Attribute Listing and Morphological Analysis

Being creative can be tough. Say you need to design a new product in a hurry. You might have to come up with a working prototype before a trade show, for example.

Or, maybe sales are flagging and you need to revitalize your existing products. And all you have in front of you is a blank screen!

That's where attribute listing and morphological analysis can help. In this article, we explore how these simple tools provide a logical, step-by-step process for generating great new design ideas, and for discarding the bad ones.

What Is Attribute Listing?

Attributes are the properties, qualities or design elements of the product or service that you want to produce. They're the things you need your product to have to satisfy your customers' needs.

For example, the attributes of a car would be build material, engine type, number of seats, trunk capacity, color, weight, price, and so on.

Or, if you want to design a new marketing strategy, your attributes would include the markets open to you, the ways in which your product is used, and the skills you have available.

Attribute listing is the process of identifying these key features as they're needed in a new product or process. First, you select a product or process that you need to design or redesign. Then, you break it down into its key attributes or qualities.

This allows you to examine each attribute in turn, and to identify how you can improve its performance.

What Is Morphological Analysis?

Morphological analysis takes attribute listing a stage further, using a matrix to help you decide on the design of your product. It follows the same basic process as attribute listing, but you can use it to create a new product by mixing the elements in new ways.

First, you list the necessary attributes as column headings (see the example, below). Then, beneath each heading, you write a list of characteristics for each attribute. Write down as many variations of the attribute as possible in each column.

Next, you select a characteristic from each column. You may already have an idea of the kind of combinations that will work best: in which case, try them out. Alternatively, select characteristics randomly from each column and assess what you come up with.

Not all the results will work, but some will, and some may stimulate interesting and unexpected new lines of inquiry.

Finally, evaluate and improve the combination you've decided on until it becomes a viable product with a likely market.

Example

Imagine that you want to carry out a morphological analysis to create a new lamp.

First, list the attributes that you need to consider. For a lamp, these are power supply, bulb type, size, style, finish, and material. Set these out as column headings on a table, as shown below.

Power Supply

Bulb Type

Size

Style

Finish

Material

Battery

Halogen

Very Large

Modern

Black

Metal

AC/Mains

Bulb

Large

Antique

White

Ceramic

Solar

Daylight

Medium

Roman

Metallic

Concrete

Generator

Colored

Small

Art Nouveau

Terracotta

Bone

Crank

Eco

Handheld

Industrial

Enamel

Glass

Gas

Ethnic

Natural

Wood

Oil/Petrol

Fabric

Stone

Flame

Plastic

Interesting combinations might be:

• Solar-powered/battery, daylight bulb – possibly used in clothes shops to allow customers to see the true color of clothes.
• Large hand-cranked arc lights – used in developing countries, or far from a mains power supply.
• A ceramic oil lamp in Roman style – used in themed restaurants, resurrecting the olive oil lamps of 2000 years ago.
• A normal table lamp designed to be painted, wallpapered or covered in fabric so that it matches the style of a room perfectly.

Some of these might be practical, novel ideas for a lighting manufacturer. Some might not. This is where the manufacturer's experience and market knowledge are important. The next steps involve working the idea into a prototype, and conducting market research to establish whether there's a market for it.