Relational Messages in Product Design
Kathy Pui Ying Lo
School of the Arts
Loughborough University
Loughborough, Leicestershire
LE11 3TU, United Kingdom
K.P.Y.Lo@lboro.ac.uk
ABSTRACT
This paper introduces the concept of relational messages to
examine the social and psychological aspects of product
design. The concept mainly draws on communication
theories and insights arising from empirical research
regarding users’ emotional responses to service tangibles. It
offers an alternative set of lens for product designers to
examine their creative practice, and serves as a useful
framework for researchers to analyze the psychological
impact of design work. Examples of relational messages in
service tangibles, products for shared use and gift products
are discussed. The paper rounds up by highlighting
implications for design and future research possibilities.
Keywords
Relational message, product design, service design, product
experience, relational value
INTRODUCTION
Increasingly, design practitioners and researchers are
devoting more attention to user experiences, people’s
emotional responses to products, and designers’ social
responsibility. Numerous design paradigms in relation to
these themes are proliferating in recent years, such as
interaction design, experience design, design for emotions,
sustainable design, and social innovations.
With the continual shift of design practice and research
towards experience, emotions and social wellbeing, it is
essential for designers and design researchers to gain
deeper insights into meanings and human connections
associated with design. Instead of restating the emphasis on
human-product interaction, the discussion in this paper
offers an alternative perspective regarding design’s
influence on how people relate to each other through
products.
The discussion in this paper has its foundation in
communication theories and insights arising from empirical
research on hotel guests’ emotional responses towards
design in hotels. More precisely, this paper elaborates on
the concept of relational messages in design with a specific
focus on product design.
The following discussion starts with an explanation of the
communication theory regarding relational messages,
followed by the concept of relational messages in products
with specific examples of three product categories, namely
service tangibles, products for shared use, and gift
products. Implications for design practice and research are
also discussed. The conclusion offers suggestions for
further application of the concept and future work.
RELATIONAL MESSAGES IN COMMUNICATION
The theoretical foundation of this paper is the concept of
“relational message” originated from communication
studies. Communication theorists contended that when
people communicate, two main components of the message
are being interpreted: (1) Content message, which is the
actual content about the topic; and (2) Relational message,
which is the perception of the sender towards the receiver
[1, 14]. For example, when a friend said, “I miss you”, the
content message is her reaction to your absence. The
relational message is she perceives you as a good
companion and it is a loss to her that you are not around.
An example of negative relational message is when a
colleague said to you, “Stop telling me what to do.” The
content message is clearly communicated in the words. The
relational message is his perception that you are annoying,
and the implication that you are not in a position to give
him orders.
While this communication theory is based on interpersonal
communication, it does shed light on design’s influence on
human connections when the theory is applied to examine
the social and psychological aspects of product design. The
following sections elaborate on this.
RELATIONAL MESSAGES IN PRODUCTS
The concept of relational messages in design can be
examined in relation to a wide range of products. This
paper chooses to focus on discussing three product
categories because they are the most relevant and easy to
understand. These product categories are:
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for
personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are
• Service tangibles
not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that
• Products for shared use
copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. To copy
otherwise, to republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists,
• Gift products
requires prior specific permission and/or a fee.
DESIRE'11, October 19-21, 2011, Eindhoven, the Netherlands
Copyright © 2010 ACM ISBN 978-1-4503-0754-3... $10.00
ACM, 2011. This is the author’s version of the work. It is posted here by permission of ACM for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive
version was published in Proceedings of DESIRE’11: International Conference on Creativity and Innovation in Design (2011).
http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2079216.2079262
1. Service Tangibles
iii. Trust
Service tangibles refer to the physical, tangible components
of service. The service industry uses the term “service
evidence” [13] to describe designed objects in the service
environments which are tangible proofs of service that has
taken place. Service evidence plays an important role in
shaping customers’ service experiences [2], which in turn
influence perceptions of service quality and brand image.
Badly designed features may convey distrust to customers.
For example, hotel guests dislike hangers that are fixed to
the railing of the wardrobe. The fixed hangers are
interpreted as subtle implication that hotel guests may steal
the hangers. Other similar examples are fixed tissue box in
the bathroom and chained remote control.
A photo study and an in-depth interview study were carried
out by the author to understand hotel guests’ emotional
responses towards the design of service tangibles and
service processes in hotels [8]. These research studies were
part of a larger research project that aimed at discovering
design opportunities to improve hotel stay experiences.
