Smart home systems not only serve users to fulfill pragmatic goals, but also ‘live with’ users. Despite the conceptual possibilities, it still remains unclear whether and what social roles current smart home systems are intended by the companies. In this paper, we report a retrospective study on 15 selected smart home systems (SHSs) on current market. We used content analysis to identify themes and categories of function, personality and social role of these SHSs, and also explore the connections among them. Four representative social roles were identified: instrument, lobby boy, assistant and family member. Four related personalities were found: competent, helpful, trustworthy, and caring. Results of this study revealed an overview of current social roles that smart home system plays as well as the personalities they exhibit.@en

Transparency is a design characteristic enabling consumers to see the technical details underneath the product cover to create a unique visual effect. However, involving transparency in product design increases costs; it is thus essential to investigate the effects of transparency to help designers and manufacturers to determine the cost-effect ratio. To address this gap, this study investigates the effects of transparency on consumer attitude and their perceptions of experience and credence attributes (i.e. technological advancement, performance quality, ease of use). Through a controlled experimental design (N = 126), this study compared consumer responses between products with transparent and opaque covers in two product categories. The results revealed that products with transparent covers significantly improve consumers’ perceptions of technological advancement and performance quality, and attitude in comparison to opaque covers. Results also revealed that the effects of transparency differ between consumers depending on their design acumen. The effects of transparency on consumers’ perceptions and attitude are stronger for consumers with high design acumen. The practical implications and theoretical contributions of the study are discussed.

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Designers are frequently involved in embodying product innovations. It is challenging to embody really new products (RNPs) because
consumers often have difficulty comprehending them. This study explores the value of visual complexity for designing RNPs. In study 1, an experiment was conducted (n = 77) to test the effects of visual complexity on consumers’comprehension of incrementally new products (INPs) and RNPs. The resultsrevealed different effects for INPs and RNPs. Specifically, a more complex appearance triggers congruence with the functions of a RNP, which facilitatesconsumers’ comprehension. For INPs, no effects for visual complexity were
found. Based on the positive effect of visual simplicity on consumers’ aesthetic response to product design, the design strategy ‘complexity in simplicity’ is proposed. In study 2, we asked experienced designers (n = 6) to apply this design strategy. Results showed that they can design RNPs using the‘complexity in simplicity’ and possible ways to achieve this are explained.@en

Driven by innovative technology, really new products (RNPs) incorporate new functions that provide significant benefits for consumers. Consumers, however, often experience difficulty understanding RNPs, which hinders their further adoption. To facilitate consumers’ comprehension, the use of product metaphors in RNPs is a promising strategy because it relates a target RNP to a source product/concept familiar to consumers. By using knowledge from the familiar source, consumers could gain better comprehension of the RNP. However, product metaphors can also carry risks that hinder consumers’ comprehension of RNPs, such as consumers’ misidentification of the source and their inability to use the relevant knowledge to comprehend RNPs. This research investigates the potential and risks of using product metaphors for RNPs through a mixed-methods approach. Specifically, an experiment and in-depth interviews were conducted to examine the effects of product metaphors on consumers’ comprehension. Results revealed that consumers encounter difficulty in detecting the similarities between source concepts/products and target RNPs, meaning product metaphors may not necessarily enhance consumers’ comprehension. Accompanying a product metaphor with a textual clue can help consumers detect the similarities between source concepts/products and target RNPs, leading to enhanced comprehension. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

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Transparency is used in product design across various product categories. Because of the physical property of letting light go through, transparency can create unique visual styles. Transparency can also communicate additional information as a result of what is situated underneath the product cover, which prompts different consumers’ interpretations. To support designers to use transparency effectively, this research aims to explore the use of transparency in product design to provide an overview of the design intentions of using transparency. Specifically, two studies were conducted. In Study 1, in-depth interviews with experienced designers (N = 6) were conducted and the results revealed the overview of the following five design intentions of using transparency in product design: enrich visual appeal, enrich product experience, improve product usability, facilitate consumers’ comprehension and demonstrate product functionality. The overview was further validated through consumer interviews (N = 13) in Study 2.

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