ROLE OF DESIGNERS THROUGH NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS IN TURKISH INDUSTRY

Turkish industry is a developing industry with stimulators like European Union membership and the global market. These two main stimulators push the industry towards quality products, branding, innovation and creativity. Consequently, recent developments in Turkish industry evoked the manufacturers to re-organize their strategies throughout the new product development process by giving emphasis on factors such as innovation, competitive advantage, branding, corporate identity, technological improvement and by including the industrial designer in the overall product development process. 

This study investigates the characteristics of the roles of industrial designers in Turkish manufacturing industry. Design activities and functions affecting the design process were examined through the product development process in manufacturing companies as to explore the nature of design process and role of designers throughout the process. The investigation implemented an electronic questionnaire inquiring the opinions and comments of 39 managers and 45 designers who work in a sample selection of manufacturing companies in 2006 in Turkey.

After the surveys were analyzed, it was possible to categorize the perceived roles of the designers into three types. With reference to the study made by Perks, Cooper and Jones (2005), it is also possible to find three distinct roles in the Turkish case as, ‘Designer taking role as a functional specialist’, ‘Designer taking role as a team member in the whole NPD process’ and ‘Designer being the NPD process leader’. The study discusses the characteristics of the companies which assign distinct roles to their industrial designers in the NPD process.

It is believed that the results of this study will have key findings to provide grounds for further assessment of the future role of industrial design and industrial designer in Turkish Industry for the improvement of the profession’s influence both in Turkish industry, and local and international markets.

Reference: Perks H., Cooper R., and Jones C., 2005. “Characterizing the Role of Design in New Product Development Process”, Journal of Product Development Management, Vol. 22, p. 111-127

Keywords: Industrial design in Turkey, The role of designers in Turkish Industry, New Product Development (NPD) Process