Showing papers in "Design Journal in 2011"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present the results of research investigating the application of Design for Sustainable Behaviour in two product case studies, one examining social impacts of mobile phones and the other environmental impacts of household refrigerators.
Abstract: Sustainable design takes into account environmental, economic and social impacts enacted throughout the product lifecycle. Design for Sustainable Behaviour (DfSB) is an emerging activity under the banner of sustainable design which aims to reduce products' environmental and social impact by moderating how users interact with them.This paper presents the results of research investigating the application of Design for Sustainable Behaviour in two product case studies, one examining social impacts of mobile phones and the other environmental impacts of household refrigerators. It analyses selected behaviour models from social-psychological theories and highlights the barriers to sustainable consumption. A model is developed to illustrate the factors stimulating changes in behaviour, and design intervention strategies are highlighted and their application within Design for Sustainable Behaviour discussed.The two case studies are used to illustrate how Design for Sustainable Behaviour could be applied ...
168 citations
TL;DR: The aim of the research was to identify the representations employed by industrial designers and engineering designers during NPD from a literature survey and to define and categorize these representations in the form of a taxonomy that is a systematic organization of VDRs that are presently dispersed in the literature.
Abstract: In the context of new product development (NPD), research has shown that not having a common understanding of visual design representations (VDRs) has affected collaboration between industrial designers and engineering designers. The aim of the research presented in this paper was two-fold. Firstly, to identify the representations employed by industrial designers and engineering designers during NPD from a literature survey. Secondly, to define and categorize these representations in the form of a taxonomy that is a systematic organization of VDRs that are presently dispersed in the literature. For the development of the taxonomy, four measures encompassing orthogonality, spanning, completeness and usability were employed. It resulted in four groups consisting of sketches, drawings, models and prototypes. Validation was undertaken by means of an interview survey and further, presenting the taxonomy at an international conference. The results showed that no issues were raised by the respondents con...
114 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a study on sustainable product relationships with an eye on textiles and clothing, and evaluate how an empathic design approach could improve a sustainable design process.
Abstract: This paper presents a study on sustainable product relationships with an eye on textiles and clothing. A framework is constructed which integrates sustainable product relationships and the field and role of design. As a result, it studies how an empathic design approach could improve a sustainable design process. In order to promote sustainability, designers need to aim at enhancing long-term product relationships. By studying the user's relationships with and attachments to products, designers have the opportunity to create deeper product satisfaction and thereby long-term product relationships. This paper concludes by evaluating how an empathic approach can be of primary importance in promoting sustainable product relationships by deepening current methods of understanding consumers' needs, values and emotions.
64 citations
TL;DR: This research is being carried out towards the development of an online resource which will help designers organize and interrogate issues relating to end users more effectively during the design process, and assist them in forming new connections and insights at the front end of concept creation.
Abstract: Current demographic trends such as increasing ethnic diversity and the ageing population indicate the importance for designers to appreciate and assess a wide variety of human capabilities, needs and wants.Work is being undertaken within the Inclusive Design Research Group to investigate how one might effectively communicate a wide range of people-based information, not only meeting designer's data requirements but also enhancing empathy with those being considered. A real-world case study is described to illustrate how rich user data in its many forms (that is, ‘human information’ as categorized by the authors) was captured and communicated to designers.This research is being carried out towards the development of an online resource which will help designers organize and interrogate issues relating to end users more effectively during the design process, and assist them in forming new connections and insights at the front end of concept creation.
48 citations
TL;DR: Stevens et al. as discussed by the authors investigated the strategic functions of design within business organizations, which they investigated and systematised using interview-based research in industry and theoretical analysis based on the literatures of organisational strategy and of design.
Abstract: Stevens’ research is concerned with the strategic functions of design within business organisations, which he investigates and systematises using interview-based research in industry and theoretical analysis based on the literatures of organisational strategy and of design.
Much business strategy literature predates or neglects two important recent trends: design’s role in differentiating products and services in a global market, and its broader and subtler contributions within organisations. The latter is the focus of Steven’s work. While the literature of design management refers to ‘strategic design’ there has been little clarity as to how design contributes in ways beyond those visible to customers. This paper presents Stevens’ framework, applied to the description of two contrasting firms, based on interviews with 23 participants – designers and others in related roles. It elucidates firms’ differing approaches while also clarifying the concept of strategic design in general terms. Design skills and services were found to contribute to strategy implementation in many of the ways anticipated, but key differences between the two firms were evident in how they each valued and applied design resources. Critiquing and extending Porter’s familiar value chain and five forces (Porter 1980, 1985) with many other contributions to the literature, Stevens’ analysis in this paper is part of a larger body of work which he presented at the leading international conferences for the field and led to three additional publications that examined other aspects of strategic design capability such as tacit knowledge, corporate culture and shared vision: Stevens, Moultrie and Crilly, Proc. Design Research Society Conference 2008; Stevens and Moultrie, Proc. International DMI Education Conference 2008; Stevens, Moultrie, and Crilly, article for Design Principles and Practices: An International Journal (2008).
