Peer designers as strong influencers on the design process of food startups

As design research expands its horizon, there has been a recent rise in studies on nontraditional designers. Previous studies have noted the positive effect of diversity in generating ideas. Among different sources of influence, peers outside the design team have been noted for their positive impact on the design process, yet the research on this topic is still in its early stages. Using qualitative data from 40 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the American and Finnish food and beverage industries, the current study examines their interactions with other SMEs, shedding light on the influence of peers on creating new design solutions. The findings suggest that peer companies can act as a frequent and impactful source of inspiration for product design ideas. The most prevalent forms of interaction were co-creating products, sharing information, and sharing ingredients. Furthermore, the interactions were voluntary, organic, and improvisational in nature, and physical proximity or previous connectionsoften initiated the interactions. Taken together, a great number of peer influences contributed towards creative new solutions.

Keywords

new product development, design practice, design process, collaborative design

DOI

10.1017/pds.2021.502

Citation

Jung , S D , Perttunen , E , Kirjavainen , S , Björklund , T & Kim , S 2021 , ' Peer designers as strong influencers on the design process of food startups ' , Proceedings of the Design Society , pp. 2409-2418 . https://doi.org/10.1017/pds.2021.502

Permanent link to this item

https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202212146867

Collections

[article-cris] Insinööritieteiden korkeakoulu / ENG

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