Aesthetic design process: Descriptive design research and ways forward

Consumer response to designed products has a profound effect on how products are interpreted, approached and used. Product design is crucial in determining this consumer response. Research in this field has been centered on studying the relationship between product features and subjective responses of users and consumers to those features. The subject of aesthetic or styling design process has been relatively neglected despite the important role of this process in fulfilling intended consumer response through product design. In this paper, we present a review of descriptive design research on aesthetic design process, and highlight limitations of this research. We also suggest opportunities for further descriptive research on the subject of aesthetic design process