Female hotel guests who traveled for business purposes
were chosen as the research targets because they are a
rapidly growing traveler segment that is under-studied.
The second category of products to be examined with the
concept of relational message is products for shared use.
From a functional point of view, products for shared use
are conventionally designed with a heavy emphasis on
accommodating a variety of needs or usage habits. Product
features are designed to be easily comprehensible. Also,
they are designed to be durable to withstand frequent use.
This type of product involves multiple users. In some cases,
people who enforce correct usage are also indirect users.
For example, staff who check up on the laundry at shared
accommodation.
In the photo study, twenty-seven research participants took
photos during their hotel stays to record things, places and
events in hotels that evoked their emotions. In the in-depth
interview, thirty-two interviewees discussed their pleasant,
unpleasant, and anticipated experiences of hotel stays in
semi-structured interviews. The collected data were
analyzed with reference to the appraisal theory in
psychology [7, 11]. The comprehensive findings include:
Types of hotel-elicited emotions, their triggers, hotel
guests’ concerns, design strategies and suggestions to
improve hotel stays, scenarios, conceptual models for hotel
design and service design, and the concept of relational
messages in design. This paper will focus on discussing the
concept of relational messages in design, which is the most
important outcome originating from the research findings.
To highlight the gist of the concept, part of the research
findings indicates that customers often take service
tangibles as cues to interpret the service provider’s
perceptions about the customers. Three types of relational
messages are often interpreted from service tangibles in the
hotel setting:
i. Care
Customers see thoughtful details as evidence that the
service provider has devoted extra effort to take better care
of customers. Hence, well-designed details convey the
relational message of care. Examples of service tangibles
that convey care in hotels include: An umbrella in the
room, comfortable slippers, appropriate items in bathroom
toiletries, emergency kit etc.
ii. Importance
Customers pay attention to service tangibles to judge
whether a certain type of customer is important to the
service provider and whether the service provider has
shown consideration for those customers. For instance,
good set-up of the desk in the room indicates the
importance of business travelers. And the presence of an
accessory container shows to female guests that the hotel
takes them seriously.
2. Products for Shared Use
Because this type of product involves multiple direct and
indirect users, they influence human connections in subtle
but noticeable ways. Conflicts between people can easily
arise if products are designed without taking into account
the relational perspective. From a relational point of view,
the key strategies to design products for shared use are to
maximize harmony and minimize conflict between users.
Two examples are discussed in detail below.
Fridge in a Shared Flat
The fridge in a shared flat is a heavy zone of conflicts.
Anyone who has ever shared a fridge with others in shared
accommodation can attest to that. Occasionally, food got
“stolen” either deliberately or because of carelessness.
Repeated incidents of “stolen” food are bound to cause
arguments or grudges, and they become one major reason
for deterioration of relationships between flatsharers. The
“politics of the shared fridge” [4] are best depicted by
O’Hagan’s amusing book that showcases notes collected
from shared flats. One of them is a post-it note on the
fridge door that says, “I lick my cheese.” [10] From the
note-writer’s standpoint, it’s a humorous, tongue-in-cheek
deterrent to light-fingered flatmates. But when read by the
flatmates, this note conveys blatant distrust.
The problem stems from the design of the fridge. A
traditional fridge designed for family use is simply not
suitable for the flat-sharing context. When incidents of
missing food happen, distrust develops among flatmates as
they interpret many negative relational messages, such as
their flatmates being inconsiderate, uncaring, and have the
bad intention to take advantage of others.
As an attempt to solve the problem, a designer has
redesigned the family fridge into a fridge for flatshare [4].
It is made up of compartments with separate doors. Each
compartment is self-contained with its own freezing shelf,
egg rack, meat storage and vegetable storage. The product
concept is simple, yet it effectively solves heavy relational
conflicts arising from the traditional fridge. It is an example
ACM, 2011. This is the author’s version of the work. It is posted here by permission of ACM for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive
version was published in Proceedings of DESIRE’11: International Conference on Creativity and Innovation in Design (2011).
http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2079216.2079262
of how product design can minimize conflict when
relational messages and relational impacts are taken into
account.
Clip-on Cot for Hospital Bed
Another example of good product design in this regard is
the clip-on cot for hospital bed that enables a new mother
to share the bed with her newborn baby. Traditionally, it is
a common practice for hospitals to prevent bed-sharing
between mothers and newborns. Due to safety risks for
babies stemming from bed-sharing (such as accidental
suffocation and fall out of bed) [15], it is understandable
for hospitals to maintain strict policy on separating the
baby from the mother at night. However, such policy could
be regarded as insensitive to developing good mother-child
relationships. Worse still, conflicts may happen between
hospital staff and mothers when hospital staff who enforce
the policy are seen by mothers as mean and cold-hearted,
while mothers are regarded by hospital staff as
uncooperative.
