Balancing Minimalism and Manufacturability in Integrated Product Design: A Human-Centred Framework
Designing products that feel simple and intuitive while remaining efficient to manufacture and meaningful across cultures remains a key challenge in contemporary product development. Although minimalist design has achieved commercial success, most methodologies fail to systematically connect aesthetic intentions with engineering, usability, and production realities. This study proposes a four-phase iterative framework—Framing, Translation, Materialisation, and Experience that integrates human-centred design, simplicity heuristics—including ‘SHE’ (Shrink, Hide, Embody) tactics, quantitative aesthetic measurement, Design for X methods, and cross-cultural considerations to operationalise minimalist principles such as formal reduction, seriality, and industrial materiality. An empirical case study applied the framework to three competing automotive interior concepts through image-based evaluation by 113 respondents. Results provided preliminary evidence that a balanced hybrid approach consistently outperformed both traditional button-heavy and extreme single-screen minimalist designs across measures of usability, sense of order, trust, and user recommendation. Findings confirm that effective minimalism does not merely remove elements but strategically redistributes complexity into interface logic, production systems, and material quality. The framework offers designers a structured yet flexible path to create manufacturable, user-validated, and culturally sensitive minimalist products.