Digital Commons Network^™

Design For Uncertainty., Dirk Pons

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The development of engineering systems, whether those systems be products, plant or services, is a complex activity. The systems themselves are becoming more rather than less complex. Partly this arises from the need to optimise multiple system attributes including function, cost, resource usage, and style, among others. Also, most significant engineering projects involve diverse activities (including design, risk assessment, decision making, construction, and ongoing operation), and these invariably require teams of people with different skills. In turn that diversity requires effective management and leadership. Furthermore, the addition of electronic functionality and active control systems adds functionality but also introduces complex …

The System Around The Product: Methodologies And Experiences Focusing On Material And Immaterial Aspects In Design Solutions., Nicola Morelli

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The design discipline has traditionally focused on products physical aspects, giving for granted that the context of services, infrastructures and technology will support the product life. A systemic perspective would revise such a focus, in order to project design competences over systemic aspects usually neglected by designers. This perspective shift is a challenge for designers, who have very efficient methods and tools to handle physical aspects of product design, but need to define an ‘operative paradigm’ to operate in a systemic context. An operative paradigm consists of a set of tools and methods to handle immaterial aspects such as time …

Introducing Matik Service - Proposition For A New It Communication System Through An Approach In Kansei., Pierre Levy, Shin Young Park, Toshimasa Yamanaka

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Even though IT is a very convenient tool for virtual communities to correspond, limitations are many and, for most of them, already known. This paper focuses on the issues related with tacit knowledge and subjective communication. The aim is to introduce an original software taking user’s subjectivity into account to optimize information flow. This research has been launch as a part of the 21st Century COE Program, sponsored by the MEXT, aiming at structuring Kansei as a science. Three laboratories with different specialties are working on this common program. As various knowledge is sharing between various people, a quick multiplication …

Applying Image Descriptors To The Legibility Assessment Of English Alphabets And Words., Dengchuan Cai, Manlai You, Chia-Fen Chi

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Two studies were conducted to test the legibility of the English alphabets and words. The first study aims to test the impact of character width on legibility of English alphabets. The second study extended the legibility test of the English alphabet to the words. Sixteen university students participated in the two experiments to discriminate the English alphabets and words initially displayed on a PC screen at its minimum size and enlarged gradually until the participant could recognize it. The results showed that all main effects of type styles, character height, and character width were significant in the legibility test of …

The Role Of Occupational Communities In The Transmission And Embedding Of Design Innovation: A Conceptual Framework., Philippa Ashton

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper will explore social relationships as essential to the ability of organisations and the occupational communities within which they sit, to acquire and embed design innovation. The tacit qualities of design mean that social contact is required to enable the transmission and embedding of design innovation. The paper is focussed on selected literature that investigates this concept and commonly cited features and mechanisms for innovation and design knowledge transfer, are then built into a conceptual model applicable to design communities. The topic has particular relevance because of the growth of many publicly funded initiatives in the UK which attempt …

Methods For Experience Design: The Experience Design Framework., John Knight, Marie Jefsioutine

DRS Biennial Conference Series

User-Lab provides user centred design services and carries out academic research. This paper describes the development of the Experience Design Framework (EDF) resulting from the interaction between the Lab’s academic and commercial activities. The authors identified a range of negative attitudes to usability suggesting many practitioners did not perceive methods as relevant or useful. The EDF evolved out of an attempt to find methods that were more sympathetic to the concerns and needs of designers and business. The EDF broadens the focus of methods from usability to include accessibility, engagability and benefit. It is based on the idea that this …

A Designer-Centred Method For Ergonomically-Informed In-Car Device Design., Eugene Chen, Andrée Woodcock, Stephen Ar Scrivener

DRS Biennial Conference Series

A gap has been identified in evaluation methods that can be used by in-car device designers to capture the usability problems of representative end users, during concept design. Usability information has a vital role to play in design, yet all too frequently, this information is only gathered once concepts are stable and mature. At this stage ergonomics information and recommendations cannot have a major role in influencing the final design. Additionally many evaluation methods fail to evaluate in-car devices in their context of use, i.e. as a secondary task. An evaluation method is needed for concept design, that can be …

