Building a common language of design representations for industrial designers and engineering designers

Building a common language of design representations for industrial designers and engineering designer

Building a Common Ground – The Use of Design Representation Cards for Enhancing Collaboration between Industrial Designers and Engineering Designers

To achieve success in today’s commercial environment, manufacturers have progressively adopted collaboration strategies. Industrial design has been increasingly used with engineering design to enhance competitiveness. Research between the two fields has been limited and existing collaboration methods have not achieved desired results. This PhD research project investigated the level of collaboration between industrial designers and engineering designers. The aim is to develop an integration tool for enhanced collaboration, where a common language would improve communication and create shared knowledge. An empirical research using questionnaires and observations identified 61 issues between industrial designers and engineering designers. The results were grouped and coded based on recurrence and importance, outlining 3 distinct problem categories in collaborative activity: conflicts in values and principles, differences in design representation, and education differences. A taxonomy further helped categorise design representations into sketches, drawings, models and prototypes. This knowledge was indexed into cards to provide uniform definition of design representations with key information. They should benefit practitioners and educators by serving as a decision-making guide and support a collaborative working environment. A pilot study first refined the layout and improved information access. The final validation involving interviews with practitioners revealed most respondents to be convinced that the tool would provide a common ground in design representations, contributing to enhanced collaboration. Additional interviews were sought from groups of final-year industrial design and engineering design students working together. Following their inter-disciplinary experience, nearly all respondents were certain that the cards would provide mutual understanding for greater product success. Lastly, a case study approach tested the cards in an industry-based project. A design diary captured and analysed the researchers’ activities and observations on a daily basis. It revealed positive feedback, reinforcing the benefits of the cards for successful collaboration in a multi-disciplinary environment. Keywords Industrial Design, Engineering Design, Collaboration, Design Representation, New Product Development.</p

Direct 3D printing of polymers onto textiles: Experimental studies and applications

© Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the adhesion of polymer materials printed directly onto fabrics using entry-level fused deposition modelling (FDM) machines. A series of functional and decorative parts were designed to explore the limitations and to identify potential applications. Design/methodology/approach - A series of shapes and structures were designed as 3D computer-aided design (CAD) solids to determine whether complex parts could be printed directly onto the surface of fabrics. The structures were fabricated using an entry-level FDM printer with acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, polylactic acid (PLA) and nylon on eight different types of synthetic and man-made woven and knit fabrics. The results were recorded according to four parameters - the warp, bond, print quality and flex - before comparing the data sets. Findings - Among the three polymers, PLA showed the best results when printed on the eight different types of fabrics, having extremely good adhesion with little warp, yet displaying a high quality of print with good flexural strength. For the fabrics, woven cotton, woven polywool and knit soy had excellent adhesion when the three polymers were deposited. Research limitations/implications - Future work should cover a wider range of polymers and textiles and incorporate more functional features for testing. Other aspects include modifying the fibre surface through mechanical or chemical means to achieve a more efficient adhesion with the fibre and examining the deposition process in terms of temperature, pressure and build density. Future work should also investigate the feasibility for large-scale production. Practical implications - This paper supports work on wearable electronics by integrating comfortable textiles with hard wearing parts without compromising on quality and fit and combining additive manufacturing processes with textiles to maintain the drape characteristics of the fabric. Polymer-textile deposition will contribute to new applications and functional products such as orthopaedic braces for medical use or for decorative features such as buttons and trimmings for garments. Originality/value - This paper has contributed to new knowledge by providing a better understanding of polymer materials being printed directly onto fabrics using entry-level FDM machines

Them and Us?: Exploring the collaboration between Industrial Designers and Engineering Designers

In the global marketplace, it is essential that well-designed products are produced within the shortest possible lead times. Manufacturers must therefore endeavor to utilize best practice for the efficient control and management of new product development. To enhance competitive advantage, industrial design has been increasingly used as a strategic resource in conjunction with collaboration with engineering design. This study discusses the findings of empirical investigations undertaken in 2006 that recorded the nature of interaction between industrial designers and engineering designers in Singapore. The research posed the following questions: i) How and when do industrial designers and engineering designers work together? ii) What leads to successful or poor collaboration? iii) What factors influence collaboration and can they be categorized? iv) Do representation tools affect collaboration? v) What are the characteristics for a successful tool for effective collaboration between industrial designers and engineering designers

Making the tacit explicit: Developing tools to support collaboration during industrial design and engineering design practice

