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 authenticity relevant for design is and whether it can be used as a standardised procedure to improve product design. In this study, industrial designers have been interviewed about their views on authenticity. This paper is a combined result of a literature review and designers´ interviews. 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 may 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.