Digital Commons Network^™

The Development Of A Visual Design Tool: Visionpool, Jannick Kirk Sørensen

Nordes Conference Series

Collectively creating a visual aesthetic product (e.g. a TV-programme) requires all involved to share same visions about content and its audiovisual expression in order to achieve a common understanding and a successful product. Today’s development of e.g. TV-programmes is subject to the influence of many stakeholders and can therefore be regarded as a classic collective design process, although the typical TV-development process currently is based on words as primary means of expression. The tool “VisionPool” facilitates the visual aspects of the collectively design process as a visual physical design tool. This tool has been developed during a number of ‘use-centred’ …

Quality Clothes – An Outline Of A Model For Assessing The Quality Of Customized Clothing, Ritva Koskennurmi-Sivonen, Päivikki Pietarila

Nordes Conference Series

An outline of a conceptual model is offered for as- sessing the quality of customized clothing. The model is based on a former couture model, theoretical re- search on quality and related issues, and interview data from makers and users of customized clothing. The model suggests that assessments of quality occur in three periods of time: 1) before ordering, 2) during designing and making, and 3) during the use and stor- age of the clothes. Before ordering, the reputation of a maker—through shows, exhibitions, promotional letters, location, signs of professional affiliation, portfolios, clients’ existing garments, stories told—is the main source …

Domestication And Context: Studying Objectification In Print Media, Sara Routarinne

Nordes Conference Series

This article investigates into the domestication of communication technology through two cultural discourses, for one that of interior magazines and for two that of technology magazines. During domestication process technological items are objectified by ways in which they are brought to a physical environment and in ways in which they rearrange that environment (cf. Silverstone & al. 1992). The study is inspired by the domestication approach (Silverstone & Hirsch 1992, Silverstone 1994), while its methodological background is mainly based on critical discourse analysis (Fairclough 1995). The data consist of 55 magazine articles including 687 images. The findings indicate that the …

The Salient Features Of The Clock – A Functional Semiotic Design Analysis Of Relevance To Digital Design, Toke Riis Ebbesen

Nordes Conference Series

What is the basis for talking about digital design products? How can designers be more concise in their discourse on design. This article argues for the use of semiotics in practical design processes as well as within historical and interpretive research approaches. For this purpose the position of functional semiotics is explained in short terms and then further demonstrated in the analysis of a basic mechanical alarm clock. On this ground, the digital watch and digital design products in general are characterised and three possible avenues for the interpretation of the interactive possibilities of design products are discussed. Finally some …

Visionpool: A Visual Tool For Innovation, Villads Keiding

Nordes Conference Series

Visionpool is a new innovation tool based on pictures. It has a large target group within design, human resources and communication and it can be used for developing ideas, for aligning expectations and imaginations, and for benchmarking ongoing processes. Visionpool uses image fragments with special potential to develop associations, to support structured conversation and processes of developing ideas. The connection between the verbal formulation of the premise of a case, and a relevant conceptual visual expression is established from the very beginning. Typical fields of use are idea developing in television productions, concept developing and clarifying customers’ needs in a …

Visionpool: A Visual Tool For Innovation, Villads Keiding

Nordes Conference Series

Visionpool is a new innovation tool based on pictures. It has a large target group within design, human resources and communication and it can be used for developing ideas, for aligning expectations and imaginations, and for benchmarking ongoing processes. Visionpool uses image fragments with special potential to develop associations, to support structured conversation and processes of developing ideas. The connection between the verbal formulation of the premise of a case, and a relevant conceptual visual expression is established from the very beginning. Typical fields of use are idea developing in television productions, concept developing and clarifying customers’ needs in a …

Drs Quarterly Council Report: Issue 9, Alec Robertson

Quarterly Council Reports

Reports in this QCR Issue include reviews of the Biennial Conference FUTUREGROUND hosted in November 2004 by Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. Different points of view are provided by Council members, Seymour Roworth-Stokes and Alec Robertson, along with Australia (West) ICM Terry Love. Vesna Popovic ICM for Australia (East) also provides Part 1 of an overview outlining design research within Universities of the region.