Articulating Knowledge From The Vikings To The Digital Age: Designing Digital Artifacts In Research., Dagny Stuedahl, Andrew Morrison, Ole Smørdal

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper discusses the design approach for participatory design of digital systems and routines for qualitative, cultural-historical research and reconstruction of a Viking boat. The digital system involves recording, digitalizing, editing, categorizing and archiving audio-visual empirical material.The design work involves adaption of heterogeneous technologies to help the researcher in his methodological and analytical work. Concepts on negotiaton from actor-network theory and on activities are used to suggest theoretical approach for participatory design of heterogeneous systems in research.

Choreographing Augmented Spaces, Andrew Morrison, Ole Smørdal

DRS Biennial Conference Series

In Windows and Mirrors: Interaction Design, Digital Art, and the Myth of Transparency, Bolter and Gromala (2003) argue that every digital artifact shifts between being transparent and reflective. Discussing the potential of the interfaces of electronic arts for wider digital design practices and theories, these writers argue that we need to look both through and at the interface. The paper argues that in the domain of electronic arts the development of augmented expressive spaces needs further discussion on the place of mixed media types and expressive forms. We aim to explore how augmented spaces may be seen as extending beyond …

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 …

Mobile Wireless Technology: Research And Design Of Interfaces For Individuals With Cognitive Impairments., Vicki Haberman, Michael Jones, James Mueller

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Using mobile wireless technology as a platform, a compensatory aid is being developed to support community re-entry for persons with cognitive impairments resulting from acquired brain injuries (ABI). A human-centered design approach is combined with research in other disciplines including computer science and rehabilitation engineering to help resolve the central concern: the design of a user interface that is both understandable and operable by individuals with significant cognitive impairments. It is expected that much of what is learned through this project will also be beneficial in enhancing usability of mobile wireless technologies for users without disabilities.

Object-Ive Re-Generation - Exploring How Developed Societies Perceive, Use, And Live With High-Tech Sustainable Materials, Objects,And Environments., Timothy Antoniuk

DRS Biennial Conference Series

After many decades of debate there is little doubt that most of the world’s ecological systems are in decline (Hawkins, et al 4). Ezio Manzini, Professor of Industrial Design and Director of CIRIS, has recently echoed these thoughts and concerns by stating that, for a sustainable society1 industrialized nations must to move towards a point where they are reliant on 10% of their current levels of resource consumption. In light of these realities, and the distinct possibility that no society, as a whole, will readily accept a 90% reduction in its footprint2 (especially without major and immediate changes in international …

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 …

A Study Of E-Book Design In Ergonomics Consideration., Yen-Yu Kang, Ming-How Kuo, Wen-Ko Chiou, Rungtai Lin

DRS Biennial Conference Series

E” life, a new trend to influence people’s dairy-life since internet explored. No product or concept can be successful if it ignores the needs of its users and E-book are no exception. However, there has been a noticeable lack of real information about how ebooks are used. So, the objective of this study is established a series of surveys in an effort to help readers in using E-book. The overall aim of this project focus on the E-book of the future. With the changing of the trends, it stems from the fact that with the changing of the trends, the …

Designing For Experiential And 'Aspirational' Needs: Observations Of Student Design Activity., Jonathan Talbot, Stephen Ward

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The work reported in this paper investigates the application, within the industrial design education context, of methods of inquiry and design problem-framing derived from social research disciplines. The notion of developing more holistic approaches to human factors in design which incorporate affective and socio-cultural needs has gained some currency in recent years. Developments in this area have resulted in the proposal of a range of tools and methods such as Jordan’s (2000) ‘New Human Factors’ and Watts-Perotti and Sanders’ (2000) ‘Generative User Needs Analysis’. The issues addressed by these tools and methods are clearly not new to design. To a …

The Difference Between In-House And Contracted Industrial Designers: An Australian Perspective., Erik Bohemia