The papers are outcomes of Stevens’ doctoral study (2005-2010) funded through a collaborative award in science and engineering (CASE) by EPSRC and Arup.
36 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the shift in the balance of agency between designers and users is discussed, which affects the roles and relationships of designers, and increasingly demands design interdisciplinarity.
Abstract: This paper reflects on the principles and practices of design in a time of great social change. Its narrative begins with a reflection on the structural reasons why design practices and professions are acquiring even greater social significance than they have had in the past. After a context-setting examination of notions of ‘creative economy’ and ‘knowledge society’, the paper moves on to explore the subtly shifting semantics of ‘design’, tracing key aspects of the changing contexts and practices of design. The paper introduces the notion of a ‘shift in the balance of agency’, which affects the roles and relationships of designers and users and which increasingly demands design interdisciplinarity. The paper concludes with the suggestion that, given the dramatically changing social and economic terrain in which the design professions are today located, we need to broaden our repertoire of design practices.The case we want to make is this: the changes of our times are of such significance as to su...
29 citations
TL;DR: This article conducted a survey with 96 graduating students to collect data on the use of conventional and digital design modelling tools and found that respondents tended to use a combination of traditional and digital tools during professional practice.
Abstract: As the use of digital tools by industrial/product designers continues to increase, it is timely to explore the potential for a completely digital curriculum for undergraduate education. A survey study was carried out with 96 graduating students to collect data on the use of conventional and digital design modelling tools. Opinion was also sought from practitioners on the potential of employing entirely digital techniques during professional practice.Results indicated that respondents tended to use a combination of conventional and digital design tools. Students were not familiar with the capabilities of some digital design tools that were commercially available and they were not fully exploiting digital sketching.The paper concludes that opportunities exist for the development of learning and teaching in this area of the industrial/product design curriculum and that further research is required to better understand some of the key issues.
27 citations
TL;DR: An inclusive design process that takes into account the particular capabilities and dispositions of people is revealed through a discussion of techné, which is described as embodied know-how enacted through daily life.
Abstract: This paper describes, analyses and reflects on a co-creation process between people with and without disabilities as they redesign the Brussels metro transport system over a two-decade period. Users who are visually impaired and blind become experts in the process while people without disabilities, a group of transport companies and service developers, become more empathic towards those with different needs. Our narrative reveals an inclusive design process that takes into account the particular capabilities and dispositions of people through a discussion of techne, which is described as embodied know-how enacted through daily life. This paper illustrates how people, with and without disabilities, achieve an increasingly more symmetrical negotiation as they work together towards a common goal. Techne is identified as key to engaging in a co-creation process towards developing empathy with users and discovering the nuances of users' authentic needs, and has the potential to impact design outcomes i...
27 citations
TL;DR: The research highlights the potential for developing a highly visual, simple and intuitive data tool in the future based on designers' preferences and suggestions, and suggests that there are problems with existing anthropometric data regarding its usefulness, usability and desirability.
Abstract: The relationship between ergonomics and design has great potential for growth in an era of human-centred approaches such as inclusive design. In particular there is further opportunity to foster growth between the disciplines by encouraging ergonomists to better visualize and present their scientific data and in turn for designers to reconsider how they use and interpret such data. This study aims to further analyse and develop the presentation of physical ergonomic data to designers. Specifically, the research focuses on understanding the use of anthropometric data – which is critical for facilitating inclusive design – by professional designers. Interviews and questionnaires completed by ten UK-based design consultancies were adopted as two complementary research methods.The results provide information on three aspects: current anthropometric data use, suggestions on data presentation, and designers' expressed preferences regarding data tools. It is concluded that the use of anthropometric data ...
26 citations
TL;DR: A design-led futures framework is presented that enables designers to empathise with the authors' future lives and as such provide next-next generation products and services that are not only required by future consumers, but are desired.
Abstract: This paper discusses the challenges faced by design when it seeks to empathise with future contexts of life and society. It presents a design-led futures framework that outlines approaches suitable for designers when developing next-next generation products and services. This framework enables designers to empathise with our future lives and as such provide next-next generation products and services that are not only required by future consumers, but are desired. Based upon analysis of over thirty interviews with leading exponents of design-led futures in Europe and the USA, the framework provides a road map for designers to empathise with consumers in the future.
