[UX#25]_What & why of Product Adoption & Appropriation?

 

The above images are ChatGPT AI generated for exploration on the "Crossing the chasm" book concepts. My intention of doing so is to document, explore and learning Ai image bot.

During my UX learning on Adoption and Appropriation from Interaction-Design.org, I gained a fresh perspective on users—particularly through the concepts of useful (usability), usable, and used. These principles form the foundation for understanding how products succeed from both a marketing perspective and in terms of ROI, based on actual user adoption.

The concept of "Adoption" highlights that when users find a product useful, they naturally integrates into their workflow, leading to higher usability. However, an adopted product doesn’t have a uniform user base—it segments into different adopter categories. This is where Geoffrey Moore’s book, Crossing the Chasm, explains the adoption lifecycle, categorizing users into:

• Innovators

• Early Adopters

• Early Majority

• Late Majority

• Laggards

Read more on "Crossing the chasm"

Understanding these user groups is essential for designing products that not only gain initial traction but also achieve long-term success in the market. 

Here I am trying to describe Product Adoption & Appropriation in bite-sized chunks with examples. I hope to brief it in proper way.

What is Product Adoption?

Adoption is the process of prospective users adopting the product as it helps them to accomplish tasks or objectives. Adoption is the objective of designing a product by making it useful and usable and providing a great User Experience.

Some successful Instances of products which are there in the contemporary times and have a great User base.

1. Mac products are successful because of their high usability and usefulness among the User base.
2. Digital Products like Gmail, Internet Explorer and Safari have got a clear use of path by Google and Microsoft and Apple.
3. Up until last year, Automobile segment Ferraries have been adopted in User-centric market where small affordable cars like Skoda have higher demand.
4. Smart TVs are very well adopted by every household in India and abroad.

What is Product Appropriation?      

Appropriation refers to repurposing anything in a way that creates new meaning or functionality, and it can apply to various tangible or intangible aspects of life. Appropriation occurs after adoption of a product, its the alternative ways of using the product which were not intended by the designer during its development. There are strategies that can be used to help users appropriate a design and thus increase its utility and hopefully in turn its sales and overall usage. During the product development process, adoption and appropriation provide opportunities for designers and the marketing team to collaborate on strategies for easy market penetration and success.

Below are some known instances where Users had appropriation for the product in a creative way and in a artistic way.

1. Swiss Army knife, using a knife ( or nail clippers) are generally made for individual usage but can be used by appropriation by its Users.
2. Marchel Duchamp using a urinal as an artistic piece, in an art exhibition
3. Andy Warhol took images of Campbell soup cans and displayed them as a graphic art, had been one of his famous works or artists Van gogh paintings are always been appropriated using modern characters which sometimes contains commercial value to it.
4. A word processor that can handle letters, novels, or code documentation but can also be used as a  graphic design tool for vector illustration.

     

Cultural Appropriation is a topic of debate and it's always been there, I would like to share more on this and some related topics in my upcoming blogs.

Thanks for reading !