Showing papers in "Design Journal in 2007"

Making interactive TV easier to use: interface design for a second screen approach

Abstract: Interactive television (iTV) has the potential to revolutionize the way we consume broadcast media, but users still find both the notion of iTV and the services currently available problematic. This paper describes a project that investigates a representative group of users' aspirations, and barriers to iTV service engagement in the UK. This primary research informed the development of new User Interface (UI) and service solutions that addressed these barriers. Specifically, a second screen solution was developed to remove the need for iTV services to use on-screen graphics, dramatically improving the possibilities for effective interaction and navigation for iTV interfaces and services. The effectiveness of these solutions was evaluated through the testing of these new iTV services in a representative group of family homes.

Designing the Interface Between Dementia Patients, Caregivers And Computer-Based Intervention

Abstract: People with Alzheimer's Disease (AD) experience progressive degeneration of cognitive skills and the cumulative loss of short-term memory function. This severely impairs their ability to communicate with relatives and caregivers. The ‘dehumanizing’ effect that is engendered by the loss of communication skills, and the subsequent psychological and emotional distress experienced by people with AD and their caregivers are perhaps the most significant and detrimental psycho-social characteristics of AD. This paper demonstrates how our multidisciplinary, user-centred approach to design for computer-based assistive tools for people with AD can support progressive, non-pharmacological intervention and promote improved quality of life in dementia care environments.

Student Use of Virtual and Physical Modelling in Design Development – an Experiment in 3D Design Education

Abstract: Assumptions about how design students use virtual and physical modelling during design development were tested in this study. The aim of the experiment was to observe what students actually do rather than what it is supposed that they do.Design undergraduates were briefed on a one-day project. After a morning spent developing ideas on paper, they were assigned to an afternoon of modelling using physical or virtual techniques. Sketches, models and progress diaries kept by the participants were collected for analysis.The results of the physical techniques support conventional notions of the value of sketch models as a medium for evaluating and stimulating ideas. The results of the virtual techniques suggest that CAD has little or no value as a stimulus for ideas.

Does History Affect Aesthetic Preference? Kandinsky's Teaching of Colour-Form Correspondence, Empirical Aesthetics, and the Bauhaus

Abstract: Kandinsky postulated a fundamental correspondence between colour and form. Using a slightly altered version of his historical questionnaire, a recent empirical study (Jacobsen, 2002) showed that about half of the non-artist students assigned red to the triangle, blue to the square, and yellow to the circle. Frequently, world knowledge associations were stated by referring to a traffic sign, a warning triangle, and the yellow sun. Kandinsky's assignment, however, was the one least preferred. A new study with experts in the visual arts revealed yet differing assignments. It is argued that colour-form assignments as well as the motivation to produce them depend on a multitude of factors. World knowledge, education, historical change, societal, group-specific and individual leitmotifs constitute important influences. We show how Kandinsky's particular colour-form assignments became a symbol for the Bauhaus in a historical process comprising simplification and the mere setting down of examples as criti...

Digital Crafting and Crafting the Digital

Abstract: This paper presents part of a recently completed doctoral research project investigating the impact of digital imaging technology on printed textile practice. It describes how digital technology is able to support the creative process at the generative stage of idea development through to the production and embellishment of the printed artefact. It focuses on the ways in which digital tools are being used to support creative craft practice and proposes areas for future research.Previous studies investigating the use of digital technology indicate that digital inkjet printing frees textile practitioners from the technical constraints of the printing process and facilitates new strategies in design production and craft making. Recent studies in the field of HCI (Human Computer Interaction) have demonstrated the importance of understanding the creative process in order to develop more effective digital tools. Research described in this paper investigates the ways in which digital technology is able t...

Feelings in Design – A Neuroevolutionary Perspective On Process And Knowledge

Abstract: This paper advances an alternative perspective on the perennial debate over design method, design decision-making and the design process. Its fundamental contention is that advances in a number of scientific fields indicate that our decision-making processes are not as amenable to introspective scrutiny as conventional wisdom would suggest. On the contrary, we appear to be remarkably oblivious to the decision-making strategies that we engage in. This is not denigrating design decision-making: rather, it places the locus of operation largely outside of consciousness. Neurological and evolutionary evidence is presented that suggests a process of high sophistication, but one that questions fundamental assumptions in this field. As practical illustration, the Act of Designing and the notion of Design Principles are examined.

