Affiliations: Department of Creative Product Design and Management,
Far East University, Tainan, Taiwan | Department of Industrial Design, National Cheng Kung
University, Tainan, Taiwan
Abstract: In recent years, with the rising of the open innovation notion,
"user creativity orientation" has become a focus in new product development.
Products that facilitate user's creativity can be viewed as a creativity
platform. The intangible software industry has developed over the years to meet
users' creativity, while research and relevant discourses on physical products
are still lacking. This study proposes a design model of platforms to satisfy
user creativity for physical products, called User Creativity Platforms (UCPs).
The model includes eight steps: (1) explore user's creativity needs, (2)
classify functionality of the product, (3) develop primary and secondary
components, (4) design a creativity-friendly interface, (5) prototype
components, (6) examine UCP product features, (7) evaluate user's design
experience, and (8) assess the potential creativity of the user's outcomes.
According to the proposed model, a set of assembly toys with UCP features was
developed. Using kindergarten children as subjects and employing professional
designers and preschool teachers as evaluators, the developed UCP product not
only satisfied users' creativity needs but also distinguished design outcomes
of children from those with existing toys in the same category. The proposed
model is feasible and effective and can expand the level of design from pure
product design to a creativity platform and experience design, thus creating
new design value, assisting industries in developing platform products, and
meeting the users' needs for self-accomplishment. This article introduces the
concept of a user creativity platform and proposes a feasible and effective
design model for enterprises and designers to raise the values of the function
and creativity of products. The platform can develop products that exceed other
products of the same category and can allow users to enjoy the fun of designing
on their own.
Keywords: creativity-oriented, user design, creativity platform, design model, toy
