In the world of design the mantra is �change�, the enabler of new ideas, new products, new clients and the associated fees that put bread on the table of the designer themselves.

 

The question is: if in fact the above is the answer, why do the great majority of newly designed products fail? Could it be that designers are themselves the propagators of change to such an extent that they have forgotten the fundamental emotions of being a consumer?

 

Emotions, yes that�s what I said, not form, not function but just good old fashioned "heart�.  Being a consumer in a western society sees most of us with extraordinary similar needs across all socioeconomic groups; what separates one from the other is not what we need but the intensity of these needs.

 

At the top of the list is a home, then car, furniture, whiteware, TV/DVD/RADIO and an abundance of things to eat off, cook with and garden with. As these are all communal to a family, clothes and a few consumables can be considered personal with food being, as always, the staple of life itself.

 

Therefore to bring change into this domain of familiar and safe objects of both comfort and pride is pushing the emotional button of fear of the unknown, and that could upset the balance.

 

To bring the consumer to accept a new product any change - subtle or dramatic - must never distort the behavioral balance of the recipient. Designing such products requires the designer to be the consumer and feel each and every concept and translate those feelings into a scale that goes from hate and disgust to pure enjoyment and fulfilled passion.

 

The consumer requires the minimal amount of fuss or clutter with the maximum amount of pleasure. Take, for example, the Apple iPod, delivers all the music one could ever ask for with a simple cable from a pre established, easy to use database into a simple, rectangular, super-thin plastic case with only one multifunctional control pad, a great product that is totally new yet does not bring fear or risk like many MP3 players before it.

 

In this case the demand by consumers far outstripped the supply over a period of two years. In my own arena of design I am asked to bring new products to the market that compliment existing homewares and address fashion in respect to tint or colour of other new products being launched at the same time.

 

These quite stringent requirements bring together a diverse group of designers each working on their own particular project yet having to accommodate each other in achieving the overall �look".

 

The key objective is to bring the consumer into a pleasure zone that is risk free and does not offend their emotions. We are in fact creating the desire to buy that feeds the supply chain we are all part of.

 

The issues raised are designing to satisfy emotions would possibly require a change in how we train designers. Should they in fact have a more significant component of behavioral psychology included in their studies?

 

Our efforts in New Zealand to use design as a means to export more goods would in itself require any training or practice to be much closer to the target market. Do we therefore ask our design schools to have remote campuses of design in other countries and design studios to have offshore branches or joint ventures to understand better the consumer whose needs they wish to satisfy.

 

In compelling the consumer to accept change we in the industry of design must change to be embedded within the thinking process of that consumer that allows us to bring new products to the market that satisfies the need without compromising the pleasure that the need satisfies.

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