Understanding Personalisation: New Aspects of Design and Consumption

Understanding Personalization: New Aspects of Design and Consumption addresses the global phenomenon of personalization that has come to affect many aspects of everyday life. It identifies the dimensions of personalization and its typologies. The focus is on influential instances of personalization in communication, consumption, design principles and practices, marketing and manufacturing. Issues of privacy, the ethics of design, and the designer/maker's control versus the consumer's freedom will be covered. This book consists in three main parts, each written by an expert in the field. The first part looks into digital personalization, examining how advances in new media technologies and software development influence our perception of digital spaces, the way we communicate, and our personal devices, and the way personal data is stored and used. The second part considers how the principles of personalization can be found in practices of materially engaged consumption, characterised by a user empowered hands-on approach. The final part examines changing patterns of consumption and development in marketing and markets that facilitate individualised products and services. It will assess the convergence of both producers and consumers towards the co-creation of goods and services, and challenge the concepts of personalization, customisation, and bespoke marketing in the context of ownership and consumption.