Teaching strategic product styling: An educational approach to the use of consumer data in designing brand recognition

Paper in proceeding, 2008

Historically, design education on styling focused on the design of products with aesthetic, functional and symbolic appeal to consumers. Today with increased interest in the commercial role of design, design educators also place considerable emphasis on the skills associated with establishing visual brand recognition through styling. While there is undoubtedly much to learn from the various approaches educators use when teaching these skills, design literature has not provided many examples of the educational approaches used for establishing visual brand recognition through styling. In this article, we report on such an approach that aimed to familiarize design students with the collection and usage of quantitative consumer data when seeking visual brand recognition through styling.