Defining authenticity in product design

Now, more than ever, we are told that 'authenticity' is an added value that customers want. The objective of this study is to determine what kind of authenticity is relevant to design, and whether it can be used as a standardised procedure to improve product design. In this study industrial designers were interviewed about their views on authenticity. The paper represents the combined result of a literature review and designer interviews about authenticity. Understanding the concept of authenticity, from a product development and industrial design point of view, is seen as an important way to understand how value relevant to customers may be added to products. Once products are on the market, authenticity can be seen as one of the factors that can determine their success or failure. Though authenticity may not necessarily be a guaranteed determinant of market success, it may well determine market failure. The ambiguousness of the concept of authenticity, however, suggests that a standardised procedure to secure the presence of authenticity within industrial design and product development may be an inadequate course of action.