9.4 Market research

Market research often identifies how to improve the product, service or system and increase its chance of success within a particular sector or segment. The price a user is prepared to pay is usually determined through market research. This in turn sets an upper limit of cost to the design and production of a potential product, service or system. Market research has a crucial role in determining the constraints a designer has to work within.

Often designers will work on projects that have new and radically unfamiliar contexts. This will deepen their understanding of market research, equipping them with a range of tools and skills that they can employ in many areas of life and empowering them as lifelong learners.


Types of Data
  • Primary vs Secondary
  • Qualitative vs Quantitative
Purpose of market research

There are many purposes of market research.

    • Gathering information in order to be able to generate new ideas for a product
    • Evaluating the market potential of products at various stages of development
    • Developing ideas into products to suit market requirements
    • Identifying suitable promotional strategies
    • Gathering information relating to demographics
    • Gathering information relating to family roles
    • Collecting data relating to economic trends
    • Taking into account technological trends and scientific advances
    • Gathering information about consumers
  • Considering consumers’ reactions to technology and green design and the subsequent impact on design development and market segmentation

Relate these purposes to your own project work.

Consumers’ reaction

To technology

  • Technophile: Someone who immediately welcomes a technological change – early adopters.
  • Technocautious: Someone who needs some convincing before embracing technological change – majority to late majority
  • Technophobe: Someone who resists all technological change  – laggards.

Green design:

  • Eco-warriors actively demonstrate on environmental issues
  • Eco-champions champion environmental issues within organizations
  • Eco-fans enthusiastically adopt environmentally friendly practices as consumers.
  • Eco-phobes actively resent talk of environmental protection

These attitudes have a subsequent impact on design development and market segmentation. This will direct the companies products to certain target markets.

Market research strategies

Understanding that market research is a key element of the design project, students need to select from a range of strategies that will help them find out what the client wants and needs. It is important to note that often, what the client thinks they want and what they need can be very different things. There are many strategies for the student to identify the need, which include:

Literature search:

  • The use of consumer reports and newspaper items to follow historical development. Useful sources of information could include CD-ROMs, such as encyclopaedias and newspapers, or more specific disks, subject-specific magazines and manufacturers’ information.
  • many sources of information are available
  • there may be an abundance of data, which can be too time-consuming.
  • Data can be both qualitative or quantitative

Expert appraisal:

  • The reliance on the knowledge and skills of an expert in the operation of the product. For example, expert knowledge and advice are gained (compared to a user trial), but the expert may be biased.
  • Expert knowledge can help decide design direction.
  • It may also be difficult to locate an expert.
  • Data is usually qualitative.

User trial:

  • The observation of people using a product and collection of comments from people who have used a product.
  • The “user” is a non-specialist, which makes trials easier and cost-effective.
  • However, users may carry out tasks in different ways from those expected and be inexperienced.
  • Data is usually qualitative.

User research:

  • Obtaining users’ responses through questionnaires/surveys and interviews.
  • It is cheap and quick to conduct
  • The data collect if qualitative or statistics can be produced (quantitative)

Perceptual mapping:

  • Quickly compare a product to others in the market due to it being a graphical representation.
  • It is simple and easy to construct.
  • It is qualitative as it examines consumer perceptions.
  • Could be biased.

Environmental scanning:

  • Environmental analysis is careful study of various factors influencing the business. It is the process by which organization monitor their relevant environment to identify opportunities and threats affecting their business.

Disadvantages include lack of detailed information or specifics of what constitutes these opportunities or threats it may need much more research or specific data to identify usable information. – not yet ready needs fixing.

Students need to draw from the above list when identifying a design opportunity and, prior to this, must have developed an understanding of these strategies. To this end, they should consider the advantages and disadvantages of the research strategies listed above in relation to the nature, reliability and cost of the research and importance to the design development process.


International Mindedness

Determining the purpose of market research allows designers to clearly identify who needs to be included and their differing requirements.

Theory of Knowledge

What are the assumptions that underlie methods used to gain knowledge in this area?


Something Extra …

Design Tech for IB students