Culture-orientated Product Design

There is little in-depth research that can assist designers to use culture as a catalyst for designing innovative product within Botswana’s context. This is supported by evidence from the literature which indicate that from an African perspective, there is no solid theoretical framework which can assist designers to consciously integrate users’ culture in designing products. This challenges designers to gain a deeper understanding of users’ culture and find strategies on how they can use culture as a resource in product development and promote culture-orientated product innovation. The paper discusses an experimental design study conducted at the University of Botswana which challenged participants to transform socio-cultural factors into product features. The paper concludes by discussing a culture-orientated design