A New Consumerism: The influence of social technologies on product design

Social media has enabled a new style of consumerism. Consumers are no longer passive recipients; instead they are assuming active and participatory roles in product design and production, facilitated by interaction and collaboration in virtual communities. This new participatory culture is blurring the boundaries between the specific roles of designer, consumer and producer, creating entrepreneurial opportunities for designers, and empowering consumers to influence product strategies. Evolving designer-consumer interactions are enabling an enhanced model of co-production, through a value-adding social exchange that is driving changes in consumer behaviour and influencing both product strategies and design practice. The consumer is now a knowledgeable participant, or prosumer, who can contribute to user–centered research through crowd sourcing, collaborate and co-create through open-source or open-innovation platforms, assist creative endeavors by pledging venture capital through crowd funding and advocate the product in blogs and forums. Social media- enabled product implementation strategies working in conjunction with digital production technologies (e.g. additive manufacture), enable consumer-directed adaptive customisation, product personalisation, and self-production, with once passive consumers becoming product produsers. Not only is social media driving unprecedented consumer engagement and significant behavioural change, it is emerging as a major enabler of design entrepreneurship, creating new collaborative opportunities. Innovative processes in design practice are emerging, such as the provision of digital artifacts and customisable product frameworks, rather than standardised manufactured solutions. This paper examines the influence of social media-enabled product strategies on the methodology of the next generation of product designers, and discusses the need for an educational response

A business model for an online 3D printing platform

CEMSThis paper presents the main findings and learning experiences from the Business Project conducted in the past 5 months. The project was made in collaboration with Berenschot, a Dutch consulting firm. The final outcome of the project included the presentation of the main critical success factors for online platforms in the 3D printing industry. In addition, as part of this Work Project, a deep analysis was performed to study the main barriers that those platforms face in the market and that ultimately can contribute to their failure

Service Prototyping Lab Report - 2018 (Y3)

The annual activity report of the Service Prototyping Lab at Zurich University of Applied Sciences. Research trends and initiatives, research projects, transfer to education and local industry, academic community involvement, qualification and scientific development over the period of one year are among the covered topics

Service Prototyping Lab Report - 2017 (Y2)

The annual activity report of the Service Prototyping Lab at Zurich University of Applied Sciences. Research trends and initiatives, research projects, transfer to education and local industry, academic community involvement, qualification and scientific development over the period of one year are among the covered topics

Towards a Secure DevOps Approach for Cyber-Physical Systems: An Industrial Perspective

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