The clip-on cot is designed to solve the problem. It easily
attaches to the side of the mother’s hospital bed while
acting as a sturdy and safe mini bed for the baby. This
product allows a mother to keep her baby close at night
during sleep and prevents potential danger for the baby.
The clip-on cot is a product of high relational value because
it facilitates mother-child interactions with the lowest
safety risk. It is gradually becoming a popular babyfriendly and mother-friendly feature in modern hospitals.
Hospital staff do not have to separate babies from mothers,
hence the conflict between mothers and hospital staff is
avoided. Based on the discussion of relational messages in
service tangibles in the previous section, the cot can also be
interpreted by parents as conveying the relational messages
of care and importance from the healthcare provider.
3. Gift Products
Whether willing or not, people must spend a portion of
their income on gifts for others. Gift giving is important in
maintaining social ties and it is a form of symbolic
communication in social relationships [3, 12]. Some
economists use the term “the economy of regard” to
describe gift exchange in modern societies [9].
Apparently, a product designed as a gift is very different
from something designed for the purchaser’s own use. A
gift carries strong relational messages. In the most basic
sense, a gift is the tangible representation of the giver’s
goodwill. The gift also communicates messages about how
the giver relates to the receiver, such as the nature of
relationship between the giver and receiver, and the
intention to maintain the relationship.
Courtesy and Aesthetic Qualities
The appearance of a gift plays a major role in influencing
the receiver’s perception of the giver. Aesthetical visual
appeal evokes the receiver’s immediate pleasant emotions.
Japan is a country renowned for high aesthetic qualities in
gift packaging. Indeed, gift exchange is an important social
ritual in Japanese culture. When a gift is given or received,
reciprocity is often expected. Hence, the gift products
industry in Japan is highly developed. Elaborate gift
packaging is common because it is a way to show courtesy.
Gift packages communicate the relational messages that the
receiver is important and worthy of the effort and expense.
Sometimes gift packages are designed to the degree of
extravagance,
which
intensifies
criticism
from
environmentalists. Hence, a current challenge for package
and gift design is to create visually appealing gifts without
excess and wastage.
Charity Gift and Relational Value
The “adopt-an-animal” charity gift set [16] is an example
of a gift that is cleverly designed to offer high relational
values. The gift set contains a picture of the adopted
animal, a small plush toy, a certificate, a greeting card,
facts about the species, tips on a greener lifestyle, issues of
charity magazine, and regular updates on the chosen animal
[16].
Obviously, the gift set is meaningful to both the giver and
the receiver as it offers a chance to contribute to a good
cause. This charity gift is highly popular among parents and
grandparents. It is often bought as an educational gift to
children and grandchildren to educate them about
ecological conservation. The gift set also acts as a catalyst
for more parent-child interactions when parents explain to
children about the meanings of adopting an animal using
the items in the gift set. Also, another extra relational value
is that prolonged awareness and relationship with the
charitable organization are sustained.
IMPLICATIONS FOR DESIGN
The core implication of the discussion and examples given
above is that product design can increase value and
improve human connections by taking relational messages
into account. Depending on the contexts of the products,
different strategies are used to communicate positive
relational messages. They include: conveying care,
importance, and trust in service tangibles; maximizing
harmony and minimizing conflicts between users of shared
products; and in the context of gift products - showing
courtesy through aesthetic qualities and increasing
relational values.
In terms of design practice, the concept of relational
messages offers an alternative perspective for product
designers to examine their design practice. Relational
factors in design can enrich user experiences of products in
many contexts. It is always possible for designers to create
deeper meanings in products by enhancing the relational
values of products. Examining relational meanings of
products and exploring possibilities in designing to
communicate positive relational messages through products
are ways to enhance the creative processes of product
design.
As to design research, the concept discussed here is useful
in analyzing the psychological impact and social aspects of
design work. As demonstrated by the research studies cited
in the service tangibles section, analyzing data of design
ACM, 2011. This is the author’s version of the work. It is posted here by permission of ACM for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive
version was published in Proceedings of DESIRE’11: International Conference on Creativity and Innovation in Design (2011).
http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2079216.2079262
research from a communication point of view can yield
interesting insights, especially insights into subtle, nuanced
meanings about human connections.
