TL:DR For Mass Customization to be successful there need to be frameworks that enable creativity while limiting a chance for a product to turn out poorly.
Arts & Crafts supplies represent a $30B market in the US (to put it in perspective is three times the size of the music industry). Even though a massive portion of the population engages in creativity activities and spend money on their hobbies, fantastic mass customization services like Shapeways have difficulty generating revenue.
I think this is partially due to the lack of Hand Turkeys a rite of passage for American elementary school students. The concept is simple, you trace your hand, add some autumnal colors, doodle a beak, eye, gobbler, and feet and magically a serviceable rendering of a turkey appears. The beauty of this project is that you get to exercise some level of creativity within a construct that ensures you will get something recognizable in the end. A quick Google image search shows how much variety this simple set of constraints allows.
The problem with most customization services is that they either:
1. Constrain your choices so much that while you are sure to get a nice, functional product, you will not be able to meaningfully add your creativity to it. ex. Nike ID and any of the custom shoe companies.
2. Provide so many options and freedom that unless you are a skilled designer/engineer there is a great chance you will spend a good deal of time and money and still end up with a poor product. ex. Shapeways, Ponoko, etc.
Shapeways has recognized this and offered an interesting assortment of products that you can customize without needing to be a 3D printing expert, but this is a big opportunity.
Part of the reason crafting is such a large market is that there is a lot of “instructional scaffolding” to help people climb the learning curve of a particular craft. Friends, message boards, books, and magazines all offer tips, example projects, and other ways for home crafters to turn a raw blob of material into a satisfying keepsake. The emerging maker community is approaching this, but there is still something missing.
