Reviving everyday products by understanding the user behaviour of everyday designing

Abstract

Everyday Designing (ED) involves the re-use of existing products for new purposes. In order to gain an understanding of how people perceive and apply product elements as cues for everyday designing and level of appropriation when reusing product for the new purpose, an experiment was conducted. In the experiment, four everyday products were provided for repurpose. The 40 repurposed products from 10 participants were analyzed with the interviews and questionnaire. ED products were reborn with various purposes beyond the original functions of the products. The results indicate that there is a difference between perceived product elements as usual and product elements as cues for everyday designing. Materials and manipulability plays an important role in ED although form-centred perceptions were mainly observed. It seems that the product elements as ED cue and the prior experience of the product seem to affect the level of the product appropriation. Although this study has an exploratory character, it could provide design practitioners with a better understanding of users’ ED behaviour, which could contribute to discovering new insight of product and product sustainability.