Use value, evolution motor
The capacity for innovation, or for evolution, and the ability to identify potential opportunities are key factors for a company in today’s economic situation. The implementation of a successful product strategy implies understanding that the problem raised, at the start of the design process, is the harmonisation/optimisation of the relations between people, items and their context of use. The object is only the end of an analysis process. It consists of the translation of a theoretical profile to a tangible object that can be manufactured and marketed -or a service that can be implemented- in the framework of the objectives and resources of the project put forward by the company.
We have to always understand the product/service in terms of value and, mainly, in terms of use value, insofar as the company’s approach to its potential consumers or users is the key for its own survival. Use value is not limited to the mere utility of the article; it must intrinsically be seen as a determining factor in our quality of life. This implies considering the emotional aspects of the person/object relationship.
Likewise, the use value of a product does not lie in the quality of its materials or components, its durability or its utility, but rather in the relationship that exists between the quantity and quality of the services that it provides to its users, and the ergonomic, economic obligations and costs, etc., that we users must assume. The performance of the object/service lacks meaning in itself, and acquires value or meaning insofar as it appropriately meets the needs and desires of its potential users.
Tackling the process to define new products from this perspective enables us to transcend the existing object-instrument, and to focus on conceptually innovative or evolutionary solutions. Solutions that find their keys in the evolution of our habits, providing us with an endless source of inspiration.
Brigitte Sauvage ADN DESIGN
Article in the book: Proyecto Diseña. Vol I, CADI. Aragon Industrial Design Centre, Aragon Government, Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Zaragoza, 2007, pp. 54-55.
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