23 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explain the premises and consequences of the current turn to empathy-based design in its form as user- or human-centred design, and connect it with the utopian tradition inherent in much of design's history.
Abstract: In order to explain the premises and consequences of the current turn to empathy-based design in its form as user- or human-centred design, this paper connects it with the utopian tradition inherent in much of design's history. The paper also introduces two new concepts not normally associated with the field, ‘absorption’ and ‘theatricality’, to explain this history. It then goes on to locate empathic design within the category of ‘absorption’ and makes some conclusions about the social effects of this approach to design, arguing that empathy can be the source of what can be called ‘tactical’ design.
TL;DR: In this article, a conceptual framework for design management within the design industry's knowledge supply chain is proposed, which defines design management as the management of the interface between design practice and other industry forces.
Abstract: Design management is a relatively new concept compared with either design practice or management science. There has been various approaches tried to conceptualise design management issues, but most of these have considered design management in an organisational perspective, in isolation from the context in which the design profession is practiced - the design industry - and thus are unlikely to capture the emerging issues driven by design industry trends. This suggests a need for a design management model which conceptualises design management practice in addressing the issues of concern to various stakeholders within the sector.
This paper develops a conceptual framework by positioning design management within the design industry’s knowledge supply chain. It defines design management as the management of the interface between design practice and other industry forces. The proposed conceptual framework is evaluated by comparing it with existing theoretical concepts and models. It concludes by identifying roles missing from classical design management theory, and suggesting region-specific design management remits, which recognise how the emerging role for design managers is likely to differ.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a new perspective from which to view and discuss craft practice, and expose the methods and the accompanying rationale for using them in relation to Mindful Inquiry.
Abstract: In this research paper ‘Communication of Craft Practice’ is the subject and the problem is one of transparency of the intellectual act and accessibility to the embodied knowledge. Why? The skill of coherently expressing the intellectual and personal voice within the development of craft practice is usually missing. There is a gap in our knowledge.The aim is to reassess the term craft practice as a means of understanding the impact of social, political and technological change by documenting the practitioner's thinking processes throughout a period of practice. The objective is to nurture a dialogue with practice and document the process of thinking and making associated with craft in an attempt to understand how academic research can facilitate an increase in the level(s) of innovation in practice.This paper exposes the methods and the accompanying rationale for using them in relation to Mindful Inquiry, and, it presents a new perspective from which to view and discuss craft practice.
TL;DR: In this paper, the ontology of the design object is considered as a vehicle for enabling cultural meaning, and a theoretical discussion of how designed objects themselves in their inherent structuring of imaginary meaning are objects of cultural potentiality.
Abstract: How culture and design objects interact in their mutual interdependence is the subject of ongoing discussion within a wide array of studies and disciplines. This paper focuses on the object and strengthens the focus on the ontology of the design object by discussing how it is constituted as a vehicle for enabling cultural meaning. The paper focuses on the dynamic dimensions of meaning inherent in design objects and states a dual thesis: that design objects can contain traces of ‘spaces of possibility’ and that the ‘imaginary’ can function as a productive category to question how objects in their present materiality can contain a dimension of the possible. Thus, the paper goes into a theoretical discussion of how designed objects themselves in their inherent structuring of imaginary meaning are objects of cultural potentiality.
TL;DR: In this article, a review of guidelines and visual design principles for automotive instrumentation is presented, in order to determine whether they were valid and usable for today's design of information presentation in automobiles.
Abstract: As more and more technology is added to the automobile interior it needs to be designed in a usable and efficient way: to facilitate safe driving. This paper reviews guidelines and visual design principles for automotive instrumentation. Guidelines were compiled, categorized and analysed in order to determine whether they were valid and usable for today's design of information presentation in automobiles. By doing this, contradictory guidelines and gaps in knowledge were identified and discussed. However, there appeared a consensus within the different guidelines of best practice, and many are still usable by designers today.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine if love for products can be said to exist, and investigate how it can be studied, and develop a framework that identifies the structure and dynamics of the experience of love for product.
Abstract: In this paper we examine if love for products can be said to exist, and investigate how it can be studied. We collected real-life stories about products people love in order to understand the experience of love for products. Participants described their love for products as a very rewarding, long-term and dynamic experience that arises from relationships with special products they choose to own and use. Selected theories of interpersonal love from the field of social psychology are applied to the love stories. By tracing how well the theories explain person-product love, we develop a framework that identifies the structure and dynamics of the experience of love for products. Furthermore, we consider the potential benefits of research on love in the design domain and propose studies to further develop the framework.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored whether older people might encounter difficulties or fail to participate in concept design visualization, and found that the ability to visualize relies on the cognitive functions of the user, which are known to decline over the course of a lifetime.
