User Understanding

What?

To understand intended and/or a potential user regarding for example values, economic resources, physique (age and body shape) and or practical life/product use context.

Why?

Understanding the user can prolong product lifespan through:

• Enhanced product/user match.
• Meeting diverse user needs.

Challenges

• It can be a challenge to incorporate users and user understanding into design processes.

Examples

Danish baby clothing company, Vigga bases their business model on in-depth user understanding and community building (www.vigga.us).

The Nike Flyease has been specially developed for athletes of all abilities and ages making them easier to take on and off (www.nike.com/us/en_us/c/innovation/flyease).

Further Reading

• Gwilt (Ed.) (2015). Fashion Design for Living. Routledge.
• Laitala et al. (2015). Making Clothing Last: A Design Approach for Reducing the Environmental Impacts. International Journal of Design 9(2), pp. 93-107.
• Lamb & Kallal (1992). A Conceptual Framework for Apparel Design. Clothing and Textiles Research Journal 10(2), pp. 42-47.