Product Metaphor Generation: Mapping Strategies of Designers

When generating product metaphors, designers select an entity to associate with the product they intend to design and transfer certain feature(s) of this entity to the product. This transfer, called mapping, can be realized by following different strategies (e.g. implicit-literal, explicit-literal, implicit- abstract and explicit-abstract. In this paper, we investigate the strengths and weaknesses of these four mapping strategies regarding the identifiability of the metaphor, the aesthetics of the end product, and the ease of mapping for the designer. To do so, we conducted a study with design students who were asked to generate metaphors by using four different mapping strategies. The results are discussed in the light of metaphor theories and contribution to the design practice.