Inclusive design and making in practice: Bringing bodily experience into closer contact with making

This paper develops our understanding of the nature of inclusive design, first through critique of controversies that to some degree downplay inclusive design as a distinct design movement. Attentive of these criticisms we then observe designer-making practices in two cases, which respect individual difference and encourage a more material mode of participation. By bringing the bodily experience of people with (dis)abilities more closely into their own design processes we see positive characteristics and advantage in inclusive design’s closer connections with making. This research advocates the expansion of inclusive design into a more material, inclusive designer-making movement, to acknowledge the universal problem of designing for everyone’s unique difference

Investigative Designing: usage-oriented research in and through designing

In this paper, we discuss the practice of investigative designing. The notion is currently being used to denote a variety of ideas in design research, and we first seek to clarify some of them. We then present our own, specific take on this notion, while acknowledging that it is being used broadly. We adopted the notion as an umbrella term for our combined research and design activities: as investigative designers. We use it for the exploration of how designers can integrate designing and researching within a design process. The two main concerns we are pursuing within this are to clarify the role of a designer with research skills, and to explore the implications of a usage orientation in design. We present two studies in this paper in which we investigated how usage research for design can be specifically geared to the needs of design, and what helps designers (and what does not) in designing with usage information. In the first study, we ourselves conducted usage research, developed design ideas on the basis of that, and reflected on this process. In the second study, we observed how three other designers engaged with the same user data and developed design ideas. Our findings include that the designers tended to prefer to develop their own design ideas independently from the data, only checking or adapting the ideas to the data. Furthermore, the capacity of designers for dealing with data needs to be taken into consideration. Lastly, the form of data presentation influences how well designers can engage with it in designing. Keywords: Investigative Design; Designing; Designer; Product Usage; User Research</p

Maintenance factors in building design

The degree to which the design of a building embraces maintenance considerations has a major impact on its performance. In Malaysia for instance, most designers claimed to have knowledge and experience on building maintenance aspects but only few are aware of the importance to consider maintenance factors during design stage. A survey was carried out on 38 designer firms (architectural, civil & structural consultant firms) and 30 maintenance firms located in Shah Alam and Kuala Lumpur districts. The aim was to find out the building defects and other maintenance problems that are heavily attributed to design deficiencies, inadequate information gathering, material limitations and lack of maintenance knowledge. The data were analyzed using SPSS (Statistical Package of Social Sciences). Findings show that main problems that the maintenance firms are currently facing are caused by building design deficiencies, poor construction quality and poor performance of building which is directly related to functional layout, choice of building material and choice of building equipment. It appears that designer firms consider maintenance factors like ease of cleaning, access to cleaning area and repair and replacement to be the least important when designing buildings. Lack of communication between designer firms and maintenance firms as well as building users or owners resulted in designer firms not fully aware of the maintenance-related problems frequently reported by building owners. Designers seem to be neglecting the benefits of designing for ease of maintenance that can prolong the building lifespan, reduce defects rate and therefore reduce maintenance costs. Therefore, it is important for project team management to develop awareness and policy from the very early start of project to ensure the concept for ease of maintenance can be understood and implemented successfully in local construction practice

Simplified propeller design for low-powered airplanes

The object of this report is to furnish the designer and builder of small airplanes a simple system for designing the propeller and making the drawing. An empirical design method is used, based on tests of model propellers in a wind tunnel and full scale tests of propellers in flight

Disruptive design innovation: reflections on the relationship of design, science and art

The title of designer conveys a large number of historical, cultural, philosophical drivers and working practises that effectively range from the traditional engineer through to the individual interested in personal expression. The considerable differences originate and have evolved for a variety of reasons. The range is from capitalist necessity through to social inclusion. Today, the designer needs to have the ability to understand significant changes in technology, art and science as well as being an astute observer of human behaviour. Ultimately, the designer will need to convert ideas into objects and systems that people can understand and use. It is important to consider serendipitous design and disruptive design as it often involves risk taking and may be unpredictable in character. Disruptive design innovation can improve a design in ways that the customer or a market does not expect. The authors suggest a refreshing approach to design that is inclusive in purpose to enrich the act of designing and advocate a greater correlation between the art, sciences and design in reflecting the values, virtues and methods of working and the principles that guide the methodologies and processes which can be correlated into a coherent whole and with a clearer focus

