Creative Commons

This dissertation was written as part of the MSc in Strategic Product Design at the International Hellenic University. The aim of this dissertation is to apply a generic product development process in a real-world design problem regarding a small household appliance. Considering that a development process starts with an idea and ends up with a physical product, it is essential to reach the point where the product concept is finalized. The development process starts with the opportunity identifications, considering my personal interests, the current market trends and customer behavior. At the end of this process, a mission statement will clearly state about what is going to be developed. As soon as, the aim is defined, a customer need determination process will take place. This process clarifies what are the actual needs that must be met. These needs are translated into specifications that will be used later for the concept generation. The first step of the product design includes the determination of both the morphology and aesthetics according several factors like, toast maker archetype, corporate identity, ergonomics and user interface. In the final phase of the dissertation, the toast maker is coped as a system which includes several sub-systems. In this way, a general design problem can be derived into several smaller design problems respectively, making the process easier to be analyzed. The result of this process will be a toast maker. The development took place on Mavelec’s premises where specialized staff, including mechanical and electrical engineers, contribute with their knowledge and expertise. Furthermore, several questionnaires have been filled from many people, thus gathering feedback through observation regarding design and practical features along with real life samples of such appliances.