Industrial designers employ an extensive range of media and techniques at various times during professional practice. Whilst general patterns of use are acknowledged, such as loose sketches at the beginning of product development and full prototypes at the end, the nuances of use for specific design representations remain elusive. Having identified problems in communication during product development, the researchers identified a lack of understanding in the use of design representations as a key issue. This paper reports on research to enhance communication during product development by making tacit knowledge on the use of design representations explicit. This was achieved through the development of two design tools called CoLab and iD Cards. Phase 1 of the project identified barriers to communication through semi-structured interviews with 61 industrial designers and engineering designers at 17 industrial design consultancies. Phase 2 explored the nature of design representations and categorized 35 types as sketches, drawings, models or prototypes using isemi-structured interviews with both industrial designers and engineering designers, with differences in use between the two groups becoming apparent. Phase 3 used a process of information design to translated the findings and data from Phase 2 into the card-based CoLab design tool that included the taxonomy and indication of when the design representations were used by industrial designers and engineering designers and for what types of information. Changes were made after appraisal and the final tool was validated through semi-structured interviews with 43 industrial design and engineering design practitioners and observation. Phase 4 disseminated the research output with the support of the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE) in the UK (CoLab web-based design tool) and Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) in the USA (iD Cards physical design tool). The paper concludes that the use of appropriate research methods that integrate literature based sources with practitioner engagement has the potential to elicit valuable and unexpected tacit knowledge. It also acknowledges that whilst the outcomes from such research can be enthusiastically received, translation into a format for effective dissemination can be a challenging and time-consuming process. However, with confidence in outcomes and a desire to disseminate, opportunities can be identified if researchers are prepared to be flexible and adapt to stakeholder needs

Development of a tool for building shared representations among industrial designers and engineering designers

Previous studies have demonstrated the importance of multi-disciplinary collaboration in New Product Development (NPD). As such, interactions between industrial designers and engineering designers have become increasingly important. This research project aims to build a shared understanding between the two disciplines during NPD. Following empirical research that revealed collaboration-related problem areas, as well as collecting data concerning the use of design representations, a card system was developed to provide information on the role and significance of design representations, leading to joint understanding, improved communication and creation of shared knowledge. When asked in the validation study if the system would foster collaboration, 68.2% of industrial designers and 63.2% of the engineering designers gave a good and excellent rating, indicating that the system could play a significant role towards the support of multi-disciplinary teamwork

A taxonomic classification of visual design representations used by industrial designers and engineering designers

In the context of new product development (NPD), research has shown that not having a common understanding of visual design representations (VDRs) has affected collaboration between industrial designers and engineering designers. The aim of the research presented in this paper was two-fold. Firstly, to identify the representations employed by industrial designers and engineering designers during NPD from a literature survey. Secondly, to define and categorize these representations in the form of a taxonomy that is a systematic organization of VDRs that are presently dispersed in the literature. For the development of the taxonomy, four measures encompassing orthogonality, spanning, completeness and usability were employed. It resulted in four groups consisting of sketches, drawings, models and prototypes. Validation was undertaken by means of an interview survey and further, presenting the taxonomy at an international conference. The results showed that no issues were raised by the respondents concerning the structure of the taxonomy or its components

Reflecting on Design Sketching: Implications for Problem-Framing and Solution-focused Conceptual Ideation

Background This investigation examines the role and use of sketching as tool of design representation during conceptual design activity. In particular we focus upon sketching???s relationship with problem framing and solution-focused strategies and reasoning in the proposition, exploration and development of solution ideas. This research was conducted to contribute to furthering knowledge and understanding of sketching for use in design pedagogy and the development of conceptual design tools. Methods In a qualitative content analysis (QCA) a coding frame based upon the constructs naming, framing, moving and reflecting is employed in the analysis of a concept design protocol using the think-aloud method. The protocol???s transcriptions were segmented before being encoded through the concept-driven coding frame. The analysis and discussion of results proceeds through reference to the encoded protocol data and is supported by the synchronic charting of design activity. Results Sketching activity during conceptual design provides opportunities for previous frames of reference to re-emerge and be re-engaged in new ways. The act of sketching appeared to facilitate frequent shifts of attention to and from sub-problems and sub-solutions. This thus provided opportunities to laterally explore different aspects of emergent solution ideas in a concurrent manner. These frequent shifting of attention may act as a catalyst for appositional reasoning across different aspects of the design problem. The participant???s solution-focused thoughts appeared to both influence and be influenced by sketching activity, affording fresh insights and perspectives to emerge. Conclusion The study of sketching and other tools of design representation provides opportunities to better understand the kinds of designerly ways of knowing, thinking and action required in practice. Findings have implications for design pedagogy and the development of conceptual design tools.clos