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Culture-orientated product design

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Abstract

There is little in-depth research that can assist designers to use culture as a catalyst for designing innovative products within Botswana’s context. The concept of culture and design are intertwined, thus modifications stemming from cultural evolution both reflect and determine developments in design. The paper discusses an experimental design approach conducted at the University of Botswana and participants challenge was to transform and encode socio-cultural factors into product design features. The paper concludes by discussing a model which has shown one way concerning how to consciously specify, analyse and integrate socio-cultural factors in the design process.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Industrial Design and Technology Department, University of Botswana, P/Bag UB0061, Gaborone, Botswana

    Richie Moalosi

  2. School of Design, Queensland University of Technology, D 523, Gardens Point Campus, 2 George Street, GPO Box 2434, Brisbane, QLD, 4001, Australia

    Vesna Popovic

  3. School of Cultural and Language Studies in Education, Queensland University of Technology, Victoria Park Road E 424, Kevin Groove Campus, Brisbane, QLD, 4059, Australia

    Anne Hickling-Hudson

Authors
  1. Richie Moalosi
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  2. Vesna Popovic
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  3. Anne Hickling-Hudson
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Correspondence to Richie Moalosi.

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Moalosi, R., Popovic, V. & Hickling-Hudson, A. Culture-orientated product design. Int J Technol Des Educ 20, 175–190 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10798-008-9069-1

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