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper discusses the results of a sub-section of a larger survey that measured the performance of employed and contracted industrial designers on 25 functional areas, as well as the importance of these functions to the organisations. The study found that perceptions varied between organisations that used in-house and those that contracted out industrial designers on various measures. For example, the contracted industrial designers significantly under-performed on seven functions compared to in-house industrial designers. They have not performed significantly better than in-house industrial designers on any function. The results of this research could be used to guide educational institutions in …

Towards 100 Actions For The 100 Languages Of Children: The Use Of Ethnographic Methods And Participatory Design To Enable An Investigation Into Children's Learning Using Tangible Media And Digital Technologies., Frank Feltham

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper takes a look at the opportunities Ethnographic methods including Participant Observation and Participatory Design offers for a context based research into children’s creative learning using tangible media and digital technologies. The intent of this paper is to discuss the study design in terms of its method and intended outcomes. This paper will also discuss some of the issues that have arisen as a result of the study of design of products and services in the information age. The title of the paper refers to the book “The 100 languages of children” (Edwards, Gandini et al. 1993) which documents …

Increasing Competitiveness Through The Application Of Product Design As Knowledge Creation Management., Jurie Groenewald

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The business environment in the new millennium is becoming more competitive because of the new globalised economy and the resultant increase in customer expectations. In response, companies are increasing their competitiveness through more efficient and effective Knowledge Management (KM). Increasing a company’s competitiveness there-fore means increasing its knowledge base through inter alia innovation. The problem is that most existing KM systems are dependent on ad hoc occurrences of innovation. In contrast, the design process can systematically produce innovation and can therefore be used as a Knowledge Creation Management tool. The process whereby New Product Design systematically uses existing knowledge and …

The Effect Of Coating Features Of Products To Customers' Kansei Perception And Satisfaction., Inglen Lo, Ming-Chuen Chuang

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This study aims to integrate Kansei engineering and Kano’s model to investigate how the texture factor of plastic products affects not only users’ perceptions of Kansei, but also customers’ satisfaction. Accordingly, A morphological analysis which was conducted by a focus group of product designers concluded three main factors that govern the lacquer coating of plastic products. These are the type of lacquer, the gloss and the color. In each factor, various alternative features were identified. Then, 25 orthogonal representative samples were chosen to emulate hub devices. They were constructed and coated with lacquer, according to the assigned coating feature of …

The Idealist Practice Of Reflection: Typologies, Techniques And Ideologies For Design Researchers., Cameron Tonkinwise

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The following will attempt clarify and complexify the notion of reflective practice. Ironically, invocations of reflective practice are often themselves not at all reflective of the consequences associated with where this practice comes from. (Ecclestone 1996) Ignorance of the genealogy of reflective practice risks the practice of reflective practice being insufficiently reflective. Awareness of that geneaology opens reflective practice to more effective techniques that are otherwise missed, whilst also limiting claims about the effectivity of reflective practice more generally. To put this another way, Donald Schon’s notion of reflective practice is appealing because of its pragmatism. Developed from American pragmatist …

Innovation For Added Value: Experimentation With Aluminium In The Fine Crafts And Design., Suzette Worden

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Aluminium is often described as a 'material of accents'. Although an essential component of everyday life, it has never overwhelmed the design landscape but has been associated with multiple attributes including preciousness, versatility, economy, strength and lightness. In the 19th Century aluminium failed, unlike plastics, to pass itself off as a substitute material. When accepted on its own terms aluminium made its reputation based on its aesthetic neutrality. It is also popular for its lightness, malleability and ability to be recycled and ability to be transformed through printing and colouring. More recently aluminium has become part of aesthetic statements about …

Research Through Design: Observational Research For Sustainability., Abby Mellick Lopes

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The aim of this paper is to develop an effective observational research method that will foster a practical sense for sustainability in student designers. It brings together the social science derived research method of observing material culture with the ergonomic method of heuristics, whereby the physical object guides self-learning. It takes an action-research approach to the theory/practice divide, arguing that theory best makes sense for the form-focussed designer in ‘concrete’ situations in which the designer is engaged. It also reflects upon the experience of teaching this form of observational research to industrial design students. The presentation will use a series …

