Participatory design: how may designers create furniture that allows meaningful place-making

This paper has developed design method for furniture designer’s that allow users to express their needs through place making or creation of meaningful office workspaces. We discovered that there were problems in getting the users to explain their ideas through verbal explanations. From there we started to use a participatory design approach with mock-ups to investigate the main methods and to explore design opportunities in developing new office environments. The study revealed, by using role-play with mock-ups directly with the users, allowed the designers to quickly become aware of arising issues without the need to do a potentially time-consuming, normative and tedious observational study. This research approach is primarily leads to new understanding about practice and described as "practice-led" approach to research. This project had investigated, demonstrated and opened the possibility that these approaches could be turned into a practical participatory process toward design in furniture industry practice in Malaysia

How many designers create furniture that allows meaningful place-making in modern office

This research has investigated a participatory design method for furniture designers to allow users to express their aspirations through place making or creation of meaningful office workspaces. During my empirical work, I discovered that there were problems in getting the office workers to explain their ideas through verbal explanations. They did not have the right techniques and tools to express their ideas. From there I started to use mock-ups as tools to communicate and engage with the respondents in my investigation.In my research, I had identified a promising participatory design approach, role-play with mock-ups. My method sought to build the techniques which previously used by Mitchell(1995)and Lemons et al. (2010). Firstly, I identified the importance of understanding the needs and aspirations of users with regards to office furniture. Then, using participatory design role-play with mock-ups, it had enabled all respondents and participants to reveal their current problems, needs and aspirations. They started to create useful design ideas and opportunities for designers in developing new workplace designs. From here on out, it became evident that this technique was useful, workable and quickly accessible for Malaysian designers in actual design practice or other similar developing countries. In relation to this, I developed a social interaction technique to inspire and enhance active participation. The mock-ups helped the respondents to overcome their ignorance in design. It had also helped the participants and respondents to overcome their low awareness of 'design language' and started to share their concerns. These were not always practical design ideas but they provided distinct information which would be very helpful in developing and identifying design concepts. Through exploring how mockups could be used as productive tools to explore users’ needs and aspirations, the outcome derived from this research, was aimed to develop and provide guidance in design research techniques. It was also intended to inspire designers in developing furniture that would create a meaningful office environment, reflecting users’ needs and aspirations by allowing personalisation and place-making to occur. Knowledge contribution in this research could be divided into three parts: 1)contribution for design practice (section 6.2.1); 2)contribution for design research (section 6.2.2) and contribution for design education (section 6.2.3). The study revealed, by using role-play with mock-ups directly with the users, allowed the designers to quickly become aware of arising issues without the need to do a potentially time-consuming, normative and tedious observational study. My approach had the characteristic of intervention which allowed participants to go beyond normal practices, environments and scenarios. This could be seen in my findings during role-play with non-experts (section 5.1) and design workshops 01 and 02 (section 5.2). This research approach is primarily leads to new understanding about practice and described as “practice-led” approach to research. This project had investigated, demonstrated and opened the possibility that these approaches could be turned into a practical participatory process toward design in furniture industry practise in Malaysia and created a potential to be further developed by other researchers as well as disseminated through education for future Malaysian designers

The influences of furniture on childrens health and well-being at primary school

Pre-schools and primary schools play a prominent role in the lives of children. In this phase of their life, reading and writing would begin. There are studies which explored the relationships between writing and reading performance and furniture in the classroom. A considerable body of research addresses the role of school furniture on children’s health. Nevertheless, the impact of furniture on behaviour received fairly insufficient attention in design and furniture industries. Since children have no choice in selecting their furniture, they ended becoming passive users in the design process. In this paper, we aim to understand the impacts that school furniture have on children’s health and performance. This paper reviews previous studies about children’s furniture at educational centers in order to introduce a new prototype of school furniture. This study could inform designers and those involved in children related educational systems to develop better furniture designs in schools

How may designers create furniture that allows meaningful place-making in modern office

