Can you transform a country by design?

At the beginning of 1993 an enthusiastic designer from London considered that the impossible might be possible, to help reverse the downward spiral of the economy of Romania through product design. Groups of British and Romanian designers are collaborating on various design projects that can improve the living standards of the average Romanian by providing work, education and affordable products. Although it is too early to say if the scheme has been a success, already it has progressed further than many could have hoped. This paper describes the stages towards fulfilling this dream

Automobile design history – what can we learn from the behavior at the edges?

The paper is developed from a larger evaluation of the history of automobile design. This evaluation used categorical principal component analysis to analyze the direction of the product history, investigating how automobiles developed from 1878 to the present (2013), particularly focusing on whether automobile designers appear to be working within what are termed product paradigms. Rather than looking at how design thinking and paradigms became established in automobile design, this paper takes a sideways look at the variations and quirky automobiles that have been built by investigating the outliers of the analysis and categorizing them into three categories: those that are always outside of general trends, those that are throwbacks to earlier thinking and those that are innovative and ahead of later thinking. The paper ends with a brief look at how and why novelty might become innovation and hence alter the course of the greater product history rather than remaining outliers, interesting as they are. This is where the novelty demonstrates significant advantages for the customer and manufacturer. The conclusion is that the process of investigating statistical outliers is useful and may lead to insights when investigating changes, developments and innovations and their causes

Design Paradigms in Car History

The purpose of this research into Design Paradigms in Car History is to evaluate how production car design has changed over the last hundred and twenty-five years or so, using numerical analyses of specific cars, which act as exemplars. This evaluation should lead to a better understanding of car design history and how car designers think. Design thinking can be evidenced from how products have changed over the course of time. Design paradigms have been used to produce a structured analysis of these products (cars) to develop a more holistic understanding of design history than may be available from a purely narrative approach. The research sought to answer some basic questions, including what are design paradigms, when did specific ones appear, and when, why and how quickly did they change? A positivist, quantitative analysis was carried out, analysing over 500 cars from 1878 to 2013 for layout and form design, using a categorical principal components analysis. Timelines and maps were produced identifying paradigms, changes and timescales. A complementary qualitative approach was taken, interviewing car experts – historians, designers, industry leaders and enthusiasts – to identify their constructs on car history and design. Methods used included affinity diagrams and a novel use of repertory grids. Car design paradigms were identified from static layout variables, from about 1904 to 1934, from the mid-1970s onwards, and less pronounced from the late 1930s to the 1980s. These show tight clustering of features. Stepwise changes tend to occur between paradigms. Form changes more smoothly, but still indicates likely dates and paradigmatic thinking. Constructivist analysis identified further wide-ranging paradigms, including societal changes, technology, political and economics. The main conclusion of this research was that design paradigms not only exist, but they can also be measured and this measurement can improve historical understanding. This finding will benefit not only those interested in cars and their history, e.g.museum curators and those training future designers, but also other researchers, who could use a combination of both analytical and constructivist processes, in particular repertory grids, to develop their subject thinking and understanding of historical processes

Hot potatoes and double diamond in a whiz: can techniques and processes really lead to innovation?

The paper introduces a brief student project that was carried out with a large number of groups of students from engineering and design backgrounds. This was intended to provide the students with an experience of developing innovative ideas from the pre-idea position to the stage of putting forward concrete proposals for action. The paper relays the experience of running such a project and its benefits, but then asks the questions of how close it came to achieving its goal of getting students involved in an innovation process. Innovation would seem to require three conditions for it to exist. The first is a significantly different idea: the second is an environment that nurtures the idea and the third is the society that is prepared to take up and disseminate the embodied idea. The small six-week project aims to provide some techniques that make the achievement of these criteria more likely. It resulted in changed behaviour from some students but for significant innovation to take place a longer period needs to be used to develop and nurture it

Assessment of professional competence in engineering, product design – and higher education–speculative directions for developing practice

The IED’s development of the Chartered Technical Product Design has prompted an investigation into methods and processes of assessment of professional competence. This is intended to assess competence in normal work and not using an invented assignment. The paper suggests the meanings for professional competence and assesses different assessment methods, comparing them with those currently used for engineers, designers and educators. It concludes that the current processes are generally effective, but includes suggestions to modify current processes rather than suggest a complete replacement

Creativity in car design – the behaviour at the edges

The paper is developed from a longer evaluation of the history of car design. This larger evaluation used statistical processes for investigating the direction of history. Rather than looking at the way that design thinking and paradigms have become established in car design, the paper takes a sideways look at the variations and quirky cars that have been built, categorising them. The paper ends with a brief look at how and why novelty might become innovation and hence alter the course of the product history. This is where the novelty demonstrates significant advantages for the customer and manufacturer

Developing innovation in higher education: the catalytic effect of conference attendance

Educational innovation through conference attendance is the main theme of this paper. It starts by describing and contrasting product and education innovation, highlighting the importance of the step of influencing and determining the future direction of the market or community of practice. It goes on to describe the important learning processes associated with copying, affirming its importance in the way that educational innovations spread and develop. The paper includes several personal examples where ideas have been copied and developed following E&PDE papers. The paper poses a further question regarding the place that subconscious innovation takes place, treating it as a topic for further research

The challenges of becoming agile – experiences from new product development in industry and design education

During the last decade agile methods have been a vast success in the domain of software development. This paper investigates whether these methods can be successfully transferred to the domain of physical product development in order to address the fundamental challenges of increased marked speed, development uncertainty and product complexity. The paper compares two cases from industry and education where agile methods are used in physical product development. The comparison between the cases is conducted within five thematic areas, which creates an overview of the challenges that may occur when implementing agile methods. The present paper is concluded by a discussion and conclusion drawing up the main challenges experienced and well as the benefits of utilising agile methods in physical product development

Enhancing sustainable design - the use of national and international standards in design education.

The British Standards Committee TDW/7 is responsible for publishing the ‘Design for Manufacture and Un-manufacture’ standard BS8887. This committee includes academic members. As a contribution to design education, this paper explains their use of standards in teaching, particularly with respect to sustainable design. The paper starts with an overview of their use, suggesting advantages and disadvantages. Case study examples are given of their use in four UK Universities and it is concluded that they can give a significant advantage in design teaching

Enhancing sustainable design - the use of national and international standards in design education.

The British Standards Committee TDW/7 is responsible for publishing the ‘Design for Manufacture and Un-manufacture’ standard BS8887. This committee includes academic members. As a contribution to design education, this paper explains their use of standards in teaching, particularly with respect to sustainable design. The paper starts with an overview of their use, suggesting advantages and disadvantages. Case study examples are given of their use in four UK Universities and it is concluded that they can give a significant advantage in design teaching