Product designers' information needs in materials selection

For an efficient materials selecting process, the content and presentation of information about materials should be accustomed to product designers' approaches and needs. This paper aims at determining these approaches and needs by a series of interviews with product designers. Four needs were found: the need for comparable information, information related to product issues, information on multiple detail levels and material samples. Four empirical studies elaborated on these needs to evaluate how currently used information sources deal with them. Strategies coming from these studies help to focus information developers in their efforts to present suitable information about materials to product designers. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.