This research has investigated a participatory design method for furniture designers to allow users to express their aspirations through place making or creation of meaningful office workspaces. During my empirical work, I discovered that there were problems in getting the office workers to explain their ideas through verbal explanations. They did not have the right techniques and tools to express their ideas. From there I started to use mock-ups as tools to communicate and engage with the respondents in my investigation. In my research, I had identified a promising participatory design approach, role-play with mock-ups. My method sought to build the techniques which previously used by Mitchell (1995) and Lemons et al. (2010). Firstly, I identified the importance of understanding the needs and aspirations of users with regards to office furniture. Then, using participatory design role-play with mock-ups, it had enabled all respondents and participants to reveal their current problems, needs and aspirations. They started to create useful design ideas and opportunities for designers in developing new workplace designs. From here on out, it became evident that this technique was useful, workable and quickly accessible for Malaysian designers in actual design practice or other similar developing countries. In relation to this, I developed a social interaction technique to inspire and enhance active participation. The mock-ups helped the respondents to overcome their ignorance in design. It had also helped the participants and respondents to overcome their low awareness of 'design language' and started to share their concerns. These were not always practical design ideas but they provided distinct information which would be very helpful in developing and identifying design concepts. Through exploring how mockups could be used as productive tools to explore users’ needs and aspirations, the outcome derived from this research, was aimed to develop and provide guidance in design research techniques. It was also intended to inspire designers in developing furniture that would create a meaningful office environment, reflecting users’ needs and aspirations by allowing personalisation and place-making to occur. Knowledge contribution in this research could be divided into three parts: 1)contribution for design practice (section 6.2.1); 2) contribution for design research (section 6.2.2) and contribution for design education (section 6.2.3). The study revealed, by using role-play with mock-ups directly with the users, allowed the designers to quickly become aware of arising issues without the need to do a potentially time-consuming, normative and tedious observational study. My approach had the characteristic of intervention which allowed participants to go beyond normal practices, environments and scenarios. This could be seen in my findings during role-play with non-experts (section 5.1) and design workshops 01 and 02 (section 5.2). This research approach is primarily leads to new understanding about practice and described as “practice-led” approach to research. This project had investigated, demonstrated and opened the possibility that these approaches could be turned into a practical participatory process toward design in furniture industry practise in Malaysia and created a potential to be further developed by other researchers as well as disseminated through education for future Malaysian designers

Jointing design in open plan system for office

Most modern offices use open plan office system due to the flexibility of the product. The open plan system (OPS) can be customized from low screen to high screen and can be installed and dismantled according to the office needs. According to MIDA (Malaysian Industrial Development Authority) the total sales for Malaysian office furniture industries was RM1.6 billion in 2003 of which 7.2% (115. million) came from sales generated from the open plan office system. The sales report showed the importance of the open plan office system in creating the office environment. Since the demand of OPS is increasing, effective ways of assembling the system is required. Most OPS uses bolts and nuts to joint the panels. However, this jointing system requires many parts and the assembly process is time consuming. A survey carried out in this study on OPS manufacturers identified the main criteria for the jointing system design which is to increase the efficiency during the assembly process. An important function of the jointing system is to ensure that the system is flexible during the assembly process. Based on these findings, various jointing system that could satisfy all these requirements were considered. Two designs of the jointing system were proposed. Simulation studies were carried out on the proposed designs to determine the ease of assembly, number of parts, weight, time taken for assembly and the strength of the joints. The research was limited to the tile system. Both design concepts were based on the snap fit concept. They were found to be better than the current design not only in terms of ease of assembly but also efficiency

Computational analysis in design and manufacturing processes

This study presents the role and importance of computational analysis in facilitating design processes, which can also be used to assist manufacturing methods. It discusses the advantages of computer simulation within the design and manufacturing processes by considering jointing systems for Malaysian office furniture as the case study. The main function of the jointing system is to enhance design for assembly processes. The focus of the study includes two proposed designs of the jointing system which may be able to fulfill the said requirement. A computational analysis via the finite element method was carried out on the proposed designs to explore the strength of the joints, factor of safety (FOS), and product usability. Both proposed designs were developed based on the snap fit jointing principle. The results of the analysis revealed that design proposal 2 was found to be superior to the current design in terms of ease of assembly and efficiency

Practice-led: designing through making

This paper has investigated a design method for furniture designers in Malaysia to allow users to express their needs and aspirations through place making or creation of meaningful office workspaces. During the field work, we discovered that there were problems in getting the users to explain their ideas through verbal explanations. They did not have the proper techniques and tools to express their ideas. From there we started to use mock-ups as tools to communicate and engage with the respondents in our investigation. In the research, we have identified a promising participatory design approach, role-play with mock-ups. The study revealed that, by using role-play with mock-ups directly with the users, allowed the designers to quickly become aware of arising issues without the need to do a potentially time-consuming, normative and tedious observational study. This research approach is primarily leads to new understanding about practice and described as “practice-led” approach to research. This project had investigated, demonstrated and opened the possibility that these approaches could be turned into a practical participatory process toward design and place making in furniture industry practice in Malaysia