Estudio preliminar de la aplicación de varias técnicas de comunicación en diseños circulares

Comunicació presentada al 23rd International Congress on Project Management and Engineering (Málaga, 10-12 July 2019).An effective Circular Economy strategy comprises demonstrate practical application, by including real life examples and emphasizing with data and facts. The communication strategy is addressed during the design process and designers have to think about the product/service and about how communicating it. To reach a broader impact, techniques like creative storytelling or educational messages are needed. This work aims to know the ease or difficulty for industrial design engineering students in the application of these techniques to effectively communicate the advantages of a design based in the Circular Economy. To address this, a workshop has been done to explain basic notions about circular economy and consumptions patterns and trends. Then, communication techniques were explained, using examples. The workshop proceeded asking the students to apply these techniques for emphasizing the advantages of a circular product, working in groups. Finally, a questionnaire was passed to evaluate their opinion about the communication techniques applied. At the end, a debate was conducted about their perception about the importance of communication in designs based in circular economy.Una estrategia de Economía Circular efectiva requiere mostrar aplicación práctica, incluyendo ejemplos de la vida real y enfatizando con datos y hechos. La estrategia de comunicación se aborda durante el proceso de diseño y los diseñadores deben pensar en el producto/servicio y en cómo comunicarlo. Para conseguir un mayor impacto, es necesaria la aplicación de técnicas como narración creativa de historias o los mensajes educativos. Este trabajo pretende conocer la facilidad o dificultad que tienen estudiantes de ingeniería en diseño industrial en aplicar estas técnicas para comunicar de forma efectiva las ventajas de un diseño basado en la economía circular. Para ello, se ha programado un taller en el que se introdujo la economía circular y los patrones de consumo y tendencias de mercado relacionados con ésta. Después se les explicaron las técnicas de comunicación, mostrando un ejemplo. A continuación, se les ha pedido que apliquen, trabajando en grupo, cada técnica de comunicación para enfatizar las ventajas de un producto circular. Finalmente, se les pasó un cuestionario de evaluación sobre su opinión acerca de las técnicas de comunicación aplicadas. También se debatió sobre su percepción en cuanto a la importancia de la comunicación en diseños basados en la economía circular

Proposing an integrated indicator to measure product repairability

Repairing is one of the most relevant strategies within the Circular Economy (CE) concept since it contributes to waste prevention and extends product and components' lifespan. Thus, reparability becomes an essential issue from the early product design phases, where materials, geometries, and joints are defined. Despite some repairability indicators that can be found in the literature and are applied worldwide, there is a lack of connection between repairability and the early decision-making process for improving it from the design of components of subsystems of a product. To contribute in that research direction, this article presents the Product Repairability Index (PRI), which considers the intrinsic repairability of the product components, their assembly/disassembly complexity, repairing instructions, availability of spare parts, and the self-diagnosis aids provided by the product. The PRI also considers components' relative functional importance to identify those with higher repairability requirements concerning their functional importance in the whole product assembly. The proposed indicator has been applied to a coffee machine as a case study, following a step-to-step methodology and calculation criteria to generate a quantitative value and detect the possible aspects to redesign to make a product more repairable

Diseño y desarrolo de un juguete infantil convertible

Treball final de Màster Universitari en Disseny i Fabricació (Pla de 2015). Codi: SDI414. Curs acadèmic 2017-2018El objeto del proyecto es el diseño de un juguete infantil que sea fácilmente convertible, ya sea en otro juguete o en un mueble infantil, con el fin de proporcionar una mayor versatilidad de juego y una mayor comodidad de uso con un único producto, ofreciendo, como mínimo, dos productos diferentes. La transformación de una forma de juego a otra podrá ser realizada por un adulto en caso de ser necesario, aunque será preferible (no indispensable), que se realice de una manera integrada en el juego por el niño

Diseño de un paraguas con funcionalidad mejorada

Treball de Final de Grau en Enginyeria en Disseny Industrial i Desenvolupament de Productes. Codi: D1048. Curs acadèmiic 2014-201

