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Abstract

A machine and method are provided for selecting product or service design, such as a social expression product. The machine and method each (i) stores a plurality of product or service designs and a plurality of descriptors for each of the plurality of product or service designs, each of the descriptors representing an application scale; (ii) stores an expert-predetermined optimum applicability value for each combination of the application scales and the product or service designs; (iii) presents, to a customer, selection criteria options for one or more application scales; (iv) stores customer preference values for one or more application scales used for describing the product/service design, the customer preference values to be predetermined by expert judgment and assigned to application scales where such values correspond to the selection criteria options chosen by the customer; (v) quantitatively correlates, by means of a correlation algorithm, each of the customer preference values with corresponding expert-predetermined optimum applicability values to calculate an average suitability rating for each of the product or service designs based on the customer-chosen selection criteria options; and (vi) displays for the customer a group of identified product or service designs based on the average suitability ratings for those identified product or service designs. In the case of a product, the apparatus and method solicit the customer to select one of the identified product designs, verify the selection and possibly modify the selected product design. The selected or modified product design may then be dispensed to the customer.

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First Claim