Abstract: In the contemporary landscape, product design has shifted from a Business-to-Customer (B2C) model to a Customer-to-Business (C2B) paradigm. This transformation has highlighted consumer engagement as a pivotal growth factor for companies. Engaging consumers not only enhances their sense of involvement and brand loyalty but also aids designers in their creative exploration and in refining their designs. However, a challenge arises in the shallow involvement of consumer groups and the ineffective capture and utilization of their fragmented creative inputs. To address this issue, we propose a method for creative product design that integrates ideas generated by consumer groups. This method aims to foster sustained consumer involvement in the creative design process and to enable designers to flexibly harness diverse inspirations from these groups to enhance their work. Initially, the research analyzes the role of group creativity in the design process and establishes a consumer group-integrated product creative design process model. Subsequently, employing text mining and the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) based on rough numbers, the study delves into quantifying and identifying creative elements derived from group inspiration, as well as deducing and optimizing creative schemes based on group evaluations. Building on these foundations, a product creative design system that incorporates consumer group creativity is developed. The efficacy and feasibility of this proposed method are demonstrated through the example of designing a desktop humidifier. Results indicate that this method significantly broadens the creative scope for designers and enhances the participation and engagement of consumer groups in the design process.

Key words: consumer participation, group creation, creative design process model, product design, creative design system