Review of the use of guiding questions in the scope of design engineering

Comunicació presentada al 23rd International Congress on Project Management and Engineering. CIDIP 2019 (Málaga, 10-12 July 2019).Guiding Questions are used, among other possibilities, as a method for learn, evaluate and reach new ideas. Within the scope of Engineering Design, they allow driving the designer in the conceptual phase, and they are adequate for analysing a broad variety of aspects which are not usually considered in the early creative process. Guiding Questions help to frame hypothetical situations for product uses, both present and future ones, and also their interaction with the users. So, using them in the early phases of the development of the design process will help in a better adaptability of the product to new needs, in prolong their useful lifetime and, in conclusion, they help in increase the user satisfaction. In brief, this communication shows an analysis in depth of the different uses of guiding questions within the creative process in the product design framework.Las preguntas guiadas (Guiding Questions) se pueden utilizar como método de aprendizaje, evaluación y obtención de nuevas ideas. En el ámbito del Diseño, permiten conducir al diseñador en la fase conceptual y son la herramienta adecuada para analizar una gran variedad de aspectos no considerados inicialmente en el proceso creativo. Las preguntas guiadas ayudan a enmarcar hipotéticas situaciones del uso del producto, presentes o futuras, y de la interacción con el usuario, por lo que utilizarlas en fases iniciales del desarrollo del proceso de diseño nos ayudará a que el producto se adapte mejor a nuevas necesidades, a que alargue su vida útil y, en definitiva, contribuya a aumentar la satisfacción del usuario. Esta comunicación, por tanto, muestra un análisis en profundidad de los diferentes usos de las preguntas guiadas dentro del proceso creativo propio del ámbito del diseño de producto

Analysis of the circularity metrics applicability in the conceptual product desgin stage

Comunicació presentada al 23rd International Congress on Project Management and Engineering (Málaga, 10-12 July 2019).In circular design, the products keep the resources in circulation during all life cycle phases as long as possible, without generating waste. The circular design helps to expand the Circular Economy in replacement of the current predominant linear system. Several metrics to assess how circular is a product and methods to assess the circularity improvement potential of a product have been published. Some of these metrics require detailed information of the product and others are based on qualitative evaluations of several circularity criterion between two opposite extreme situations. The conceptual design stage is characterized by creativity and divergency to reach new designs. These designs are not completely defined, but must be analysed in order to select one design alternative to develop between all the proposals generated. This work analyses how some of the existing circular metrics can be applied to measure circularity in the conceptual design stage. For this purpose, some of these metrics and methods are compiled and compared, analysing their complexity level, comparing them and identifying the information about the product needed to use them.En el diseño circular los productos mantienen los recursos en circulación durante todas las fases del ciclo de vida del producto el mayor tiempo posible, sin generar residuos. El diseño circular ayuda pues en gran medida a la expansión de la Economía Circular en sustitución del actual sistema predominantemente lineal. En los últimos tiempos, se han publicado varias métricas para valorar cuánto de circular es un producto y métodos para valorar el potencial de mejora de la circularidad de un producto. Algunas de estas métricas requieren de información detallada del producto y otras se basan en valoraciones cualitativas de varios criterios de circularidad entre dos situaciones extremas opuestas. La fase de diseño conceptual se caracteriza por la creatividad y divergencia para llegar a diseños novedosos. Éstos están poco definidos, pero deben analizarse para seleccionar una entre todas las alternativas generadas. Este trabajo analiza cómo se pueden aplicar algunas de las métricas de circularidad existentes para medir la circularidad en la fase de diseño conceptual. Para ello, se recopilan y comparan algunas de estas métricas y métodos, analizando el nivel de complejidad, realizando una comparación entre ellas e identificando la información que se requiere conocer para su us

The relationship between personal intrinsic factors towards a design problem and the degree of novelty and circularity

