products are shaped by more than function:

• Social and cultural — values, lifestyles, symbolism and taste vary between groups and change over time.
• Economic — price sensitivity, disposable income and global competition.
• Fashion and trends — style cycles that can shorten a product life.
• Inclusive and sustainable design — widening the user base and reducing environmental impact.

Match each designer or movement to what they are known for

Tap an item on the left, then its match on the right.

Your turn — adjustability range

Your turn — clearance

The big ideas to know

You have covered what shapes products — from human factors to designers, movements and markets.