Study of the design operation of graphic simplification

Abstract: Graphic design is often considered an artistic behaviour that is difficult to analyze rationally. With the development of research tools, it has become feasible to examine graphic design quantitatively. The objectives of this study are to define techniques that will quantify the simplification of graphics and to develop a systematic set of rules for graphic simplification. Through the three stages of the research process - ideation development of interval graphic simplification design, design practice, and discussion - this study presents four graphic simplification methods for the interval concept, namely: (a) grid simplification method, (b) node reduction method, (c) geon reduction method, and (d) blur method. This study proposes these techniques as viable methods to quantify and rationally analyze graphics, and hopes to provide valuable references for practitioners of graphic design, symbol design and computer-aided design (CAD) applications. The interval concept is the idea that the actual spa...

Agents of Change: From Collection to Connection

Abstract: Craft has been accused of ‘discontinuity’ (Greer, 2006), simply producing objects to be looked at rather than used. This paper suggests that there is a role for craft practitioners and craft thinkers in the world of interactive technologies. By focusing on new roles for jewellery and through discussion surrounding issues related to this new role, the research proposes that a synthesis between interactive technologies and craft creates a new space for craft and a new method of research practice.Research into wearable computing in the 1990s led by design labs such as Philips and IBM, envisioned clothes and jewellery which would enable communication and entertainment systems to be integrated into clothing and jewellery. The mode and purpose of wearing jewellery make it an appropriate choice as a controlling device in physical computing (Wallace and Dearden, 2005). The challenge for the craftsperson is to demonstrate that craft thinking can add to the field of interaction design through the applicatio...

A Case Study of a Touch-based Interface for In-car Audio Systems

Abstract: Current in-car audio systems are part of a demanding driver-vehicle interaction that is responsible for a high number of traffic accidents. This paper addresses this issue and describes some common problems regarding current in-car audio systems. A project is presented which was initiated to explore alternative interfaces using touch-based interaction, resulting in a working prototype, tested on 25 people. The prototype demonstrates how the focus on touch interaction and the change of position and interface controls, without the use of any expensive or advanced technology, can significantly alter the drivers' operation of the in-car audio system. The results are encouraging.

You Have to Pay for the Public Life Selected Essays of Charles Moore Edited by Kevin Keim

Abstract: (2007). You Have to Pay for the Public Life Selected Essays of Charles Moore Edited by Kevin Keim. The Design Journal: Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 46-48.

Clothed Landscape of Memories

Abstract: Handmade clothes are remembered: wearing a pullover knitted specially for you is a deeply touching experience The aim of this paper is to discuss memories of clothing, in the context of craftIn order to understand the nature of clothing memories, the prospect-refuge theory presented by geographer Appleton (1975, 1988) is applied Appleton has elaborated his extended theory for landscape assessment The central idea is that human environments are assessed in terms of the opportunities they afford for observation and for being observed An unimpeded opportunity to see and observe is called a prospect; an opportunity to hide, a refuge (Appleton, 1975, 1988; Crozier, 1994) In addition, environments always contain hazards as a threat to seeing and hiding possibilities Crozier (1994, pp17-19) has pointed out that the need for prospect and refuge can be fulfilled at a symbolic level and metaphorically In this paper, Appleton's concepts are understood as a means of regulating one's relationship to t

Coded ornament: Contemporary plasterwork and the use of digital technologies

Abstract: The ornamental plaster industry is predominantly driven by the reproduction of traditional designs and by restoration work. The manufacturing technologies used in this industry have developed little since the nineteenth century. The current resurgence in the use of decoration within interior and exterior architectural design along with the author's interest in digital technologies prompted him to undertake a practice-based research project which sought to investigate the role of digital technologies in the design and production of contemporary ornamental plasterwork.The research took the form of a collaborative project involving the author (a maker and researcher) and an ornamental plasterwork company (Hayles & Howe). The author was interested in not only the productive potential of digital technologies, but also their role in creating new forms of sustainable practice for independent makers. The specific questions addressed by this project were:1. By working in collaboration with an established m...

New Craft Policy in Finland

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to investigate craft policy in Finland. The crafts policy within the framework of cultural, social and economic dimensions is analyzed and the cultural dimension divide...

Cack-handed design : design-centred approaches to process and product for sustainability

Abstract: New directions in design are exploring a variety of contemporary issues that are challenging conventional assumptions in the design and production industries. The artefacts emerging from these new, essentially design-centred, directions are often conceptual in nature and, judged against current industrial design norms, sometimes appear to be rough-and-ready and imprecise. However, they are also highly creative, inspiring and, in their process of production, frequently more sustainable. This paper provides an overview of these new directions and discusses their relevance and contribution in broadening our understandings of the potential of product design. The work of various designers is discussed and illustrated, and this is supplemented with a series of design explorations, conducted by the author, that address various criteria related to design for sustainability (DfS).