The Role of Communication Tools in the Early-phase Design Process

- A Perspective on Multi-cultural Contexts -

Abstract

In the industrial context of concept and product development we face an inevitable increase of globalized scenarios. We constantly partake in exchanges involving diverse cultural backgrounds. Therefore it becomes an essential point, particularly during the early design process, to achieve an optimal transmission of design information through the implementation of accurate cultural layers. However, problems may arise if there is not an adequate level of cultural understanding. We want to address the importance of cross-cultural tools in the communication of design information in early-phases. We introduce two study cases to open up the discussion on the subject. Both cases correspond to research projects conducted at the Kansei Design division at Toyota Motor Europe (KD-TME). These projects generated specific tools as an output for strategists and designers to aid in the production of inspirational material or define a target user, with a more grounded and sensible cultural base.