The “Do-it-yourself (DIY)” brand design strategy through computational design tools

Abstract

The three-dimensional form of a product is a key element in the development of a brand identity through the computational design methodology. Brand identity has an in-depth relationship with the object’s shape and product assembliness. In traditional mass production design methodologies, designers encode specific parameters into design rules that aren’t used by end-users to customize their own products. The “Do-It-Yourself (DIY)” process enable users to express themselves through the design thinking approach. Self-design is a form of co-creation between designer's knowledge and customer's skills according to the branded product design parameters. Under this statement, the object’s geometrical form and the product assembliness are fundamental principles in the promotion of a holistic design identity to the industry and to the market. The current paper combines the use of computational design with specific parameters of DIY bookcase/desk (i.e., height, length, width, number of shelves, etc.) in order to develop a generative design system for the mass customization of DIY bookcases/desks alternatives. The results from the end-user application offer, automatically alternatives 3D models under the "Do-It-Yourself" brand umbrella.

Full text

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THE “DO-IT-YOURSELF (DIY)” BRAND DESIGN STRATEGY THROUGH
COMPUTATIONAL DESIGN TOOLS
Athanasios Manavis , Nikolaos Efkolidis , Konstantinos Kakoulis , Panagiotis Kyratsis
University of Western Macedonia, Deptartment of Product and Systems Design Engineering,
Kozani, Greece
A
Abstract:
The three-dimensional form of a product is a key element in the development of a brand identity
through the computational design methodology. Brand identity has an in-depth relationship with the
object’s shape and product assembliness. In traditional mass production design methodologies, designers
encode specific parameters into design rules that aren’t used by end-users to customize their own
products. The “Do-It-Yourself (DIY)” process enable users to express themselves through the design
thinking approach. Self-design is a form of co-creation between designer's knowledge and customer's skills
according to the branded product design parameters. Under this statement, the object’s geometrical form
and the product assembliness are fundamental principles in the promotion of a holistic design identity to
the industry and to the market. The current paper combines the use of computational design with specific
parameters of DIY bookcase/desk (i.e., height, length, width, number of shelves, etc.) in order to develop a
generative design system for the mass customization of DIY bookcases/desks alternatives. The results from
the end-user application offer, automatically alternatives 3D models under the "Do-It-Yourself" brand
umbrella.
Key words:
computational design, branding, do-it-yourself, self-design, design thinking, mass
customization
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The multidimensional role of brand identity embodies the product's shape and the final object's
assembiness (Manavis & Kyratsis, 2021). Furthermore, the aforementioned modern approach of product
brand image also includes design elements like material's texture and roughness, color, and the unique
design style of the specific brand. Nowadays, novel Computer Aided Design (CAD) systems afford
advanced features and capabilities that can be used to produce unusual geometries in product design
engineering field (Tzotzis et al., 2021). More specifically, computational design is a supportive
methodology for designing branded products according to the brand-new theory of the holistic design
strategy. The Do-It-Yourself (DIY) design methodology refers to the specific creative approach in which
designers thinking like end users. That means, the DIY projects includes toolkits, templates, tools,
information, inspiration, and preliminary designs from designer's point of view (Hoftijzer, 2017). Finally,
the DIY activities can be seen as the most self-sufficient ways of designing and making your own products.
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Throughout literature there are reports about many theories and techniques related to the DIY design
methodology and the self-design approach. Furthermore, some researchers developed applications for
the automatic design of products via computational design tools according to mass customization
concept (Kyratsis, 2020). All that -automated produced- geometries and forms are related to the unique
brand image of the specific designer or design firm as reference.
2.1 The IKEA effect
Norton et al. (2012) refer the definition of the IKEA effect as the increase in valuation of self-made
products. More specifically, the IKEA effect was seen when individuals who build IKEA boxes, folded
origami animals, and built objects from a set of Legos (as a part of Norton's experiment) were willing to
pay more for their finished product than the same product that was assembled by an expert (Ling et al.,
2020). According to Kim (2015) the specific strategy (IKEA effect), while enjoying a marketing effect, has
become an opportunity for promoting transformation to a practical customer-oriented, differentiated
furniture image solely for IKEA.
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2.2 The ‘Do-It-Yourself (DIY)’ design methodology
The Do-It-Yourself (DIY) design process enable users to express themselves through the design thinking
approach. Hoftijzer (2017) refer that nowadays DIY has a contemporary role in market as a result of the
computer science and digitization tools (i.e. user generated content made). Prendeville et al. (2017)
provides a formulation of fourteen DIY principles (i.e. use modular design, use commonplace materials,
facilitate for flexible construction, etc.). Furthermore, the DIY design approach applies to a great number
of consumer products (i.e. furniture, electronic gadgets, jewelries, etc.).