Abstract: Within the user-centred design method, the effectiveness of the visual representation of concepts approach in eliciting user experiences and thoughts about products, systems and interfaces depends on the visualization skills of the user. However, the ability to visualize relies on the cognitive functions of the user, which are known to decline over the course of a lifetime. The study reported in this paper was aimed at exploring whether older people might encounter difficulties or fail to participate in concept design visualization. Vividness of visual imagery (VVI), object imagery preference (OI) and spatial imagery preference (SI) instruments were administered on thirty-one older participants. VVI was found to be the best predictor of participants' ease of visualization in concept design, followed by OI and then SI. The findings provide useful information for designers and facilitators when involving older people in the user-centred design method. It is recommended that a precursor assessment of...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the process and pedagogy of an innovative project for undergraduate graphic design students, which includes strategies for students to improve research skills, practise client-relation skills, and gain experience working on design teams.
Abstract: This paper is a case study that examines the process and pedagogy of an innovative project for undergraduate graphic design students. The innovative nature of this project relates to how it demonstrates to students the value of research as a means for informing the design process. The structure and activity of this project offers students learning experiences that correspond to the responsibilities of professional design practice. Specifically, the project includes strategies for students to improve research skills, practise client-relation skills, and gain experience working on design teams. This paper also describes a pedagogical framework for understanding the educational strategies and objectives of the project.
TL;DR: It is asserted that considering design practice and education through this conceptualization of authenticity can contribute to improve ethical deliberation and involvement between client and designer in design practice.
Abstract: This paper examines the value for design ethics with regard to the existentialist concept of authenticity by looking specifically at the relationship between client and designer It shows that while this concept is valuable for design ethics it entails important issues for authentic relationship and ethical deliberation in design practice Three models of interaction drawn from bioethics are used to analyse existentialist authenticity and its implications for the client-designer relationship and for the ethical decision-making process in design practice Hence, a revised and more suitable conceptualization of authenticity is proposed, in which the client and the designer are able to interact on the ground of reciprocal recognition and valuation of individual subjectivity Finally, the paper asserts that considering design practice and education through this conceptualization of authenticity can contribute to improve ethical deliberation and involvement between client and designer in design practice
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe research relating to the design semantics of desirable products and the crime of theft, and the conclusions reveal differences between offenders and non-offenders in their perceptions of the deterrent effect of different design solutions.
Abstract: This paper describes research relating to the design semantics of desirable products and the crime of theft. The methods employed range from the review of existing designs of mobile phones and associated systems and technologies, the perception of crime from a student designer's viewpoint and, importantly, the opinions of young offenders about proposed design solutions. We developed conceptual designs in consultation with the Mobile Data Association and these were reviewed by a sample of groups of young offenders and ‘non-offender’ consumers of similar age, to reflect the different user perspectives. The conclusions reveal differences between offenders and non-offenders in their perceptions of the deterrent effect of different design solutions. It is suggested that the research offers insight into the use of empathic strategies in the design of frequently stolen ‘hot products'.
TL;DR: This paper argued that styling is an evolutionary exaptation whereby the original brain function of visual knowledge acquisition was adapted to externalize visual information, and this externalization subsequently became a powerful means of indicating group identity and allegiance, and laid the foundations of visual culture.
Abstract: This paper advances an alternative perspective on what is commonly referred to as styling. Adopting a neuroevolutionary perspective, it challenges the trivialization of this seminal facet of designing. Via its long evolutionary history in a hostile environment the brain specialized in visual knowledge, with language and later numeracy as comparatively minor add-ons. Visual knowledge acquisition became an evolutionary imperative, feeding the highly sophisticated neural storage and classification systems that accompanied this specialization. Styling is an extension of visual knowledge acquisition into visual knowledge creation. It is contended that styling is an evolutionary exaptation whereby the original brain function of visual knowledge acquisition was adapted to externalize visual information. This externalization subsequently became a powerful means of indicating group identity and allegiance, and laid the foundations of visual culture. The externalization it shares with the fine arts; the dis...
TL;DR: In this article, design + empathy = Intuitive Design Outcomes, the authors propose a design approach that combines design and empathetic design to achieve intuitive design outcomes, which is called design + empatience.
Abstract: (2011). Design + Empathy = Intuitive Design Outcomes. The Design Journal: Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 147-150.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: Fisher and Shipton as mentioned in this paper describe the life of consumer packaging as a process of reusing and reuse, and design for re-use: The Life of Consumer Packaging.
Abstract: (2011). Designing for Re-use: The Life of Consumer Packaging by Tom Fisher and Janet Shipton. The Design Journal: Vol. 14, No. 3, pp. 369-374.