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Connecting Design (thinking) to Marketing
March 3, 2010I am in the throws of defining my PhD thesis research topic. You can see the original call for my position, and this is clearly there, it still needs to be narrowed down and be more precise. Under a (very good) mandate from my advisers I’m identifying the two pieces of literature in the field that will guide my research but in the meantime I’ve formulated a kind of elevator pitch for the idea that makes it very succinct.
I invite your feedback as to which is better and your thoughts on them in general.
Here is version 0.4a
“The information needs of research, design, and marketing are complementary. Each builds up a vision about prospective people the interactive product should serve, referred to as ‘users’ and ‘consumers’ respectively and how it should serve them. There is a gap between these visions which should be bridged. I want to see how this can be done in structuring the (work and composition of the) project teams in an R&D organization.”
Here is version 0.4b
“Researchers, Designers, and Marketers all study people to get knowledge about them. The knowledge researchers and designers develop about ‘users’ are the basis for their creation of an interactive product. The marketers ‘insights’ about ‘consumers’ is used to define a strategy, positioning, and to sell. The outcome of the research is a clearer understanding of how these kinds of knowledge about people is complementary. This will be done through the study of and participation in industrial R&D project teams.”
