Consumer as Producer; Value Mechanics in Digital Transformation Design Process, Practice and Outcomes

This chapter contextualizes a research and development project funded by Creativeworks London in 2013 by focusing upon the democratization of production afforded by digital media. The advantages to undertaking practice-based academic research with a commercial partner are that the company receives support for research and development activities that they may not otherwise be able to undertake and the University can demonstrate the impact of their research expertise. This project aimed to explore the potential for interaction between high-end fashion accessory designers and their customers in the design process as part of a prototype product customization platform and the possibilities afforded by integrating “user generate content” (UGC) into the design process.