2.3 Mass customization concept
Product customization uses a flexible production system to deliver a product to order that matches the
needs of an individual user (Randall et al., 2003). Mugge et al. (2008) refer that product personalization
gives individual users the opportunity to act as co-creators and partly conclude the appearance and the
functionality of the product they buy. Furthermore, Mugge et al. (2008) suggest seven specific
dimensions of mass customization concept: mental effort, physical effort, flexibility, initiation, goal of
product personalization, personalization moment, and deliberateness. Ardito et al. (2011) presents a
paper that explores the roles of end users in the life cycle of interactive system for furniture design.
Kyratsis et al. (2019) present a case study that follows the automatic design process of a bicycle, which is
a product that can undergo many design changes throughout its life cycle. The presented case study
makes use of a CAD based API in order to show that key advantages of using it.
2.4 Computational design approach
Efkolidis et al. (2020) define the computational design approach as the modern design methodology of
using textual or visual programming interface to create and modify forms and geometries. Furthermore,
Krause (2003) dealt with the development of applications, by using the computational design methods to
generate structures or objects. According to Sequin (2005) CAD tools (included generative design tools)
are progressively also becoming more suitable for aesthetic engineering. Kyratsis (2020) presents a great
number of design examples that are related to the automated process of producing unusual 3D forms for
3D printing applications. The implementation tools of the proposed computational design examples are
Rhinoceros3DTM and GrasshopperTM.
2.5 Product shape design as brand element
Manavis and Kyratsis (2021) note that branded product identity becomes a holistic design strategy to
increase competitiveness though marketing and promotional tools. According to this theory, Manavis and
Kyratsis (2021) present a novel methodology for automatic creation of products based on specific brand
elements. All products are based under the main theme of Cycladic marble figurines from the Early Age,
supporting Greek souvenir industry. Similarly, Castro e Costa et al. (2019) present a methodology that
describes the development of a computational design system for the mass customization of ceramic
tableware based on specific shape grammar rules. Castro e Costa et al. (2019) propose an online design
application for the end users for the creation of their own products according to the design rules. Finally,
Lopes Garcia (2018) describes a grammar-based design tool for the concept phase of multipurpose chair
design (The ChairDNA Design Tool). The specific application enables the generation of alternative models
of chair according to the manipulation of their parameters.
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The basic idea for the present research paper combines a number of concepts. The main reason of these
design concepts is the automatic creation of products based on specific branding elements. This
methodology was developed according to the computational design approach by using parametric pieces
of software (Rhinoceros3DTM, GrasshopperTM and Shape DiverTM). Finally, a case study presents the
customization design of unique 3D forms of bookcases/desks based on the concept of Do-It-Yourself
(DIY). The proposed methodology is a result of two different design fields, a) the study of brand elements
(branding principles) and b) the study of computational design techniques – computational design
principles (Figure 1). Some of the branding principles according to the bibliography are brand identity,
meaning, response and relationship (Phillips et al., 2014). Furthermore, concepts like decomposition,
pattern recognition, data representation, generalization, abstraction, and algorithms are the fundamental
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elements of computational design thinking (Khan & Awan, 2018). The workflow of the proposed
framework works with the following procedure: a) designer investigates a great number of products
under the main brand concept, b) all the common branding elements - shape, geometry, style, texture,
colour, materials etc., are transformed to design-rules according to grammar-based theory. The third and
the final step is about the generation of the computational design models that they are based on
parameters, which include all the brand references. The following case study investigates the automatic
creation of furnitures under the specific Do-I-Yourself characteristics as branding elements.
Figure 1: The proposed framework of the methodology
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The application was designed with simplicity and ease-of-use in mind by using the helpful toolbox of
Shape DiverTM. Furthermore, the development of the application follows all the principles of user design
experience for customized products: customization process, starting points, incremental refinement,
exploit prototypes and the teach the customer (Mugge et al., 2008).
4.1 Design workflow and application
Every end-user of the proposed application is ready to create unique 3D models for alternative products
under the original brand image. More specifically, the end-user specifies design solutions within the
original branding concept by using the specific parameters which were developed by the designer at the
stage of the computational design (Figure 1). Furthermore, the application exports a great number of
crucial file formats for product design and product manufacturing purposes (Figure 2). Specifically, the
application exports four different file types: a) an STL format of the produced 3D forms, b) a DWG file
format with all the technical details of the final 3D products, c) a JPEG photo with the rendered version of
the object and, d) a PDF report which includes all the step-by-step instructions for the final furniture's
construction. The whole process of the proposed application it is known under the name of “Product
Shape Generation to Support Brand Identity Elements”.
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4.2 Implementation tools
The development of the application was based on three different design and programming pieces of
software – one for each separate stage of the initial framework (Figure 3). More specifically,
Rhinoceros3DTM was used for the CAD models visualization during the design process. GrasshopperTM was
used for 3D CAD-based forms (according to CAD parametrization) and finally, Shape DiverTM was used for
the application development. The Shape DiverTM is an online platform that it allows to end-users to design
their own products under the specific parameters which are developed form designer’s point of view.
