Bo Concept GROUP NO.
DATE
8
10.10.2013
COMPANY
WORKING TITLE
Buy. Change. -And change it again!
GROUP MEMBERS Barbara, NoĂŠlia, Charlotte, Ida Marie & Silas
Side 1
1 // COMPANY
1 // COMPANY
THE COMPANY’S VISUAL DESIGN IDENTITY/-SIGNATURE 1) DESCRIPTION BoConcept is a store selling design furniture and accessories for your home. Thei own their deisgn, and thei sell only to their own stores.
COMPANY INFORMATION 1) VISION To make BoConcept no. 1 brand within urban interiors.
Boconc ept is focused on design. Their target group has a interest in asthetics, and likes to put an effeort in furnituring their home. Their customers are likely to work within a design field as well. For example: BoConcept offers a opportunity for consumers to make their own individual design, by the choise of various options, like color, material, structure, size. This concept is very well developed, on their website you can se an instant 3D-model of your own design, get a price, a couch for instance with a choise of 90 different leather and fabrics, can be delivered within 6-7 weeks! The company are designing furniture for humans living in urban areas. They want to be no. 1 brand for urban interiors. BoConcept are expanding scandinavian design into other regions of the wolrd. The international company has stores and facilitys around the globe. 2) KEYWORDS
2) MISSION Through passionate and persistent performance we make customised and coordinated design furniture and accessories affordable to the urban-minded customer.
1 // Social & cultural aspects
Design interested people within the design field. High sense of aestethics. Stylish home inventory
2 // Visual expresion
3) VALUE PARAMETERS
According to their own webpage:
Urban, Scandinavian, minimalistic, modern, simplistic,
Respect! Always show you care Think smarter Always look for the better solution
Neutral colours, no bright colors, toned color Meta, wood, plastic PVC, leather, polished steel,
3 // Feeling expression
Cold, reserved, steady, organized, showoff, design focused, not comfort, clean not cosy.
Play the team Always use your freedom responsibly Love city life Always know what’s going on
Side 4
Side 5
1 // COMPANY
2 // CATEGORY THE CATEGORISATION OF THE COMPANY 1) DESCRIPTION The company offers consumers to form their identity, by enabling to show interest in design and aestethics. BoConcept also offers their consumers to call themselves designers. BoConcept have proffessional interior decorators, that you can book for free to visit your house or come with personal solutions to interior challenges. They can provide you with a individual design proposal of your home in 3D. BoConcept can taking care of all parts of home decor, delivery and design.
Side 6
Side 7
3 // PRODUCT
3 // PRODUCT
DESIGN ANALYSIS OF A REPRESENTATIVE PRODUCT FROM THE COMPANY
ENCODING AND DECODING
1) SELECTED PRODUCT 1) ENCODING Process of creation: a dining chair with possibility of alteration and customization with a wide variety of materials. Produced upon order with delivery from 6-7 weeks. The product corresponds to the target group of the BoConcept (design-oriented, aesthetic focus people). Simple, and minimalistic design. The material and quality is durable and meant for a long-run usage. The sender gives some instructions on how to properly use and take care of the product. 2) SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS Denotative meaning – a dining chair used to sit on made of fabric and wood. Connotative meaning – looks soft, reflects simplicity and minimalistic Scandinavian design, at the first sight it seems to be too plain, however what makes it unique is the possibility of modification. Linguistic meaning - A website serves as a framework of understanding what the product is all about – it shows design, function, specification. There is no particular linguistic message applied to this specific item. The London Chair is a dining chair made of 90% wool, 10% polyester and 100 % oak wood (legs). Nevertheless, it can be altered and individually redesigned via use of various fabrics, leathers, legs, colours etc., depending on the customers’ personal wishes. Additional armrest can be attached if wanted. The website provides the possibility of a 3D model vision and instantly shows your alteration.
3) PHENOMENOLOGICAL READING Comfortable in a dining situations while having a meal (straight back, a proper posture), however comparing to other furniture (e.g. a couch or an armchair) or another situations (e.g. a party) it might not fully meet the comfort requirements. The feeling of the chairs felted fabric.
Relation of production: Produced by unknown supplier and distributed from Shanghai in 3 different distribution centers. Shipped out to 260 stores worldwide. The opportunities for individual design is providing approximately 60 various materials and 5 different leg types (metal or wood).
2) DISCOURSE The biggest trend being followed by the company is customization – the customers are the designers (able to choose the materials from BoConcepts catalogue, and chose a base from 5 different options. The second trend is that production and customer are getting closer to each other in a historical angle, due to the fact that production takes place upon an order. The company has also “anti-logo” approach, an individual design stands for a label. Simplistic, modern design attitude towards furnishing – simple shapes, structures, natural and toned colours.
3) DECODING Interpretation horizon: The receiver likes to design and have the opportunities to create something unique which matches his/her current interior needs. The consumer is design conscious, and devotes his/her time to choose materials and fabrics. They are informed that the quality is of a high level which is being reflected in the price. Context of production: Enabling the customers to design their own chair gives a new impression of luxury and higher status –they possess things than no one else has. Moreover, it boosts creativity and gives the chance to come up with unique ideas for the interior. When it comes to the cultural part, the dominant style is Scandinavian and the social layer stands for middle class. PRACTICAL ELEMENTS: A soft-edged shape with a wide range of natural material colours. The materials are made of 90% wool, 10% polyester and 100 % oak wood (legs). There is no armrests unless they have been individually designed.
