The benefit of textile design research to the textile designer.

If Textile Designers do not embark on and utilise textile research we will be left in a ‘sole less’ vacuum. The following article aims to show the benefit of textile design research to the textile designer. Textile design is increasingly complex, and influenced by a number of factors such as ethical textiles, sustainability, fast versus slow fashion, new digital technology and science. It is therefore necessary for increased research by the textile designer into these areas in order to understand and gain knowledge that can be incorporated into the vast textile industry so that we produce the most relevant cloth and fabrics, that satisfy both consumer and ethical requirements. “Work on good prose has three steps: a musical stage when its composed, an architectonic stage when its built and textile stage when its woven” Walter Benjamin 1892-1940. [1

Re-engaging with the intimacy of materials through touch

In today’s retail led world consumers are suffocating through an excess of soulless products. It is time we paused to breathe. "Touch has a memory" - John Keats. [A1] It is often assumed that product designers, especially in the fashion industry, will have a deep understanding of the tactile properties of materials that they use. This tacit knowledge is also assumed to be an essential ingredient for intimate engagement with the materials, for touch is about direct contact, close and personal; it is not sensation at a distance in the way of sound and vision. Through this intimacy, the designer can fully understand the potential sensory impact on their customers and can share their knowledge of this intimacy with the customers. However the rise of fast, offshore manufacture has led to a virtual design approach where cad-cam rules and the first direct contact that the designer has with their material is often when they receive the finished goods. The approach has become embedded in teaching, where virtual-oriented design is cheap and simple as well as effective. This runs in parallel to what Black [A2] describes as "The Fashion Paradox", i.e. the tension between an industry which has become dependent on the overconsumption of the consumer society made possible by low cost design and manufacture processes with emerging imperatives of environmental and ethical issues. It has become easy to make and sell a lot of goods, but perhaps a new approach is needed before we drown in an ocean of stuff. We hypothesise that a business strategy to introduce a new intimacy with materials to consumers through goods and experiences that celebrate "the joy of touch" will a) spawn better, higher value goods with cutting-edge appeal and b) provide a positive piece in the jigsaw necessary to address the Fashion Paradox, taking the line described by Fletcher and Early in "5-Ways" [A3, A4] that touch is relevant to the production of "supersatisfiers...which begin to break the chain of consumption and dissatisfaction". There are always many old voices that decry the lack of materials knowledge in the "designers of today", and we do not wish simply to join them. To avoid this yet to achieve new thinking in the territory we take a tangential approach that does not get stuck into stuff to early. Accordingly, the method will apply a method of research and teaching based on storytelling in multidisciplinary teams developed by Smith and Sams [A5, A6]. This reflects on the role of designer-storytellers described by Seah [A7] and Erikson [A8]. Thus, perhaps counter-intuitively, we seek to stimulate word-based approaches to a physical effect. The resultant project vehicle "Touch Stories" is inspired by the observations of experimental psychologist Charles Spence, e.g. [A9], that people have difficulty in detecting and remembering touch, but can be taught touch skills. This builds on earlier design projects "Touch Gourmet" by Torres and Sams [A10]. We provide below a short summary of the science context as well as the more usual design context for the project. The work described here is our first experiment using this method in the touch context with a fashion student community of young business and design professionals. In recognition, we report in the style of a science experiment - which also reflects the background of the second author. We are at the very start of a journey which we intend to take well beyond fashion (for the challenge of new materials and "too much stuff" spreads well beyond Fashion and its Paradox), thus to stretch and develop the territory, through the processes described in [A5, A6]. It’s a journey the design world needs to ‘touch on’

