**4. Product design**

Product design is the process of planning the product's specifications, according to Industry Canada, in their glossary of automotive terms.

Product design can be defined as the idea generation (Tassoul, 2009), concept development, testing and manufacturing or implementation of a physical object or service. Product Designers conceptualize and evaluate ideas, making them tangible through products in a more systematic approach.

Product design is concerned with the efficient and effective generation and development of ideas through a process that leads to new products, according to the book the fundamentals of product design (Morris,2009).

Product Design is defined (Walsh et al, 1988) as: the activity in which ideas and needs are given physical form, initially as solution concepts and then as a specific configuration or arrangement of elements, materials and components.

The above definitions and the one's who are still coming show the weakness in the realisation of the products and service but the designer should involve the stakeholders in the development of products or services to come to a good product including the embodiment design. Products are objects or services which are the results of designer activity. Before manufacturing, every part has to be detailed with, material, manufacturing and geometry. Additionally marketing, advertising, product introduction and distribution have to be done. Embodiment Design can help with problem solving and choices in the

new perspective by avoiding the iterations in the design process. This can only be reached when all stakeholders have the same goal in mind. This opportunity will seldom occur because collaboration requires compromises in a design team and in the organization, but it

Product Design develops itself in a direction which may solve the design problem into product concepts and finally to a product design that will be prototyped and tested before starting a new manufacturing unit. The manufacturing unit may be equipped with a product oriented unit, a process oriented unit or a combined unit, a combination from product and process oriented unit. If during the design process the realization of the product was ignored, there is a good change that design iterations are necessary to enable an appropriate manufacturing method of the product. If embodiment design has moved from embodiment phase to the conceptual phase then the focus may be on designing or on making. This could be reached by looking for an innovative design solution. Time is often spilled by working on irrelevant and conservative design solutions also in the embodiment design stage. This spilling can be avoided by performing a good analysis phase in which

Design with X occurs to the new definition of embodiment design. But seeking for applications in a new domain can be done on focusing for innovative design solutions and

For a new perspective of embodiment design there is always one goal to be reached by going for innovative design solutions with more design in the solutions. It has to be efficient

Product design is the process of planning the product's specifications, according to Industry

Product design can be defined as the idea generation (Tassoul, 2009), concept development, testing and manufacturing or implementation of a physical object or service. Product Designers conceptualize and evaluate ideas, making them tangible through products in a

Product design is concerned with the efficient and effective generation and development of ideas through a process that leads to new products, according to the book the fundamentals

Product Design is defined (Walsh et al, 1988) as: the activity in which ideas and needs are given physical form, initially as solution concepts and then as a specific configuration or

The above definitions and the one's who are still coming show the weakness in the realisation of the products and service but the designer should involve the stakeholders in the development of products or services to come to a good product including the embodiment design. Products are objects or services which are the results of designer activity. Before manufacturing, every part has to be detailed with, material, manufacturing and geometry. Additionally marketing, advertising, product introduction and distribution have to be done. Embodiment Design can help with problem solving and choices in the

counts also for embodiment education.

mixed and innovative design solutions are found.

and creative manner to come up with design solutions.

in lesser view for the mixed design solution.

Canada, in their glossary of automotive terms.

arrangement of elements, materials and components.

**4. Product design** 

more systematic approach.

of product design (Morris,2009).

**3. Objectives** 

stadium of concept development (Otto & Wood, 2004). During idea generation it is to avoid irrelevant designs solutions and conservative design solutions nevertheless but focus on mixed design solutions and most on innovative design solutions, see figure 2.

Product design is the process of defining all the product's characteristics which affects product quality, product cost, and customer satisfaction. A product design could be designed badly than quality, cost and satisfaction go downward. Product design approaches regular need adaptation, because lifestyles change every decennium. Sometimes it is even going much faster for instance the use of computer, iphone, ipad, etc. So product design is not business as usual, because the process should be suited to the actual design problem. In most cases researching the design problem is the best way to start the design process. (Shih-WenHsio & Jyh-Rong Chou, 2004) The design team is often formed after the design research in which the boundaries are defined and all the design tasks that should be performed until the product is detailed and the prototype tested.

Fig. 2. Possible design solutions

The product design process contains at least the followings activities:


The above activities occur at different design levels and different stages. For instance evaluation should be done on the end of the every design stage. Competitors products should be researched for ideas which may be used in own product design. Here it is six of one and half dozen of the other such an important activity may be benchmarked, before starting the design process.

Product Design with Embodiment Design as a New Perspective 127

Product planning helps the company to realize the opportunities of product design and invests in the most likely product design. The product plan has to deal with the product development, product strategy, marketing, product portfolio which include embodiment design for each aspect. More specific, the product plan may be used to: product strategy and selection, defining target market or better competitive strength, distinguish from product competition, establish priorities in project development, high levels schedule, embodiment

Embodiment is inherent to product design because in the design process you may take already decisions about embodiment during different stages of the design process such as conceptual design. Product planning is a process that runs parallel to the design process either embodiment design. Therefore preferably the planner and designer do the decision making together about the steps to make in the design process and in particular embodiment design. The planning process is necessary to identify and stimulate redesigns and new product designs with embodiment design as main concern, which can lead to new products. The goal of product planning and design should be avoiding investing in any chanceless product ideas. Market knowledge and product knowledge with a great share of creativity are necessary for the planning and design with a number of milestones just for the decision making on the right moment. The decision making must be on the right level in

There are still companies that have a formal product planning which lead to inflexibility in the embodiment design phase. Only the successful product ideas should be embodied, all the other ideas consume senseless time. This makes it hard to come to compromises in many

The practical approach of embodiment design is shown in figure 5 with the physical main design issues of a product. This rocking chair is built with the material bamboo and is realized by transforming the bamboo in such forms that the parts can be used for the chair. The geometry concerns about the desired shapes, the interaction and the person who will sit in the chair, with are derived from a drawing or an explanation by the designer. In some

design, estimation of product cost and balancing product resources.

such a way that the decisions are not made about apples and pears.

