Aesthetic Approaches to Product Design and Development

Designers are always in search of an approach to help them deal with the question of aesthetics in product design and development and thus meet the demands of their clients. As one experienced designer, Heufler admits, theory and practice are always clashing as designers cannot freely express their aesthetic feelings without considering the demands of the clients and this, he says, has always been a burden for them. Christopher Alexander, who is known as one of the founders of design methodology, believes problems faced by designers are often so complex that they cannot be resolved through a merely emotional approach or artistic creativity. He suggests that such problems necessitate a proper market analysis. This approach is known as “form affected by market” and is one of the most familiar approaches for designers. Its main objective is to make specific clients interested enough in a product to convince them to buy it.
Unfortunately, a lot of people mistakenly conclude that designers are trying to come up with one universal approach to face the problems of product design. However, the fact is different problems warrant different approaches. The first question that should be raised at the beginning of all industrial design projects is which approach works better aesthetically.
If we accept the fact that there are different approaches to address the issue of aesthetics and consider aestheticism as a form of language while identifying customer demands by analyzing the market, the next important question would be, is the market-based approach the only approach that designers can adopt? Are there any alternative practical approaches?
This article studies the objectives of a number of designers before presenting a general perspective. It examines the pros and cons of various approaches to help the reader make the best decision. The main question is “Can designers adopt an approach other than the market-driven one?” or rather “Has there been any alternative approaches?”