Transcript The purpose of research







Research involvesCollecting and collating information
Analysing and reporting the findings
Research helps identify
Factors that affect consumer choices such as
cost, colour
Consumer preferences within certain target
groups.





Primary research involves gathering the
information yourself.
Such as
shows and exhibitions
Focus groups
Questionnaires and surveys





Questionnaires and
surveys are the most
popular method of
collecting and analysing
consumer information.
They can be face to face,
telephone or postal.
You need a large sample
for it to be reliable
Can be general or target
certain groups
Questions should be
clear and focused
Avoid leading questions
or closed questions.




Focus groups bring
together a small group of
consumers so that
designers can
ask questions about how
products are used by
consumers
Gain feedback on
designs
Observe people using
existing products to see
how they function using
them.








Secondary research relies on information that
has been collected by others.
Secondary sources includeStatistics
Market reports
Websites
Trade publications
Newspapers
books









Designers can gain inspiration from many
different places
Art
Graphics and photographs
Materials and fabrics
Exhibitions, fairs and shows
Cinema
Travel
Architecture, furniture and interior design
Nature







Analyse
The function
Style
Key design features
Construction
methods
Fibres
Environmental
issues






Assess
The ergonomics of
the product
The size
Component parts
Method of
manufacture
cost









Identify
Colour application
Embellishments
Trimmings
Care label
Finishes
BSI standards
Fabric construction
sizes



In industry designers spend relatively little
time on research in comparison to developing
ideas.
They will find out what consumers think of
new designs before manufacture using
surveys and focused groups.
Designers monitor high street fashion trends
called intelligence gathering .






Following any research exercises you need to
analyse and evaluate the information
gathered to establish
If there is a clear trend in the data
How it will impact on the design
Research findings can be displayed using
ICT such as tables, pie charts, star profiles,
line graphs,
Mood boards