**3.6 Study V – Generation of product concepts and their validation**

Various living room furniture concepts were generated based on two product specifications that took as starting points the results presented in Table 15 and that were enlarged considering anthropometric (Panero & Zelnik, 2002) and other requirements. These initial concept sketches were evaluated by the authors, with respect to criteria derived from the specification and were also subjected to the scrutiny of 21 second year undergraduate industrial design students (aged from 19 to 22 years old). These did not however show significant agreement in terms of their preference among the concepts generated. The authors' evaluation matrix (based on an expanded requirements list developed within the design process) led to the detailed development of the concepts depicted in Figures 10 and 11, respectively, a product line based on the Portuguese cultural traits, named "Vale", and one based on the Lusophone ones, named "Império".

In order to test the effectiveness of the approach reported in this chapter, the respondents in this study were asked to identify, from the concepts generated, which of those had either Portuguese traits, Lusophone traits or none. These results are shown in Table 16.

Culturally Inspired Design: Product Personalities to Capture Cultural Aspects 77

section of this chapter. The adequateness of the use of the product personality assignment technique in supporting this transfer could not be determined conclusively, as the results of the panel convened to assess the cultural identity of the product concepts produced was not

One of the underlying assumptions for this chapter was that there is a space yet to be filled by a culturally inspired design current to take the space of design production with a Lusophone flavour, for international dissemination. Another underlying assumption is that design may be inspired by culture, and a direct transfer of cultural traits to product attributes may be pursued, with the support of product personality attributes, as a mediator. The results of both streams of analysis (Fig. 1) presented in this chapter were found not to match entirely. The product feature profiles encountered in the sampled Lusophone design production (first part of the chapter) do not match entirely the product feature profiles obtained from transferring selected cultural traits (positive and neutral) to technical features. This suggests that there is a space yet to be filled by a culturally inspired design current to take the space of design production with a Lusophone flavour, for international dissemination. This mismatch also suggests that culturally inspired design may yield novel design concepts and trigger an array of new proposals that cater to varying tastes and sensibilities. This may contribute to more visibility of designs from particular regions of the globe, opposing the paradigm of mainstream design production, according to the traditional and well established design schools and currents. In a globalized world, culturally inspired design carries the promise to bring more cultural inclusion into the design discourse and to

The research projects presented in this chapter were developed as Master of Science thesis in industrial design engineering by the second and third authors, supervised by the first author. A selection of results from these projects have previously appeared in Simão and

Almeida, Onésimo Teotónio. (1995). Em busca da clarificação do conceito de identidade

Baguet Jr., Gabriel. (1999). Percursos e trajectórias de uma historia: A música em Macau na

camoes.pt/conhecer/biblioteca-digital-camoes/cat\_view/62-revistas-eperiodicos/69-revista-camoes/907-revista-no07-macau.html?start=10 Bello, Maria do Rosário Lupi. (2009). *Implosão do cinema português: duas faces de uma mesma* 

cultural. O caso açoriano como cobaia. in Separata de *A Autonomia no Plano Sócio-Cultural*. Congresso do I Centenário da Autonomia dos Açores. Ponta Delgada,

transição de poderes. *Revista Camões* nº07, Macau, p. 84. (URL: http://cvc.instituto-

*moeda.* Lisboa: Universidade Aberta, 24 p. (URL: http://repositorioaberto.univ-

conclusive, lacking agreement among the group.

promote added differentiation of consumer choice of design objects.

Coelho (2011) and Silva and Coelho (2011), published by Common Ground.

**4. Conclusion** 

**5. Acknowledgment** 

**6. References** 

Jornal de Cultura, Vol. II.

ab.pt/handle/10400.2/1310).


Table 16. Survey seeking the validation of the results of the studies reported in this chapter (21 respondents – second year undergraduate industrial design students).

The results of the survey do not lead to consider that the results convey clearly identifiable cultural traits associated with the Portuguese and Lusophone cultures, although these vary from product concept to product concept.

Fig. 10. Renders of "Vale" living room furniture line based on the Portuguese cultural traits and their corresponding product technical attributes (designed by the second author).

Fig. 11. Renders of "Império" living room furniture line based on the Lusophone cultural traits and their corresponding product technical attributes (designed by the second author).

### **3.7 Discussion of the results of the five studies presented**

In the second part of this chapter, cultural traits were the starting point to reach at the product profiles that were used as the basis for the design of two furniture lines. The scope of the work reported is not limited to furniture and is deemed applicable in a wider scope, considering its genesis and methodology, based on a literature review of cultural traits, taking into account the personalities of consumer products and consulting industrial design students.

Advancing the knowledge on the transfer of cultural traits to product design features may require further inquiry, since the projects reported in this chapter did not lead to conclusive results towards accepting or rejecting the hypothesis which was presented in the methods section of this chapter. The adequateness of the use of the product personality assignment technique in supporting this transfer could not be determined conclusively, as the results of the panel convened to assess the cultural identity of the product concepts produced was not conclusive, lacking agreement among the group.
