| dc.description | Present economic scenarios compel organizations to introduce new strategies directed to increase their competitiveness. Industrial design is not detached from this tendency; commonly organizations declare that their products are the effect of " listening to the user" . Nevertheless, this process is identified by two basic characteristics: the associated linguistic nature to and the difficulty for interpreting, categorizing and incorporating the user's needs into product specifications. In this sense, the lack of solid and reliable mechanisms to integrate the user's perceived requirements into product characteristics is well known. A particular emphasis is made in the need to incorporate intangible attributes related to product perception by the user. A mechanism to detect and interpret product attributes in the conceptual or early desig and, a procedure to evaluate the user's subjective perception are incorporated. The methodology draws upon particular mechanisms for detection, interpretation and categorization of the requirements in two basic domains. These attributes, once identified, are incorporated in an affordances structure that shows sets of interactions in which the properties of the object are perceived by the user as action possibilities. This structure serves as a guide for the creative team in the detailed design phase, incorporating aspects that the user values the most, employing a combination of mechanisms that include the Kano method, Osgood's semantic differentials, factor analysis and fuzzy logic. | |