Embodiment Design

Material (Bamboo) Geometry

Product

cases, the designer is also the maker of the product.

Fig. 5. Product, practical model

cases.

In figure 3 the product design model demonstrates the whole process from assignment to finished product. Embodiment design in practice is spread through a large part of the design process. The steps distinguished in the design process which in reality is not taken one by one, section 6 will explain more about this. Innovative product designs are realized by a creative process development which diverges from the classic step process.

Fig. 3. The funnel model after Eekels and Rozenburg & Ullman and Eppinger

Concept development needs innovative idea generation, this includes the embodiment aspects. This bubbles up during the process from ideas to concepts. Evaluation and decision making are essential, because not all ideas can be developed into a concept. The funnel model is defined after Eekels & Rozenburg(1995), and also after Ullman & Eppinger.(2004) The product presentation is a way to communicate with the prospective costumers. The embodiment of a product is an important part of this communication. There are many possibilities for presentation such as: projection, perspective, netting, time line, star, exploded view sketching, cross section, prototype, movie, 3D –views, e-drawing, etc. A nice example is given with 3D – view for housing parts which are just different on a small detail in figure 4.

Fig. 4. Three housing parts in a 3D view with little differences in details

In figure 3 the product design model demonstrates the whole process from assignment to finished product. Embodiment design in practice is spread through a large part of the design process. The steps distinguished in the design process which in reality is not taken one by one, section 6 will explain more about this. Innovative product designs are realized

IdeasConcepts

by a creative process development which diverges from the classic step process.

Fig. 3. The funnel model after Eekels and Rozenburg & Ullman and Eppinger

Concept development

Fig. 4. Three housing parts in a 3D view with little differences in details

in figure 4.

Idea generation

Concept development needs innovative idea generation, this includes the embodiment aspects. This bubbles up during the process from ideas to concepts. Evaluation and decision making are essential, because not all ideas can be developed into a concept. The funnel model is defined after Eekels & Rozenburg(1995), and also after Ullman & Eppinger.(2004) The product presentation is a way to communicate with the prospective costumers. The embodiment of a product is an important part of this communication. There are many possibilities for presentation such as: projection, perspective, netting, time line, star, exploded view sketching, cross section, prototype, movie, 3D –views, e-drawing, etc. A nice example is given with 3D – view for housing parts which are just different on a small detail

Evaluation and decision

Product planning helps the company to realize the opportunities of product design and invests in the most likely product design. The product plan has to deal with the product development, product strategy, marketing, product portfolio which include embodiment design for each aspect. More specific, the product plan may be used to: product strategy and selection, defining target market or better competitive strength, distinguish from product competition, establish priorities in project development, high levels schedule, embodiment design, estimation of product cost and balancing product resources.

Embodiment is inherent to product design because in the design process you may take already decisions about embodiment during different stages of the design process such as conceptual design. Product planning is a process that runs parallel to the design process either embodiment design. Therefore preferably the planner and designer do the decision making together about the steps to make in the design process and in particular embodiment design. The planning process is necessary to identify and stimulate redesigns and new product designs with embodiment design as main concern, which can lead to new products. The goal of product planning and design should be avoiding investing in any chanceless product ideas. Market knowledge and product knowledge with a great share of creativity are necessary for the planning and design with a number of milestones just for the decision making on the right moment. The decision making must be on the right level in such a way that the decisions are not made about apples and pears.

There are still companies that have a formal product planning which lead to inflexibility in the embodiment design phase. Only the successful product ideas should be embodied, all the other ideas consume senseless time. This makes it hard to come to compromises in many cases.

The practical approach of embodiment design is shown in figure 5 with the physical main design issues of a product. This rocking chair is built with the material bamboo and is realized by transforming the bamboo in such forms that the parts can be used for the chair. The geometry concerns about the desired shapes, the interaction and the person who will sit in the chair, with are derived from a drawing or an explanation by the designer. In some cases, the designer is also the maker of the product.

Fig. 5. Product, practical model

Product Design with Embodiment Design as a New Perspective 129

Embodiment Design is giving matter to ideas, so a body is created in headlines, which will

The design aspects Function,( F), Material ( M), Geometry (G) and Production, (P) in the FMGP-model have relations which are defined as design activities, see figure 6. These design activities can enrich existing products or product design concepts into innovative design solutions. The direction of an activity from the design aspects to a function is called

All the product designs can be designed with these design aspects which may contain a number of embodiment design elements such as: design with x, engineering database, the designer needs, product structure, product-layout, the role of the designer, creativity,

Embodiment design is a process of many different aspects in order to come to a product design. In figure 7, the domains of making and doing are provided which their mutual relations. Designers use embodiment design to follow a structured process, which depends

The result of their doing is a product design which can actually be produced. The designers have to build their knowledge on manufacturing and even broader, on production. The product designs are related to the facility of manufacture systems and planning, the

Embodiment design isn't an exclusive course, but part of advanced product design projects and other design courses in our bachelor and master program see figure 8. The assignments for advanced product projects are brought in by companies and institutes, so the 'design problems' are realistic. After the design brief has been formulated, the student groups start with embodiment design and finish the project with the testing of a functional prototype. Each group presents the results in the form of a report and a presentation for the other groups. The results must be in the area of a new working principle, cost reduction, new materials, parts reduction, use or other manufacturing processes, etc. These are all

be detailed during the continuation of the design process.

Design with X.

education and culture.

Fig. 7. The domains of making and doing

on the design task.

strategic and innovative aspects.
