Personalized product design through digital fabrication

Personalized designs bring added value to the products and the users. Meanwhile, they also pose challenges to the product design process as each product differs. In this paper, with the focus on personalized fit, we present an overview as well as details of the personalized design process based on design practice. The general workflow of personalized product design is introduced first. Then different steps in the workflow such as human data/parameters acquisition, computational design, design for digital fabrication, and product evaluation are presented. Tools and methods that are often used in different steps in the process are also outlined where in human data acquisition, 3D scanning, and digital human models are addressed. For computational design, the use of computational thinking tools such as abstraction, decomposition, pattern recognition and algorithms are discussed. In design for digital fabrication, additive manufacturing methods (e.g. FDM), and their requirements on the design are highlighted. For product evaluation, both functional evaluation and usability evaluation are considered and the evaluation results can be the starting point of the next design iteration. Finally, several case studies are presented for a better understanding of the workflow, the importance of different steps in the workflow and the deviations in the approach regarding different contexts. In conclusion, we intend to provide designers a holistic view of the design process in designing personalized products as well as help practitioners trigger innovations regarding each step of the process.