Dear Alan,
It's an interesting topic you are tackling.
There is a fairly extensive literature on it from when it was a hot topic from the 50s to the early 80s. Its origins go back, however to at least Proctor and Gamble's product design methods in the 1930s.
This early debate about how best to integrate Marketing, Design and other secondary business functions that was the driver of the creation of the field of Design Management in the 60s.
The problem that was being addressed then was the failures of the 'over the wall' design and business process methods. These problematic 'over the wall' design methods approaches had originated in Art and Design schools, and, differently, in Engineering schools. The problems was that it was obvious that Marketing needed to be involved before (as Market Research), during (as part of prototype evaluation) and after (as Advertising and Promotion). At the same time it became clear that other business area were potentially equally useful to be integrated into business processes involving design activities, Manufacturing being one of the most obvious.
The result was the need for some overarching management of the mess - hence Design Management.
For literature look in the Engineering, Business and Management journals of the 60s, 70s and 80s (mainly the early 70s).
A snapshot of the recent stuff (last 30 years) is available at http://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/2625/SWP-3908-36119654.pdf?sequence=1
There's a lot of material (a few hundred items) on Google. Try searching "marketing design process"
Best wishes,
Terry
-----Original Message-----
From: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and related research in Design [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Alan Overton
Sent: Tuesday, 9 November 2010 11:36 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Consumer product design methodology
I am a first year doctoral student in marketing/product development and am looking for recent design methodology models. It has been my experience that marketers often treat design as a "black box" that accepts product requirements and should produce optimal designs. I hope to create an integrated model that no only illuminates the dynamic, iterative nature of the design process, but also suggests areas where marketing knowledge could provide design insight.
I am researching work by Cross, Lawson, Hatchuel and Weill, Boland and Collopy, Rowe, and Brown I would be grateful for any recommendations for additional lines of research that would be relevant to the marketing community.
Thank you for any assistance you can give.
Alan Overton
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