Rapid Prototyping in Consumer Product Design
Why are only certain consumer products the hot gifts to give and to get each holiday season? Last year the digital camera and the iPod portable music player (and its MP3 clones) were perhaps the leading contenders. One part of the answer is they are deliberately designed to deliver a high-quality consumer experience. Or as my colleague in Japan, Noriaki Kano of the University of Tokyo, has said about the best products, they "surprise and delight" the first wave of consumers to use them. The next part of the economic cycle is that the products are praised in design magazines and by word-of-mouth; before long they are must-have items for perhaps millions worldwide.