Contents

International Reports

Australia (West), Terence Love
Australia (East), Vesna Popovic

Council Officer Reports

Design Studies Editor (ex-officio), Nigel Cross
Events Secretary, Seymour Roworth-Stokes
Publications Officer, Alec Robertson

Grounding Knowledge From Other Fields In Communication Design., Peter Storkerson

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper presents a model for framing knowledge based on the needs of communication design (design) and a way of using knowledge from other fields to develop an integrated body of design knowledge including both theory and findings. It focuses on the challenges of appropriating and translating knowledge from other fields into design knowledge. It uses theory and experiment to examine: 1 A notion of knowledge that is appropriate to design. 2 The use of findings and research methods from other fields within design. 3 Developing a specific, design oriented body of knowledge starting with insights and research findings from …

Bridging Cultures In Electronic Communication New Multiliteracy Models For Interaction Design., Patricia Search

DRS Biennial Conference Series

In my research I am developing new multiliteracy models for computer interface design. These design models are derived from dynamic, time-based communication structures used in oral communication in Indigenous cultures. The research uses visual patterns to represent the changing semantic structures in an interactive information space where there are numerous networks of associations. These multiliteracy models integrate the semiotics of early oral cultures with the semiotics of modern electronic communication. They reflect pluralistic, aural-visual, community-based communication styles that differ from Western perspectives of temporal sequencing, logical analysis, and fixed hierarchies. For these reasons these designs have important implications for improving …

Translating And Extending Gestalt Grouping Principles To Include Time To Establish A Research Framework In Which To Study Motion., Jinsook Kim, Sharon Helmer Poggenpohl

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper introduces the grouping principles of Gestalt in motion. The motion attributes of speed, direction and duration are embedded in two events: transformation, meaning the act of changing in appearance, and transposition, meaning the act of moving position in space. In extending Gestalt principles from 2D, the following investigations will be visually demonstrated. 1 What is “closeness” in time that can explain proximity in motion? 2 What is “likeness” in time that can explain similarity in motion? 3 What is “absence but presence” in time that can explain closure in motion? 4 What is “correspondence” in time that can …

Relearning Typography: Introducing A Cross-Disciplinary Typographic Framework., Joyce S R Yee

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Current theory and vocabulary used to describe typographic practice and scholarship are based on a historically print-derived framework. As yet, no new paradigm has emerged to address the divergent path that screen-based typography is taking from its traditional print medium. Screen-based typography is becoming as common and widely used as its print counterpart. It is now timely to re-evaluate current typographic references and practices under these environments, which introduces a new visual language and form. This paper describes a study that utilises a combination of empirical methods and action research projects to form a new conceptual framework for the understanding …

A Study On Visualizing Process And Effective Communication In An Edesign Project., Juhyun Eune

DRS Biennial Conference Series

A new design field called eDesign appears as if eBiz is an online related business in which an industrialized design creates the individual value added facing a digital revolution. The field of eDesign requires a special design process and management methodology regardless of the fact that human sensitivity will be satisfied through a dehumanized computer technique. However, it is the reality of eDesign that has been dependent upon a simple process or project management tool of general design. In this study, we develop an eDesign platform based on an eDesign process and template mainly focused on eBusiness in order to …

The Corner Chair Research Project: A Case Study., Richard Coker

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper reviews one credible approach to quality industrial design research centred within the teaching and learning environment at the University of South Australia. This student project in furniture design benefited from a partnership with a healthcare provider. It attempt to establish a clear base line with outcomes both pertinent and significant to the body of knowledge currently evolving within the industrial design discipline while also addressing a problem not effectively approached in industry.

Aptitudes For Industrial Design., Paul Skaggs

DRS Biennial Conference Series

All teachers have had students who seem to learn quickly and easily, have passion and excitement for learning, and are able to apply the principles they have been taught. Teachers have also had the opposite kind of students. What is it that allows one to excel while another struggles? My hypothesis is that the answer is aptitudes. What is an aptitude? According to Webster’s Dictionary an aptitude is ‘a capacity or innate ability, a talent for learning, or a special fitness.’ The field of industrial design appears interesting to many students who are trying to decide on a course of …

Meeting Pluralist Demands With A Pluralist Response. The Omnium Project: Offering An Online Collaborative Design Response To An Increasingly Diversified, Interconnected And Pluralist World., Rick Bennett, Emma Dunphy

