Beyond User-Centric Models of Product Creation

Industrial and technical products have traditionally been designed from two complementary perspectives. The other has focused on functionality and the other on external appearance. Research on usability and human-centric design has partially bridged the gap by integrating cognitive and contextual considerations with emotional, semantic, and esthetic considerations. This paper argues that to fill the gap between function and form in technological products, it is important to understand the social basis of use. Technologies are appropriated in social practices through social learning processes. Products that are elements in complex systems, and whose functionalities can be programmed, need to be designed using methodologies that go beyond user-centric models of product design.