Carole Bouchard

Bio: Carole Bouchard is an academic researcher from Arts et Métiers ParisTech. The author has contributed to research in topics: Kansei & User experience design. The author has an hindex of 15, co-authored 79 publications receiving 678 citations. Previous affiliations of Carole Bouchard include ParisTech & École Normale Supérieure.

Inspiration, images and design: an investigation of designers' information gathering strategies

Abstract: Computational tools should efficiently support, and even enhance, designers' creativity. As a ground for such developments, design cognition studies aim at describing designers' mental strategies within the design process. So far, most researches have been focused on the idea generation phases, e.g. sketching activity, which is explicit enough to be observed and described. However, the early stages of design remain incompletely understood, while the informational phase is identified as a crucial step of the design process. In this context, our objective is to identify and evaluate inspirational information used by designers before generating ideas, and to describe how inspirational information is used. In this article, we report a two-part study (interviews and experimental protocol) carried out with professional designers. The main outcomes demonstrate that traditional and electronic resources are not used in the same way by designers. We also show that information gathering strategies are strongly influenced by designers' preference.

Open-design: A state of the art review

Abstract: The ‘open approach’ is rooted in the open-source and free-software movements. Its application has spread to more fields than computer engineering. Product design is impacted as well: we observe new stakeholders and practices challenging current structured design processes and leading to industrial successes. Open-design appears to be promising yet disruptive. Moreover, its distinctive features remain unclear. This paper aims to popularize this new concept, as well as to give both researchers and practitioners an overview of current research on open-design, and its consequences on design. For this, we conducted a systematic quantitative bibliometric analysis of 624 entries corresponding to the keyword ‘open-design’ in the Scopus database. This supports a qualitative synthesis of scientific literature, enabling us to summarize practices falling under the umbrella term ‘open-design’. As such, this paper traces the evolution of product design and the open approach. It also analyzes the impact of open-design on the design process as presented in the scientific literature. Finally, this paper develops a typology of open-design of tangible artifacts that distinguishes among three currently reported varieties of practice: do-it-yourself, meta-design, and industrial ecosystems. As the major contribution of this paper, this typology is developed as a final discussion.

TRENDS: a content-based information retrieval system for designers

Abstract: The TRENDS European project aimed at developing an image and text retrieval engine in order to support the activity of the designers in the early stages of their design process [TRENS 2007]. The study of the designers' activity has led us to the production of an image database in which designers will find inspirational material. A content-based image search engine has been elaborated, starting from recommendations taken from the methodology employed by the designers in their activity, to end with a complete system incorporating image retrieval technologies and various tools to extract relevant information from these images.

In Search of Design Inspiration: A Semantic-Based Approach

Abstract: Sources of inspiration help designers to define the context of their designs and reflect on the emotional impact of their new products. By observing and interpreting sources of inspiration, designers form vocabularies of terms, pallets of colors, or mood boards with images, which express their feelings, inspire their creativity and help them communicate design concepts. These ideas are the motivation behind the EU-funded project TRENDS, which aimed at developing a software tool that supports the inspirational stage of design by providing designers of concept cars with various sources of inspiration. This paper concentrates on OntoTag, the semantic-based image retrieval algorithm developed within the TRENDS project, and its evaluation. OntoTag uses concepts from a general-purpose lexical ontology called OntoRo, and semantic adjectives from a domain-specific ontology for designers called CTA, to index the images in the TRENDS database in a way which provides designers with a degree of serendipity and stimulates their creativity. The semantic-based algorithm involves the following four steps: (i) creating a collection of documents and images retrieved from the web, (ii) for each document, identifying the most frequently used keywords and phrases in the text around the image, (iii) identifying the most powerful concepts represented in each document, and (iv) ranking the concepts identified and linking them to the images in the collection. OntoTag differs significantly from earlier approaches as it does not rely on machine learning and the availability of tagged corpuses. Its main innovation is in the use of the words' monosemy and polysemy as a measure of their probability to belong to a certain concept. The proposed approach is illustrated with examples based on the software tool developed for the needs of two of the industrial collaborators involved in the TRENDS project.