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper examines the current relationship between contemporary design education and design practice within a constant state of multi-faceted change. It discusses changing demands for design education and practice, from a more global society. Within ‘a world of increased interconnectivity and multiplicity in ideas, cultures and practices’ (Warwicker 1999), it observes strategies suggested by theorists, educators and practitioners to accommodate social change within the two contexts. By seeking and describing the opinions of 549 Australian design students on the implementation of suggested strategies to accommodate change, the paper proceeds to describe an example of one online design education initiative that …

Disseminating Design Research: The Contribution Of Visual Communication In Capturing And Translating Design Knowing., Lisa Grocott

DRS Biennial Conference Series

When the engineers embrace market stalls and life scientists design poster case studies, you wonder why the design research community continues to favour the conferred authority of the written word. As medical research is communicated through sophisticated visualisations you ask if there is a complementary language for disseminating design research that could live up to the rich complexity of the creative process. Could alternative dissemination models accommodate and respect the realm of design as one of possibilities (Dilnot 1998)? Can the voice adopted for disseminating the research speak to the visual literacy of design practitioners? These questions introduce the potential …

The Utility Of Design Vision: The Crisis Of The Artificial., Mark Roxburgh

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This research explores the effect on visual communication design of the differences between what is observed (seen), how that is recorded (documented) and what is subsequently projected to viewers (designed).

Designing Design Research Within A Collaborative Research Centre: A Flexible Approach To Working With Scientists, Government, Industry And Academia., Lyndon Anderson, Lucy Allnutt, Christine Thony

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Whilst certain CRCs use industrial designers on a fee for service basis, few have been involved as key activity drivers from the beginning and for the duration of a CRC. The National institute of Design, Swinburne University of Technology has been involved since the beginning of the CRC for Wood Innovations. Appropriate design strategies suitable for PhD candidates and research in a variety of complex environments have been developed, implemented and continue to evolve.

Transforming Strategic Brand Identity To Product Design References., Toni-Matti Karjalainen

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The paper presents a brief summary and main findings of the Author’s doctoral research. The dissertation is handed out to preliminary inspection in June 2004 and tentatively published by the end 2004. The research, titled as “Semantic transformation in design”, combines views of branding-related research and product semantics. Starting point for the study is a setting where a company, represented through its brand, aims to communicate predefined strategic identity to the target customer through product design. Semantic transformation refers to a framework where strategic orientations and goals that the company has defined for its brand get actualised (thus transformed) into …

Is Writing A Design Discipline?, Alke Groeppel-Wegener

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The objective of this paper is to reflect on the position and potential of the process of writing in contemporary undergraduate design education in the UK. By asking how far the activity of writing is a design process in itself (as the production of written material goes through the same cycles as designing does), the question will be asked whether there is a more pronounced place not only for encouraging students to use writing, but also teaching them about different styles (that include but are not exclusive to academic writing) on the curriculum. Would a greater awareness of writing as …

The Relationship Between Package Visual Design Of Green Products And Consumer Behavior - An Example Of Green Laundry Detergent Package., Chen-Fu (Daniel) Chen, Yian-Lin Ling

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This research explains the specific relationship between consumer buying behavior and the package visual design. This research involves a questionnaire survey of consumers through the package visual design of green products with the Eco-label in Taiwan. The laundry detergent product category has been selected for the sample. The related research issues, such as functions of product package, green package design, definitions of green products, and green consumption, are also discussed. This research has explained the influential factors, including both categories of aesthetic and environmental appeal factors, to the green package visual design of the laundry detergent, which may help designers …

Design And Morals In The Globalized Context., Robert Nelson

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The paper sets out to: • describe globalization in the context of product design, visual communication and multimedia; • describe the elements of design that matter in a moral sense and those that do not; • assess the vulnerability of design to pressure to become a promotional organ of global vanity; • explain the reluctance of authors to adopt a critical stance with regard to the vanity of many products; • identify the problems besetting design discourse, which cause it to be largely mute in the evaluation of design in the context of cultural life; and, • investigate the methodological …

Digital Illustration And Litigation: Anticipating The Implication Of Digital Imaging Within The Architectural Profession., John Stabb