The Domestic Cooking Appliance: A Fundamental Re-Evaluation., Selby Coxon

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Central to this papers discussion is that a proliferation in kitchen ‘gadgetry’ has led to kitchen benches crowded with appliances: toasters, kettles, rice cookers, bread makers, electric woks and sundry objects that jostle for short-lived fashionable supremacy. Coinciding with this consumerism has been a rapid expansion in dietary choice. A wide range of food is available to the western palate that would have been unheard of a generation ago. Multiculturalism in countries, especially Australia, has led to the broadening of culinary tastes and with that a diversity of cooking techniques. Outside these culinary changes family and domestic structures are evolving. …

Variation In The Experience Of Teaching Design: The Community Of Practice Dimension., Linda Drew

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper explores conceptions of teaching held by academics in departments of design and explores links between those conceptions and the communities of practice associated with the subject context. This paper explores the qualitatively different ways that teachers of design experience their teaching. The study focuses on teachers of practice based subjects in design. Much of the work which has examined teachers’ conceptions built on research frameworks that also explored students conceptions and approaches to learning. Studies of conceptions of teaching have ranged from the phenomenographic (e.g. Martin and Balla, 1991; Prosser et al 1994) to those studies of belief …

Craft Histories, Textile Futures: Emotional Affectivity And Design Hybridity In Quilt Design., Catherine Harper

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper discusses how innovative textile design materials, processes, products and technologies might develop in ‘textile design futures’ by taking note of the emotional affectivity of traditional craft methods and aesthetics. Specifically, North American 19th Century quilts are activated as models for new poetic hybrids in conceptual and functional textile design. Archival material, contemporary design practice, and my own textile designs will be used as examples to support my proposals.

Design Research In Sweden: Findings From A National Survey., Jan Bodin

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper presents findings from a national survey carried out in Sweden during the fall of 2003. At the time, no systematic study had been made in order to gather information about current design research among the Swedish academic society as a whole. A survey was sent out by e-mail in September 2003 via the newly formed network named Swedish Industrial Design Research and Education Agenda (SWIDREA). Due to the dynamic growth of the network additional responses will be added until the end of the year, which means that it is not possible to present the findings at present time. …

Contextual Invention - A Multi-Disciplinary Approach To Develop Business Opportunities And Design Solutions., Girish Prabhu, David M Frohlich, Warren Greving

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper describes a new research methodology, which brings together ethnographic, business, design and technical research in a focused way. Various combinations of these disciplines have been used together in the past, both inside HP Labs and in the wider industry. However, all four disciplines are rarely harnessed together in the pursuit of innovation and new business opportunities. We aim to do this in a principled user- centered way, by using a deep understanding of user and cultural needs to drive design ideas, business modeling and technological investigations. This approach can be seen as an extension of Contextual Design in …

They Shoot Single People, Don't They?, Dianne J. Smith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

They Shoot Single People, Don't They? is a romantic comedy of errors set in Boston about Lexie, a twenty-five year old pediatric nurse with still perky breasts and lightly dimpled thighs who can figure out pediatric drug dosages, but is so severely relationship-challenged that she can't make any choice at all when it comes to men. Her life becomes a convoluted mess that includes two guys and a tangled web of lies.

After Marcus dumps her with a post-it note taped to her refrigerator door, Lexie thinks that her five-year plan to get married and have a baby are back …

Lillian Brock Flemming Oral History, Lillian Brock Flemming, Courtney Tollison

Furman University Oral Histories

Video interview with Dr. Lillian Brock Flemming, one of the first two African American females to graduate Furman University. Dr. Flemming enrolled at Furman in 1967 as one of the university’s first African American women. She graduated in 1971, and earned her Masters of Education from Furman in 1975. In 1981, she became the first African-American woman to serve on the Greenville City Council, and in 1989 she was elected Mayor Pro Tempore. In 1995, she became Furman’s first female African-American trustee, and in 2014 Lillian was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from Furman University. Dr. Flemming begins …

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