REFERENCES
1. Adler, R., Rosenfeld, L., and Proctor II, R. Interplay:
The Process of Interpersonal Communication. OUP
USA, 2006.
CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK
This paper has explained the concept of relational messages
in design and discussed how it can be applied to analyze
product design. It offers an alternative point of view for
product designers to reflect on their creative practice, as
well as a foundation for design researchers to analyze
product design.
2. Berry, L. L., and Bendapudi, N. Clueing in customers.
Harvard Review of Business 81, 2 (2003), 100-106.
3. Cheal, D. The Gift Economy. Routledge, New York,
1988.
4. Electrolux Flatshare Fridge Designed for Squabbling
Students.
Available
at
http://www.electricpig.co.uk/2008/09/11/electroluxflatshare-fridge-designed-for-squabbling-students/.
The discussion here is only the starting point of examining
relational messages in design. Although only three
categories of products are covered in this paper, the concept
of relational messages in design has much potential in
being applied to the research and design of other types of
product such as products for hospitality (such as airlines,
hotels and catering), healthcare and disaster relief.
Apparently, care is at the core of these areas. Given the
rapid proliferation of social media, the concept of relational
messages in design can also be applied to designing and
researching communication devices as well as their usage.
5. For Disaster Relief Innovations, Watch the Event
Planning
Industry.
Available
at
http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/for_disaster
_relief_innovations_watch_the_event_planning_industr
y_18869.asp.
6. Galea, S., Nandi, A., and Vlahov, D. The epidemiology
of post-traumatic stress disorder after disasters.
Epidemiologic Reviews 27, 1 (July 2005), 78-91.
Among the recommendations stated above, the most
original future research and design possibility is product
design for disaster relief. Currently, much effort in
designing for disaster relief is geared towards the functional
side of product features because the primary goal is to
ensure survival in harsh conditions. Some examples of
recently designed products in this regard are: portable
rescue equipment and disaster housing innovations [5].
7. Lazarus, R. S. Emotion and Adaptation. Oxford
University Press, New York, 1991.
8. Lo, K. P. Y. Designing service evidence for positive
relational messages. International Journal of Design 5,
2 (August 2011), 5-13.
9. Offer, A. Between the gift and the market: The
economy of regard. Economic History Review L, 3
(1997), 450-476.
However, designers should also be aware that in addition to
physical sufferings, survivors in disasters often experience
many intensely negative emotions such as shock, grief,
sadness, frustration and hopelessness. Those emotions are
psychologically threatening to survival and may develop
into long-lasting mental and physical health consequences
such as post-traumatic stress disorder [6]. Therefore, it is
necessary to explore the possibilities of designing disasterrelief products that communicate positive relational
messages to alleviate the intensity of unpleasant emotions.
10. O’Hagan, O. I Lick My Cheese: And Other Real Notes
from the Roommate Frontlines. ABRAMS, 2009.
11. Ortony, A., Clore, G. L., and Collins, A. The Cognitive
Structure of Emotions. Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, New York, 1988.
12. Ruth, J. A., Otnes, C. C., and Brunel, F. F. Gift receipt
and the reformulation of interpersonal relationships.
Journal of Consumer Research 25, 4 (March 1999),
385-402.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
13. Shostack, G. L. How to design a service. European
Journal of Marketing 16, 1 (1982), 49-63.
The research and writing were supported by School of the
Arts at Loughborough University and School of Design at
Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The author would like
to express sincere gratitude to Professor Lorraine Justice,
Professor John Heskett, Professor Deana McDonagh and
Professor Judith Gregory for their valuable advice. Special
thanks for all research participants who made the research
study possible. Also, a big thank you to visiting scholars,
design experts and loyal friends who commented on and
shaped the ideas behind this paper.
14. Trenholm, S., and Jensen, A. Interpersonal
Communication. Oxford University Press, New York,
2008.
15. UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative: Babies Sharing
their Mothers’ Bed While in Hospital. Available at
http://www.unicef.org.uk/Documents/Baby_Friendly/G
uidance/4/bedsharingpolicy.pdf?epslanguage=en.
16. WWF Adopt an Animal. Available at http://www.wwfadopt-a-animal.co.uk/charities/wwf-animal-adoptions/.
ACM, 2011. This is the author’s version of the work. It is posted here by permission of ACM for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive
version was published in Proceedings of DESIRE’11: International Conference on Creativity and Innovation in Design (2011).
http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2079216.2079262