All right, there are many different methodologies and many tools with many names for “trying to understand customers needs and wishes”. I expected and dreaded this answer, but you are right again, worrying won’t help.
After having learned this, I would like to take a closer look at the diffrent methodologies, because I am generally interested in new ideas of how to achieve customer insight and especially interested in strategies to apply the gathered information into the industrial design process.
Therefore I already tried to find sources like dissertations or any other kind of scientific papers that are dealing with those questions. But doing so for quite a while, I am more and more convinced, that even university level industrial design institutions are a bit behind the times, and theory is - once again - in the wake of practice. What do you think? (Just in case there is anybody out there, who knows that I am wrong: I would be pleased if you would let me know.)
Now here is my new question:
- Have you - or anyone else who may read this - got any suggestions where I can find the latest papers about product- / industrial-design strategies that are based on the anticipation of future customer behaviour?
(Sorry, but it is impossible to say this without common buzzwords.)