Product and service domains

Here are the product and service domains discussed in class today. I wanted to reproduce them here because they represent an elegant categorization that I haven't yet seen for product categories.

• Symbols: Latent associations with images and brands;
• Substances: Things that change/interact with metabolism/consciousness;
• Recreational activities: The issue of "flow", tapping into the delicate balance between anxiousness and boredom. "Flow" here is defined as a balance between action and awareness, where the act is the intrinsically rewarding and there is a loss of self-consciousness. A person in a state of flow feels sharply focused attention, a sense of control, and has an unambiguous understanding of sensory input/feedback;
• Tools for adapting: Products/services which help a user perform a task. Characteristics that define such products or services are attributes of convenience, empowerment and functionality;
• Social tools: Services and clusters of relationships. These are the fungible products, the ones that are hard to sample.