Tian Heong Chan: “Design and (Visual) Optimal Distinctiveness”

Abstract

How different should a new design be? In his talk, Tian Chan examined how a new design’s similarity with other designs contributes to its market valuation. Using a dataset of US design patents granted from 1977 through 2010 that are grouped into styles, he showed that the market value for a new design decreases with its similarities to contemporary new designs (contemporary differentiation) but increases with its similarities to prior designs (past anchoring). Furthermore, designs so new as to fall into a new style suffer from a further value discount.

About the Speaker

Tian Chan is an assistant professor of Information Systems and Operations Management at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. His research focuses on new product and service design.