Identity and affect in design cognition

Much Design Research effort has been afforded to investigating how designers think and what they do; often in the form of protocol analysis. These investigations have mainly focused on how designers influence material culture however, little attention has been paid to another line of enquiry; that is how the act of designing affects the individual undertaking the work and the role of social psychological phenomena e.g. attitudes, evaluations, emotions, impressions, motivations and social behaviour - on design activity. This interplay of affect between design activity and a designer’s social psychological behaviour is a complex two way process that warrants further investigation. Our research agenda focuses on the individual undertaking design activity and asks how does designing affect the designer and their behaviour? In this paper two issues are addressed: 1. The immediate effects of design activity on the designer 2. The role of self-concept in design cognition These two issues are investigated through a series of experiments carried out under semi-controlled conditions using several forms of observation and novel self-concept inventories. This paper draws attention to the need to consider self-concept and affect in design cognition and introduces the idea of design identity, which is uniquely different to the concept of design experience often quoted in the literature. This is an area of the ongoing research agenda within the Department of Design and Technology, Loughborough University, UK. Keywords: Design Activity; Design Behaviour; Psychology of Design; Self-Concept; Immediate Effects</p

Mistä on pienet hahmosuunnitelmat tehty? : pohdintaa hahmosuunnittelijan suhteesta työhönsä

Kirjallisen opinnäytetyöni aihe käsittelee hahmosuunnittelun suhdevaikutusta tekijäänsä. Tutkin hahmosuunnittelusta ja identiteetistä löytyvää tietoa, ja mitä ne tarkoittavat. Haastattelujen kautta tarkastelen sitä, mitä hahmosuunnittelija ajattelee, kun hän on tekemisissä tarinankerronnallisten hahmojen kanssa. Pyrin tarkastelemaan sen lisäksi myös kehitystäni hahmosuunnittelussa ja omaa suhdettani siihen. Hahmosuunnittelijan suhde työhönsä ei ole yksiselitteisesti kerrottavissa. Siinä olennaisena osana on sosiaalinen ympäristö, vuorovaikutus, sekä halut ja tavoitteet. Hahmoja luodaan erilaisiin tarpeisiin, ja niihin suhtaudutaan eri tavoin riippuen siitä, mitä ne edustavat tekijälleen. Haastateltavat lähestyvät aiheita omalla tavallaan ja antavat erilaisista näkökulmistaan vastauksia hahmosuunnittelun merkitykseen liittyen. Heidän antaman tiedon kautta hahmotan paremmin, mitä tarkoittaa olla identiteetiltään hahmosuunnittelija.My written thesis' subject handles the relationship impact between the character designer and their work. I research the information about character designing and identity, and what those terms mean. By interviews I examine what character designer thinks when they are in touch with fictional, storytelling characters. Besides that, I also aim at examining my development in character designing, and my own relationship with it. Character designer's relationship with their work can't be that unambiguously explained. The relevant parts concerning it are the social environment, interactions, desires and goals. Characters are made for different needs, and the designer relates to them differently depending on what they represent for the designer. The interviewees approach the subjects in their own way, and give answers about the significance of character designing from their different points of view. With their given information, I will understand better, what it means to be a character designer by one's identity

A knowledge-based approach to VLSI-design in an open CAD-environment

A knowledge-based approach is suggested to assist a designer in the increasingly complex task of generating VLSI-chips from abstract, high-level specifications of the system. The complexity of designing VLSI-circuits has reached a level where computer-based assistance has become indispensable. Not all of the design tasks allow for algorithmic solutions. AI technique can be used, in order to support the designer with computer-aided tools for tasks not suited for algorithmic approaches. The approach described in this paper is based upon the underlying characteristics of VLSI design processes in general, comprising all stages of the design. A universal model is presented, accompanied with a recording method for the acquisition of design knowledge - strategic and task-specific - in terms of the design actions involved and their effects on the design itself. This method is illustrated by a simple design example: the implementation of the logical EXOR-component. Finally suggestions are made for obtaining a universally usable architecture of a knowledge-based system for VLSI-design