Marketing for management.

Abstract: MKT 6009 Marketing Internship (0 semester credit hours) Student gains experience and improves skills through appropriate developmental work assignments in a real business environment. Student must identify and submit specific business learning objectives at the beginning of the semester. The student must demonstrate exposure to the managerial perspective via involvement or observation. At semester end, student prepares an oral or poster presentation, or a written paper reflecting on the work experience. Student performance is evaluated by the work supervisor. Pass/Fail only. Prerequisites: (MAS 6102 or MBA major) and department consent required. (0-0) S MKT 6244 Digital Marketing Strategy (2 semester credit hours) Executive Education Course. The course explores three distinct areas within marketing and sales namely, digital marketing, traditional sales prospecting, and executive sales organization and strategy. The continuing convergence of the digital marketing and sales funnels has created a strategic continuum from digital lead generation to digital sales. The course identifies the current composition of this digital continuum while providing opportunities to evaluate sales and marketing digital strategies. Prerequisites: MKT 6301 and instructor consent required. (2-0) Y MKT 6301 (SYSM 6318) Marketing Management (3 semester credit hours) Overview of marketing management methods, principles and concepts including product, pricing, promotion and distribution decisions as well as segmentation, targeting and positioning. (3-0) S MKT 6309 Marketing Data Analysis and Research (3 semester credit hours) Methods employed in market research and data analysis to understand consumer behavior, customer journeys, and markets so as to enable better decision-making. Topics include understanding different sources of data, survey design, experiments, and sampling plans. The course will cover the techniques used for market sizing estimation and forecasting. In addition, the course will cover the foundational concepts and techniques used in data visualization and \"story-telling\" for clients and management. Corequisites: MKT 6301 and OPRE 6301. (3-0) Y MKT 6310 Consumer Behavior (3 semester credit hours) An exposition of the theoretical perspectives of consumer behavior along with practical marketing implication. Study of psychological, sociological and behavioral findings and frameworks with reference to consumer decision-making. Topics will include the consumer decision-making model, individual determinants of consumer behavior and environmental influences on consumer behavior and their impact on marketing. Prerequisite: MKT 6301. (3-0) Y MKT 6321 Interactive and Digital Marketing (3 semester credit hours) Introduction to the theory and practice of interactive and digital marketing. Topics covered include: online-market research, consumer behavior, conversion metrics, and segmentation considerations; ecommerce, search and display advertising, audiences, search engine marketing, email, mobile, video, social networks, and the Internet of Things. (3-0) T MKT 6322 Internet Business Models (3 semester credit hours) Topics to be covered are: consumer behavior on the Internet, advertising on the Internet, competitive strategies, market research using the Internet, brand management, managing distribution and supply chains, pricing strategies, electronic payment systems, and developing virtual organizations. Further, students learn auction theory, web content design, and clickstream analysis. Prerequisite: MKT 6301. (3-0) Y MKT 6323 Database Marketing (3 semester credit hours) Techniques to analyze, interpret, and utilize marketing databases of customers to identify a firm's best customers, understanding their needs, and targeting communications and promotions to retain such customers. Topics

Thinking fast and slow.

Abstract: In 1974 an article appeared in Science magazine with the dry-sounding title “Judgment Under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases” by a pair of psychologists who were not well known outside their discipline of decision theory. In it Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman introduced the world to Prospect Theory, which mapped out how humans actually behave when faced with decisions about gains and losses, in contrast to how economists assumed that people behave. Prospect Theory turned Economics on its head by demonstrating through a series of ingenious experiments that people are much more concerned with losses than they are with gains, and that framing a choice from one perspective or the other will result in decisions that are exactly the opposite of each other, even if the outcomes are monetarily the same. Prospect Theory led cognitive psychology in a new direction that began to uncover other human biases in thinking that are probably not learned but are part of our brain’s wiring.

The Act of Creation

Abstract: While the study of psychology has offered little in the way of explaining the creative process, Koestler examines the idea that we are at our most creative when rational thought is suspended--for example, in dreams and trancelike states. All who read The Act of Creation will find it a compelling and illuminating book.