Industry feedback for academic product development: influencing design decisions

This study highlights the influence industry feedback gathered by interviewing industry practitioners has on industrial design product development in academia. There is growing importance for academic research to align with industry for commercial and social benefit. The current literature does not study the importance or influence industry feedback has on design decision making for academic product development. A case study of a research-led industrial design practice PhD project is presented to demonstrate the impact feedback has on design decision making during the early stages of the product development process. A key reason for industry feedback on product development is to help design researchers in academia to justify and develop appropriate and successful products that are needed in the market. The feedback provided by industry practitioners exposed tacit knowledge that could not be found through secondary research thus identifying constraints and considerations that required attention early in the product development process.