Figure 2: The proposed workflow of the application
Figure 3: Implementation tools
4.3 Case study: D.I.Y. brand design strategy
The central idea is to model a modern bookcase/desk focused on the specific design-rules and
parameters in relation with the brand elements of DIY style of construction. Some of these parameters
are the number of shelves, the type of supports and the specific dimensions of each element separately.
The basic model of the bookcase will be the initial reference for all the produced models that they will be
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customize via the proposed application (the end-user’s point of view). Figure 4 illustrates the main
concept of Do-It-Yourself brand strategy for furniture design via computational design tools.
Figure 4: The main concept of the D.I.Y. brand strategy for furniture design via computational design tools
The brand image references of DIY design style are a) the type of assembiness and b) all the single
elements that finalize the construction. Figure 5 illustrates the bookcase classification according to design
style and the three different levels of the bookcase ontology. It is crucial to write down that there are too
many similarities into bookcases designs between the varieties defined. Authors set six different
categories for the common bookcase product: the traditional bookcase, the modular, the ladder, the
corner, the floating and finally, the free style bookcase. All of the aforementioned type bookcases were
used to create the design rules. Additionally, the authors note the object's ontology into to the single
elements of the common shape of a bookcase. More specifically, a bookcase can be built from the
following individual elements: shelves, supports, legs, back, side parts, uppers, cupboards, and drawers.
All these different elements were translated to primitive shapes according to shape grammar
methodology, in order to develop a parametric model. The developed case study encompasses three
basic stages for programming and built the required customized products. The first part, named “Original
Model”, second is the “Rule-based Model” and finally, the third part is the “Parametric Model”. Figure 5
illustrates the proposed three different parts of the customized product (section of the schematic
bookcase for case study). The first part (Original Model) uses as an input the results of research about the
bookcases classification and all the data from object’s ontology. The next part of the procedure
(Parametric Model) uses a piece of visual programming code written in Grasshopper3DTM. At this stage,
elements of the original model are translated to primitive geometries via shape grammar methodology.
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The final step (Parametric Model) uses Grasshopper3DTM for creating the appropriate visual programming
code. A series of design parameters and constraints is introduced, and the end-user is able to change
them within a range of values. These configurations can generate a great number of alternatives based
on the original model. Figure 6 illustrates the parameterization of the DIY-brand image of bookcase
and desk.
Figure 5: The illustrative edition of the framework and the application concept (D.I.Y. brand strategy)
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Figure 6: Computational design stage
Figure 7: New bookcases/desks models and their technical specifications
The present case study shows an application for automatic creation of unique 3D forms with the aid of
Rhinoceros3DTM and GrasshopperTM. The end-user of the proposed application (Product Shape
Generation to Support Brand Identity Elements) is able to insert numerical values for the parameters
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required by the online platform of Shape DiverTM. Each design of bookcase/desk includes the following
types of design-rules/parameters: number of shelves, dimensions of each shelf separately (length, width,
height), number of supports, dimensions of each support separately (length and radius), number of legs,
dimension of each leg (length, width, height). Figure 7 illustrates the final stage of the complete
procedure and presents two alternative design (Alternative Model 1 &2) from the original shape DIY-
branded bookcase. This approach emphasizes the development of a complete family of furnitures
according to the all-branding rules that they were developed by the authors. The proposed models were
produced under the Shape DiverTM online platform. All the numerical values (as shown in the Figure 7) are
correspond to the real size furnitures.
4.3 Exported product design applications
The end-user is able to create his own bookcase according to DIY brand identity. In this case, the user has
the responsibility to fill all the parameters to online application of “Product Shape Generation to Support
Brand Identity Elements”. The proposed methodological framework exports four types of file formats in
order to development four specific applications for product design field. The STL model of a 3D form is a
very useful format for digital fabrications purposes. Furthermore, the technical drawing (DWG) file is the
most important element in order to produce the final furniture from a specific manufacturing procedure.
The next exported file is about a rendered photographic representation of the shape. The production of
the JPEG photograph it is based on the main characteristics of rendering synthesis: materials, textures,
shadows, lights, and the environment elements. Finally, the application of “Product Shape Generation to
Support Brand Identity Elements” exports a PDF report with all the instructions about the assembly of the
final product. The construction manual is a very useful tool to the end-user for the final assembly of the
bookcase.
Figure 8: Application exports
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The present work aims at developing a new methodology for product generation, focusing on product’s
image. The core idea of this paper is a combination of two different approaches: the computational
design and the branding theory. Both approaches unite under the same framework and create a novel
idea about an application of “Product Shape Generation to Support Brand Identity Elements”. The
purpose of this app is to explore, how to produce a series of similar products under the main theme of
D.I.Y. method. The proposed application offers a great deal of advantages in the field of product design.
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