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Image boards
A powerful way of
understanding some of the 'soft' elements of the design mix and
of specifying the stylistic and usage elements of a product. Good
for team building and encouraging creativity. An especially
powerful way of generating and communicating understanding about
who the product is targeted at and a helps when briefing external
designers.
Description
Product styling is primarily a visual quality and it is thus
useful to use visual media to represent these aspects.
Collections of images can be used in a number of different ways,
to represent types of user, visual values, technologies, product
usage and usage scenarios. Together, these different
representations can provide strong clues as to the way in which a
product could be styled. A typical board should contain between
10 and 20 carefully chosen images.
Four
types of image board
Lifestyle board
Images representing the target customers or the
lifestyles of the target customers. The images should
indicate the target customer's personal and social values
and cultural trends. The lifestyle board will be
'idealistic' in its portrayal of customers and helps to
explore the full range of target customers.
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Often derived from the lifestyle board, the mood board
aims to capture the 'values' of the product which will
appeal to the previously identified customer types and
helps to build a common view of the styling objectives.
The mood of a product is the sentiment, feeling or
emotion which the product engenders when first seen - for
example, soft and comforting, hard and rugged, business
like or frivolous. Images of products which are similar
in either form or function to the proposed new product
should be avoided.
Styling board (or theme board)
Having established the visual values, the styling board
presents images of products or product features which
convey the intended mood. These products should be from a
diverse range of markets and have different functions.
Usage board
A usage board represents products which are used in a
similar way or which utilise similar technology to the
product proposal. This could enable the place or means of
use to be explored and a good way of removing
preconceived ideas about the product form.
Notes
- Requires preparation to
collect magazines and images which could be used in the
boards
- Requires some facilitation to
prevent irrelevant, inappropriate and unnecessary images
from being used
- The aim is not to fill the
page at all costs, but to find appropriate and useful
images
- A good team building exercise
at the start of a project
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