Slipper Design Opportunity Identification Based on Material and Manufacturing Process Characteristics

In this paper, we introduce a product design process based on characteristics of a company that specializes in chemical material production technology. Our client (referenced as Company A in this paper) aimed to transform their business from chemical material production to manufacturing finished products, namely slippers. To set the design strategy and enter the new market, we identified design opportunities and designed the structure of new slippers. In our design process, we analyzed the market through desk research and conducted user research through user observations. To successfully link our research data to the design outcome, we extracted keywords from market and user research based on Company A’s manufacturing capabilities. In this way, we drew out concept keywords not only from the research data but also from the designer’s interpretation. We found that this provides a logical connection between the user research and the design outcome.