DRS Biennial Conference Series

As the capacity of the digital medium expands so the potential for creative design increases. Yet, while the rigid and artificial effects of traditional presentation techniques, such as photo-montages and early solid models, provided a degree of ambiguity regarding the final outcome of the project, the almost seductive power of the hyper-real is beginning to narrow the gap on the licence of interpretation. Consequentially the credibility and ethics of the image may start to come into question if the integrity of the architecture as built fails to meet the expectations, which the image inspired in the first place. By addressing …

Revolutionary Images And Images Of Revolution. Graphic Resistance Through Culture Jamming And Radical Commodities., Brad Haylock

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Culture jamming offers both a practical blueprint and some social theoretical foundation according to which graphic designers might play a consequential role in shaping their world, emancipated from their typical realm of corporate subservience. Culture jamming, however, is obviously not the only means through which graphic design may be of political significance. This article, therefore, is not focussed specifically upon culture jamming; rather, the article is concerned with the broader question of graphic resistance, and particularly also with the question of graphic design’s significance within the context of what might be termed ‘radical commodities’. This paper seeks to argue that …

Interpreting Graphic Design: Cultural Imaginaries And Social Productions., Raymond Donovan, Leong K Chan

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Graphic design influences and shapes the production and interpretation of cultural information and visual knowledge. The Australian Socio-Graphic AIDS Project (AGAP) locates graphic design as a social process in the production of epidemic knowledge, applying a textual-visual analysis to the images and messages of public health prevention campaigns, including brochures, posters and videos. It documents the influence of government policies and community-sector ideologies in the formulation of safer sex campaigns: how campaigns shape public knowledge of the epidemic; how graphic images generate social meanings about the epidemic; and how cultural responses influence designers in a morally charged arena. The research …

The Big Brand: Designing A National Identity System. A New Australian Flag And Supporting Ensigns., Russell Kennedy

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The paper tests the Advance Australia National Flag in the context of an extended visual identity program. The colonial flag system used by the Britain to brand its empire has provided an insight into the possible implementation of any new Australian flag design. The flag of the colonising country assumes a position of dominance in the canton or first quarter. The individual symbol or badge of the colony is then positioned in the field (prominent back ground colour) of the flag. If it is important for Australia to retain its state flags then any new Australian flag design should consider …

Questioning Understanding: The Cultural Perception Of Visual Communication By Recent Immigrants To The U.S., Patricia Boman

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This research project documents the cultural perceptions and general comprehension of recent U.S. immigrants (immigrated within last 3 years) to visual communication designed to market a product or service. During interviews, participants will share their understanding of a variety of visual communication including: product advertisements, marketing brochures, packaging, and multimedia related to specific products and services ranging in quality and type from ordinary to luxury. Interview questions include but are not limited to the following: What does each example communicate to them? What do they think is the key idea or message of the example? Do they have a positive …

Design As A Device., Sidney Newton

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper will describe the collaborative research project as a case study in how design and other disciplines intersect. Critically, it will argue that what design brings to such a situation may have less to do with design as a particular methodology, and more to do with design as a new device for understanding and engaging with the material content of the project. The paper will argue that significant qualities otherwise (and typically) attributed to ‘the nature of design’, can in fact be accounted for through the phenomenological concept of ‘introducing’. This alternative account has clear implications for the future …

Drs Quarterly Council Report: Issue 8, Alec Robertson

Quarterly Council Reports

This issue includes introductions from newly elected Council members: Professor Bruce Brown, David Hands and Professor Sue Walker outline their expertise. The final page includes registration information for FUTUREGROUND, the 2004 conference of the DRS held at Monash University, Victoria, Australia.

Contents

Council Member Introductions

• Professor Bruce Brown
• David Hands
• Professor Susan Walker

International Reports

• Canada, Arlene Oak
• Finland, Antti Ainamo
• Turkey, Alpay Er

Drs Quarterly Council Report: Issue 6, Alec Robertson

Quarterly Council Reports

This issue includes a summary report on the DRS OGM one-day event with the RCA Society in London, UK, on Saturday 20th March 2004. Appended to this QCR is the new DRS Council elected at the OGM.

Contents

International Reports

Australia (West), Terence Love
Canada, Arlene Oak
Finland, Antti Ainamo
Greece, Artemis Yagou
Thailand, Michael Mealyer

DRS New Council
DDR4 Report, Alec Robertson