Rethinking how we describe product models in engineering design research

Product models are an important part of a designer’s daily practice, and as such, they require the continuous attention of design researchers for further progress. However, there is no common vocabulary or structure to describe product models in engineering design. This weakens the discourse by preventing a common understanding and fostering ambiguity. To address this problem, this research note formulates three stances on product models that incorporate a vocabulary within a contextual structure as a contribution towards a shared understanding when describing product models and their underlying concepts. These stances are classification-oriented, functionality-oriented, and message-oriented. By discussing the implications of using these stances, it is illustrated how they facilitate comparability, avoid misunderstandings, and reveal links to the state of research.