Abstract
Consumers' demands for a product are always changing and vague; even consumers themselves are not aware of this. How to elicit consumers' demands and transform them as a reference to design development is a critical issue. Empathic design is a new market research technique that aims to meet the needs of consumers through analysis of detailed observations. However, it takes considerable time and experience to implement the empathic design. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to create a Systematic Empathic Design Method (SEDM) based on Participant Observation, Laddering Interviews, an Implication Matrix, Hierarchical Value Maps and Mind Mapping, in order to develop customer-centered products. Through the exemplary application "workshop area design", the authors developed a work environment that can provide employees with more professional, thorough, and considerate services. Consequently, SEDM is both feasible and practical. It effectively enables designers and consumers to reach a common ground in product needs. In addition, each step of SEDM can be executed clearly and is closely connected to the next step, and this can shorten the design time. SEDM uses visual data for product innovation and improvement, and it provides a technique that can be followed by firms and designers to effectively forecast the trends of consumers' needs.
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