Thinking outside the blocks

This paper outlines an ongoing PhD research with the aim to develop an alternative fashion design and garment construction process for the initial design stages, using a practice initiated in three dimensions. The paper was partly triggered by views that meanwhile, especially in design education, there is a need to underline more the practical aspects of the design and making process, for example pattern cutting skills. One industry commentator said: “We have often taken on ex-fashion students either as staff or for work experience, and the majority have never been taught pattern-cutting, yet expecting glittering careers in design” (Everett, 2008) The nature of this design practice research utilizes tacit knowledge. It was therefore necessary to find a method to express such tacit knowledge in a tangible form. Due to its exploratory nature and the need for substantial iterative practical work, the reflective, practice-oriented approach of Action Research was used as lead methodology

Dynamic coloring of graphs

In this dissertation, we introduce and study the idea of a dynamic coloring of a graph, a coloring in which any multiple-degree vertex of the graph must be adjacent to at least two color classes.;As parts of the overall research, we study (for some interesting subjects of colorings) the corresponding subjects of dynamic colorings, we compare the chromatic number and dynamic chromatic number, and we study some problems unique to dynamic colorings. Also, we introduce and briefly study a generalization of dynamic coloring.;The interesting subjects of colorings we consider are the chromatic number of important graphs, upper bounds of the chromatic number, vertex-critical graphs, and stable graphs. For these first three subjects, we prove theorems for dynamic colorings that are similar to important theorems known for proper colorings, while we show no such theorems exist for stable graphs.;We make an extensive comparison of the two chromatic numbers that includes a description of graphs for which the two chromatic numbers are equal, that presents a class of graphs for which the per-graph differences in the two chromatic numbers is unbounded, that shows the difference is at most two for any K1,3-free graph, and that studies the difference for regular graphs.;In our study of some unique problems of dynamic colorings, we characterize the graphs for which the dynamic chromatic number equals the number of vertices, we characterize the graphs for which the dynamic chromatic number equals one less than the number of vertices, we characterize the graphs for which the deletion of some vertex causes the dynamic chromatic number to decrease by more than one, and we obtain strong results describing graphs for which the removal of any vertex causes the dynamic chromatic number to increase.;Finally, we introduce and briefly study a generalization of dynamic coloring

An aesthetics of touch: investigating the language of design relating to form

How well can designers communicate qualities of touch? This paper presents evidence that they have some capability to do so, much of which appears to have been learned, but at present make limited use of such language. Interviews with graduate designer-makers suggest that they are aware of and value the importance of touch and materiality in their work, but lack a vocabulary to fully relate to their detailed explanations of other aspects such as their intent or selection of materials. We believe that more attention should be paid to the verbal dialogue that happens in the design process, particularly as other researchers show that even making-based learning also has a strong verbal element to it. However, verbal language alone does not appear to be adequate for a comprehensive language of touch. Graduate designers-makers’ descriptive practices combined non-verbal manipulation within verbal accounts. We thus argue that haptic vocabularies do not simply describe material qualities, but rather are situated competences that physically demonstrate the presence of haptic qualities. Such competencies are more important than groups of verbal vocabularies in isolation. Design support for developing and extending haptic competences must take this wide range of considerations into account to comprehensively improve designers’ capabilities

Principles of Aristotle’s Poiesis as a Foundation for Human-Centered Engineering Design

In order to improve design methodology and better utilize human-centered design (HCD) approaches, there is a need for an intellectual foundation to reconcile HCD with traditional design approaches. A method from Aristotle, called Poiesis, provides a useful basis for this while helping to relate engineering design to a general discipline of design. In this paper, we explain what Poiesis is in an engineering design context, and examine the similarities between current methods and this ancient approach. Current methodology is similar to different parts of Poiesis, but we propose that it can be improved by combining different existing methods using Poiesis as a framework for a more comprehensive, holistic approach

Regression Equations and Table for Estimating Numbers of Eggs in Jack Pine Budworm (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) Egg Masses in Michigan

Three simple linear regression equations were developed to estimate the numbers of eggs in spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana, egg masses in Michigan. One equation was developed for each of 2-row, 2- row + , and 3-row egg masses. A table of estimated numbers of eggs per egg mass is given for each of the three row types for egg mass lengths from 1 to 13 mm