The aim of this work is to determine how personal intrinsic factors towards a design problem are related to novelty and circularity. A deeper understanding of this relationship will be a valuable aid when it comes to making an adequate selection of design teams. The factors studied are the level of the designer's motivation, relevance, knowledge and affinity with regard to the design problem. To this end, a study was conducted with 35 novice designers, organised in groups of between two and five members. Each group had to propose a conceptual solution to two different design problems. Novelty was assessed using the SAPPhIRE causality model (which stands for State–Action–Part–Phenomenon–Input–oRgan–Effect) and the Circular Economy Toolkit was applied to measure circularity. The results show that as motivation, level of knowledge, perception of relevance and affinity for the problem increase, the solution displays greater novelty and less circularity, although for circularity, the difference is not statistically significant.Funding for open access charge: CRUE-Universitat Jaume

Analysis of parameters about useful life extension in 70 tools and methods related to eco-design and circular economy

One of the approaches followed by the circular economy (CE) to achieve sustainability through design is product life extension. Extending the life of products to make them useful for as long as possible is a means to reduce waste production and materials consumption, as well as the related impacts. For designers, conceptualizing products in a way that allows them to be used for longer is a challenge, and assessing how well they extend their lifespan can be helpful when it comes to choosing the best proposal. In this paper, 70 tools and methods related to eco-design and circular economy are studied to determine how many of them consider parameters related to life extension and which can be applied in the early stages of design. The results of the analysis show that most of the existing tools and methods are applicable to developed products, and only a few of them take into account parameters related to extending the useful life. Of the 70 tools and methods, only 14 include some parameter related to life extension and are applicable to concepts. CE toolkit, Eco-design PILOT, CE Designer, Circularity Assessment tool, Circularity Potential Indicator and Circular Design Tools take into consideration eight or more parameters to assess life extension in concepts. This will help designers select the most appropriate and will indicate the need for more complete tools to consider useful life extension in the early stages of design and thus enhance the selection of more sustainable products.Funding for open access charge: CRUE-Universitat Jaume

A metric for evaluating novelty and circularity as a whole in conceptual design proposals

Product design is one of the most important factors to introduce the circular economy model. In this discipline, the decisions made influence the whole life cycle of the product, since the raw material obtaining to the end of life of the product. Product engineering uses resources, both technical and material to create products. In this way, among all stages that product design encompasses, most relevant and significant decisions are taken during the conceptual stage, when changes can more easily be introduced. On the other hand, creativity plays an important role in introducing new features in products (as circularity is) in a new way. To implement in a proper manner these new functionalities in the products the concepts have to be evaluated. There are methods for assessing novelty and for assessing circularity, but in the case of circularity they are focused on products that have already been developed. Moreover, these methods do not assess circularity in a holistic way, as they only cover some of the aspects that the circular economy encompasses. This work intends to fill the gap that currently exists in the tools for evaluating product concepts by designing a metric, CN_Con, that measures the circularity and the novelty of conceptual proposals as a whole. The metric works according the product functions and analysing the novelty, the strategies for durability and for extending the useful life of the product that the concepts use. It also assesses the raw material and the end of life of the materials with which the concepts are designed. The development of CN_Con will help to implement the circular economy paradigm while encouraging creative design solutions.Funding for open access charge: CRUE-Universitat Jaume

Bio-inspired design as a solution to generate creative and circular product concepts

Consumers are showing a growing concern for the environment and sustainability, while they keep their interest in more creative products that ‘delight’ them and exceed their expectations. Consequently, designers must meet the circular economy (CE) requirements, but also provide creative solutions. The present research describes an experiment in which a group of designers were asked to solve design problems using two different methods: random stimuli and biomimicry. The results help to answer the question regarding whether methods focused on requirements (biological requirements in this case) are as effective for obtaining creative solutions as methods oriented toward creative ideas (specifically random stimuli). The paper also examines whether biomimicry stimuli promote circularity to a sufficiently greater extent than a random stimulus to compensate for the possible loss of creativity with respect to the random method. The results show that biomimicry stimuli promote circularity in the concepts without diminishing their creativity