James Self

The influence of expertise upon the designer's approach to studio practice and tool use

ABSTRACT Industrial design is characterized by the embodiment of design intentions. From conceptualization through to design specification, the designer employs a variety of design tools to externalize and develop design solutions to often ill-defined design problems. Surveys of student and practicing designers synthesise existing theoretical and empirical studies of design practice to analyse designer attitudes towards tool use and effectiveness. The survey studies illustrate the influence of expertise upon the designers attitudes towards tool use during studio practice. Results indicate a relationship between limited experience and the designers perceptions of and approaches to iterative exploration and design divergence. The use of certain designerly tools appear to compound a tendency for design convergence and fixation.

Resolving Wicked Problems: Appositional Reasoning and Sketch Representation

Abstract The influence of a design education upon reasoning in response to ill-defined design problems was examined through a comparative protocol study of design and non-design students. A statistical analysis compared distributions of and transitions between the activities naming, framing, moving, and reflecting. Design student protocols were characterized by significantly increased activity associated with reasoning between problem definition and solution ideation. In contrast, participants lacking any formal design education or experience indicated significantly increased reasoning towards problem definition, with little evidence of ideation. A subsequent qualitative comparison identifies sketching as a potential driver for both increased solution-focused activity and greater iteration between problem definition and solution ideation. Implications for design ability, sketching and appositional bridge-building between problem definition and solution ideation are discussed.

A comparison of digital and conventional sketching: implications for conceptual design ideation

The study compared the use of digital and conventional sketching as influence upon conceptual design work. The results show a significantly increased focus of attention upon the sketching tool in the digital condition compared to conventional sketching with pen and paper. Both a statistical analysis and fine-grained qualitative comparison illustrate how increased frequencies of sketching tool focused activities resulted in both significantly more time spent in problem orientated work and the fragmentation of attempts to transition from problem definition to generative solution ideation. In contrast, reduced tool-focused activity in the conventional sketching condition appeared to provide opportunities for significantly increased solution ideation through design-driven moves to explore, reflect upon and develop solution propositions. The implications of a tool orientated focus of attention are discussed in terms of its impact upon reflective solution ideation during conceptual design.

Traffico: A Tangible Timetable Delivering Transportation Information between Schedules

We introduce Traffico, a tangible timetable representing dematerialized schedule and transportation information. It delivers a users schedules in chronological order along with transportation information between schedules. Placed on the users desk, Traffico suggests required transportation times using four options-walking, bicycling, bussing, and driving a car-and through an e-ink display. To investigate the advantages that Traffico provides to users, we conducted an in-field study of 10 participants over five days. The results revealed that Traffico supports the planning of moving times in a day through displaying transportation options on each schedule. We also found that Traffico provides better schedule reminders with event notifications in a sequential order, along with rotating interaction for checking events. Through this type of tangible interaction, Traffico provides possibilities to reflect dematerialized digital information into a physical form and to adopt a new way of scheduling and handling time.

Sketch Representation and Design as Generative Transformation

We discuss the role and importance of sketching during conceptual design ideation and position it as instrumental in understanding what it means to design. To do this we first define design as a generative, transformative act. We then situate sketching as an effective means through which the transformative requirement of design is achieved as reason for its prolific use in design. Following this, in order to ground our theoretical discussion, two examples of sketch work are presented and discussed. The two examples provide an illustration of how sketching is used to both resolve the indeterminacy of the conceptual design situation, and establish a means by which the designer may navigate a design solution. Finally, we reflect upon the potential of a focus upon sketch representation to contribute to developing an understanding of what it means to design and implications for efforts towards building a philosophy of design.

Exploring the First Momentary Unboxing Experience with Aesthetic Interaction

Abstract Increasingly, the unboxing experience is regarded as a critical moment in product appraisal. As such, designers and companies should pay more attention to product packaging due to this increased interest in the momentary unboxing experience. In this study, we examine aesthetic interaction’s influence upon emotional and semantic appraisals of the packaged product at the moment of unboxing. Three factors of aesthetic interaction were adopted and used in the design of packaging stimuli: freedom of interaction, interaction pattern, and richness of motor actions. The findings indicated that differences in aesthetic interaction between the three packaging designs evoked particular positive emotions and delivered different semantic appraisals of the packaged products. Thus, the study provides design researchers and practitioners with an increased understanding of how aesthetic interaction can be leveraged in packaging design to enhance the unboxing experience.

COVALENT, a method for co-designing value exchange in community-centred design

Abstract It is challenging to design for mutually beneficial relationships in a multi-actor service system when these actors have diverse and conflicting interests, and lack usable methods and tools that support the design process. This study introduces a novel method for co-designing value exchange (COVALENT). COVALENT integrates the value analysis model, co-design strategy and service design tools, to support the conceptualisation of reciprocal value exchanges based on the analysis of and matching between, stakeholders’ needs and resources. Its perceived effectiveness was validated through application to the development of community business models in Ulsan, South Korea. This study contributes to the knowledge of co-design by providing a method for co-designing services that aim to achieve reciprocal value exchanges in the context of community-centred design and by discussing the effectiveness of that method as perceived by users.