Side 8
Side 9
3 // PRODUCT
4 // RECEIVER THE EMOTIANAL NEEDS OF THE TARGET AUDIENCE
Physiological needs – The biggest physiological desires to be met refer to sight. A product should fit into current interior design of a potential buyer’s apartment. Appearance of a product should be appealing and matching in terms of colours, shapes, materials, etc. A product should meet comfort requirements and be appropriately shaped to a human body. The newness of the product is highly influencinng buyer – it has never been used before and the scence gives an impression of a product’s freshness. This newness factor gives a lot of physiological pleasure to the purchaser, in forms of great smell, clean and unspoild product. Directly from the factory, has a big impact on our consumer behavior. Psychological needs – Creating physical objects delivers a unique experience – the target group can play the role of a designers which makes them more attached to the product afterwards. Undoubtedly, this ads a sentimental aspect, since they are responsible for a product’s creation. The psychological trigger is the freedom and creativity that can be explored. The relation between a product and a customer is very emotional and brings personal satisfaction due to the fact that the customers are the designers. The process of creation and steps before delivery are eventually more appealing and exiting then the appearance of the product itself. Sociological needs – the target group aims at creation of social belonging. They shape their identity by designing an interior look in a well-thought manner, taking into consideration every single detail, telling and describing their choises to others. Some people design in a minimalistic, simple style (very characteristic in Scandinavia) to feel like a part of this culture. Moreover, the target group patterns upon interiors presented in magazines to express their interest in design and current trends. Another sociological need refers to showing off and boasting about self-designed pieces of furniture which provides them with recognition, delight and appreciation from the others. Ideological needs – it shows the preferences of the target audience to watch minimalistic and Scandinavian design. It supports their image and proves that they can take creative decisions, and success their designs to match the surrounding objekts. They choose products that support their own beliefs and boost their self-image. They tend to pick those products not only because they like them, but also because they confirms their self-image of identity.
Side 10
Side 11
7 // METHOD
5 // PROBLEM PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION (EMOTIONAL OR CRITICAL ANGLE) In order to refresh and redesign a given interior, people exchange pieces of furniture too often, even though they are still in a good condition. The main focus is put on a new interior design with no concern for sustainability, waste creation and financial expenditure. Moreover, people do not pay much attention to what happens with the old furniture once it has been decided to be replaced. The emotional attachment is not strong enough to make people wonder and actually reconsider the exchange. Furniture is only a tool used to climb up the social status ladder. Following the interior design tendencies and being “trendy” is of the highest importance for them, regardless of the costs, both financial and environmental.
6 // CONCEPT IDEA- AND CONCEPT DESCRIPTION FOR THE NEW INITIATIVE
Possibility to change the cover of the sofa, into a different fabric or color pallet
Steel/metal or wood. Also different hights
A customers decides to buy a sofa that would fit his/her interior design. After a few months/years she/he grows bored with it or changes other pieces of decoration (a lamp, carpet, curtains, walls colour) so that this sofa no longer matches with. Instead of throwing the sofa away or replacing it with a new model, a customer has the possibility to change only some parts of it – cover-material (structure and colour) or legs (wooden or metal). The only thing left is the frame. The old pieces are being returned to the store (where the can be further redesigned and reused) and exchanged for a version which matches the new design of a room.
The sofalegs can be changed. Wooden ones can be replaced with metal or viceversa.
Invisible zipper on the sofa pillow/cover THE TITLE OF THE CONCEPT
The liberalisation couch
Side 12
Note: The zippers are placed on the edges, and won’t be visible
Side 13
8 // DESIGN PROCESS
Side 14
9 // DESIGN SOLUTION
Side 15
9 // DESIGN SOLUTION
10 // COMMUNICATION
The solution is to let the customers change the design of a given piece of furniture even though it has already been designed, produced, brought and used. At the moment, the BoConcept’s customers can play a role of designers and create their own furniture by choosing among diverse materials, fabrics and colours variations provided by the company. It leaves a lot of room for creativity and self-expression however a product which has once been designed and manufactured cannot be modified. That is the exact issue being addressed by the solution. The idea is to enable the customers to refresh their interior designs more often, without actually replacing the furniture with new ones. Whenever they grow bored with an old design, they can either alter the whole concept of a given accommodation (e.g. changing the covers for sofa and chairs alongside with accessories) or adjust design of one room to another (e.g. by changing chairs’ covers in the kitchen so that they match with the sofa covers in the living room). Possibilities are unlimited. The only thing that a customer is asked to do is to take off old covers/chair legs, return it to the BoConcept store (where it can be further redesigned and reused) and purchase the same elements but in other shape/ structure/colour. It can be also done by the BoConcept service assistants who could come over to the customers’ place and take the unneeded parts away. Keeping an old frame and adding new elements will create a product of a totally different look but with the same composition and functionality. This solution is believed to be appealing to the target audience of the BoConcept also due to their need for following the ongoing design trends. For people having interest in design, it might be of a high importance to keep a track of the newest trends and tendencies. Having the possibility of replacing only some pieces of furniture, they can save both time and money. Sustainability issues are also worth paying attention to. It is much more environment-friendly and cost-effective both for the company and the customers to produce only some parts of furniture instead of the whole pieces. It decreases the waste creation, pollution, and usage of resources.
Side 16
Side 17
10 // COMMUNICATION
Side 18
10 // COMMUNICATION
Side 19