‘Rhetoric’ in the design process: The role of prop-based virtual reality storytelling in user-centred product conceptual design

This paper explores how prop-based virtual reality storytelling (VR&P-ST) can enhance user-centred product conceptual design (UCPCD) by the perspective of 'computing with things'. The study introduces the concept of 'rhetoric' and the framework of 'epistemic objects' to explore the value of VR&P-ST. The study provides VR&P-ST experience for designers through VR passive haptics and proposes ten hypotheses. Through data analysis, nine hypotheses were accepted, and one hypothesis was rejected. This study provides a new solution in the field of empathic methods of UCPCD. Additionally, this study verifies that VR&P-ST can improve the fidelity and historical perception of conceptual design objects and neutralize ambiguity as the 'rhetoric'. These three characteristics make VR&P-ST have a positive impact on the designer's engagement, which in turn improves the designer's evaluation and experience of the design process to a certain extent, but it still has limitations.