Product Design and Purchasing Decision
Overview
Democratic Design
Designing a product is a process of solving problems creatively. Usually it considers not only the aesthetics and technological constrains, but also the user’s needs. A famous Swedish furniture and home accessories retailer applying continuous product development has identified five crucial factors for a democratic design, hence products have to be:
1.Beautiful
2.Functional
3.Affordable
4.Long lasting
5.Sustainable
These factors can also be used in modern energy technologies design (i.e. efficient stoves and Pico PV lamps). ‘Products should be designed understanding that people want them to work, and to make life easier (function), that are beautiful (form), demand value for money (quality), care about the environment (sustainability) and are affordable (low price)’. [1]
Perhaps it is important not to think about low prices as the absolute key factor to ensure low-income households to purchase a certain technology. Nowadays different financial schemes have been deployed in order to facilitate energy access (Financing Mechanisms for Cookstove Dissemination, Financing Models for Solar Home Systems, Use of Microfinance Institutions for Renewable Energy Technologies
- ↑ IKEA. (2017, January). Why good design is democratic. Ikea Catalog. Design for Everyone. Retrieved from http://www.ikea-canada.com/newcatalogue2016/ikea_catalogue_en.pdf
