01 Abstract
This bachelor’s thesis investigates how product design can enable appropriation as an expression of identity and under which conditions processes of appropriation succeed or fail. The starting point is the discrepancy between highly standardized, technically complex products and the need for individual meaning within personal living and working environments. The theoretical framework clarifies key concepts relating to product design, identity, and appropriation. Building on this foundation, the thesis examines current practices of appropriation such as adaptation, modification, repurposing, extension, self-building, and co-design.
Empirically, the research combines an online survey, mind mapping, product research, interviews, case studies, and the 6W method to identify motivations, barriers, and design opportunities for appropriation-friendly products. From these findings, design criteria such as openness, incompleteness, modularity, repairability, and customizability are derived and translated into a design briefing for the work context.
During the design phase, the “AOS System” was developed as a modular desk and organizational system. It interprets core desk functions through an open base system and turns users into active co-designers through simple screw connections and expandable modules. Prototypes and appropriation tests show that a deliberately open and modular product architecture can enable low-threshold appropriation, reduce barriers to physical modification, and strengthen the identity-forming character of everyday products.
02 Survey
The online survey examines how important the expression of identity through products is to people and what role appropriation plays in this process. The results show that many people want to adapt products to their own lives and needs, but encounter barriers such as a lack of skills, fear of loss in value, or technically closed product systems. At the same time, the findings indicate that personalized and appropriated objects tend to be used for longer and develop stronger emotional attachment, making them particularly relevant for sustainable design.
03 Appropriation Practices and Motivations
The thesis identifies five central practices of appropriation: repurposing, adaptation, modification, extension, and self-building/co-design. They show how people reinterpret, adjust, rebuild, expand, or actively co-create products in order to bridge the gap between standardized products and their own lived realities. Motivations range from playful creativity and functional necessity to identity expression, autonomy, and more sustainable use. Appropriation is understood as an active process of building a relationship with an object, through which an industrially produced standard product becomes something personal.
04 Appropriation-Friendly Design
Appropriation-friendly design deliberately treats a product’s “script” as open and designs it in a way that gives users room for action rather than rigid instructions. Key principles include openness, modularity, repairability, accessibility, and a restrained, honest formal language. A product can be considered appropriation-friendly when it allows alternative uses, does not penalize intervention, and makes personal traces, additions, and modifications visible rather than concealing them.
05 Moodboard
The moodboard translates the conceptual criteria into a visual language: constructed, stable, understandable, modular, repairable, and expandable. The color palette remains rather muted and natural so that the system does not appear visually dominant, but instead leaves room for the users’ own identity. Rounded edges and details make the system feel accessible and familiar without losing its constructive clarity. In this way, the AOS System is understood as a calm stage on which appropriation can become visible.
06 Concepts and Prototypes
In the Concepts and Prototypes chapter, I investigate how an appropriation-friendly basic form can be translated into physical models. The key question is which spatial structures and grids offer the greatest openness for different configurations, modules, and scenarios of appropriation. Through 3D-printed studies, digital assemblies, and physical prototypes, I gradually work toward a basic form that is stable, modular, and easy to expand.
The modular felt box system explores how softer, textile materials can be used as a flexible organizational structure. Stackable boxes and inserts create a variable topography on the desk that can be quickly rearranged, shifted, and expanded. The felt provides a calm, tactile surface that protects objects while also inviting users to reconfigure the setup again and again.
The hexagonal pegboard system translates the idea of wall-mounted perforated grids into a freestanding, three-dimensional desk system. Its hexagonal base creates stable structures onto which modules, hooks, and shelves can be freely positioned and combined. The regular grid allows the system to be expanded in a predictable way while still opening up a wide range of unexpected configurations and possibilities for appropriation.
07 AOS Website
The AOS website is more than a conventional product presentation – it is built around three core functions: to inform, inspire, and sell. It clearly explains what the system is designed for, which functions and limitations it has, and provides exact dimensions and grid specifications for creating custom modules.
Through a dedicated community section, users can share their setups, appropriations, and module files, inspire others, and directly add matching panels and screws to their shopping cart. In this way, the website becomes an interface between product purchase, a culture of appropriation, and long-term brand engagement.
08 The AOS System
Part of my open design approach was to find suitable dimensions for the system, especially for its perforation pattern, so that appropriation would not be made unnecessarily difficult by overly complex measurements. The central surface measures 150 × 150 mm, while the folded edge measures 150 × 30 mm. Within the hole pattern, the spacing between individual holes is 10 mm, and each hole has a diameter of 5 mm. The elongated slots connect individual holes while remaining part of the overall consistent grid.
09 Extension Modules
10 Product Photography
11 AI-Assisted Appropriation Phase
For the appropriation phase, physical models were combined with AI-assisted scenarios. Using text-based prompts and image-generation AI, fictional personas, environments, and usage situations were created and connected to the real constructions. The results reveal a surprisingly wide range of forms of appropriation and configurations, and serve as an inspiration pool for further exploring the system’s potential and limitations.
12 Packaging
13 Conclusion
The thesis demonstrates that product design can effectively support appropriation when products are conceived as open systems that raise more questions than they fully design answers for. From the theoretical examination of appropriation practices, survey findings, and product analyses, clear design criteria can be derived: openness, incompleteness, modularity, repairability, accessibility, and a restrained approach to brand expression. The AOS System makes these criteria tangible by functioning as a robust, hexagonal pegboard system that provides only a structural framework while deliberately leaving all content-related decisions to the users. The prototyping phase confirms that such an architecture facilitates appropriation, lowers barriers to physical modification, and allows everyday objects to become more strongly connected to identity, routines, and personal traces. [Appendix]
Looking back, the thesis process shows how strongly the research question, design criteria, and final concept influenced one another. From the initial research phase through the survey, the 6W method, and product analysis to the prototypes and final system, the focus gradually shifts from “How do I design a product?” to “How do I design the conditions in which others can continue designing?” Working with the prototypes—from the felt box system to the hexagonal pegboard—made it possible to experience how important making, failing, revising, and testing are for understanding appropriation. At the same time, it became clear how challenging it is from a design perspective to give up control, maintain a clear design attitude, and still avoid prescribing finished images of identity. This tension leads to one of the central insights of the thesis: appropriation-friendly design is less a single product than a design attitude expressed through system logic, material choices, processes, and the willingness to take users seriously as co-designers.
14 Bachelor’s Thesis
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