Ray Holland

Development of a design performance measurement matrix for improving collaborative design during a design process

Purpose of this paper: the purpose of this paper is to investigate how to measure collaborative design performance and, in turn, improve the final design output during a design process, with a clear objective to develop a Design Performance Measurement (DPM) matrix to measure design project team members¹ design collaboration performances. Design/methodology/approach: the methodology adopted in this research uses critical literature reviews, in-depth focus groups interviews and a questionnaire survey. Findings: the main finding of this study is a DPM matrix that addresses five DPM indicators: efficiency, effectiveness, collaboration, management skill, and innovation, and 25 detailed DPM criteria. It was found that decision-making efficiency is the most important DPM criteria for collaborative design efficiency; plus delivering to the brief for effectiveness; clear team goal/objectives for collaboration; decision-making ability for management skill; and competitive advantage for innovation. Research limitations/implications: as the present study was focused on exploring DPM during a design process, some key DPM criteria, which are not measurable during a design development process, were not included in this study. The proposed multi-feedback approach for DPM matrix implementation needs to be validated in future research. Practical implications: the DPM matrix can be applied to support a design manager in measuring and improving collaborative design performance during a design process, by reviewing and modifying collaborative design development, identifying the design team strengths and weaknesses, improving team communication, and suggesting suitable responsive actions. Original/values: the major contribution of this study is the investigation and development of a DPM matrix to measure collaborative design performance during a design process

A Theoretical Model for Cross-Cultural Web Design

People from different cultures use web interfaces in different ways; they hold different mental models for visual representations, navigation, interaction, and layouts, and have different communication patterns and expectations. In the context of globalisation, web developers and designers have to make adaptations to fit the needs of people from different cultures, but most previous research lacks an appropriate way to apply culture factors into the web development. It is noted that no single model can support all cross-cultural web communication but a new model is needed to bridge the gap and improve the limitations. Thus, in this paper, a thorough literature review is conducted to develop a theoretical cross-cultural model to facilitate effective communication (usability) for web design, in which the variable (cultural factors), the process of developing cross-cultural websites, and measurement criteria are identified, and two related testable hypotheses are generated.

Development of a project level performance measurement model for improving collaborative design team work

This research explored a new direction of improving collaborative design by performance measurement. More specifically, a novel 3-dimensional performance measurement model is developed and the purpose of this model is to help project managers improve team collaboration by indicating strengths and weaknesses of team members during the project development process. Considering the complexity of collaborative design work, a multiple criteria model is proposed to reflect the design dynamics, which highlights five performance indicators: efficiency, effectiveness, collaboration, management skills and innovation. These five indicators are mostly influenced by role-based performance measurement criteria (the second dimension). Design and development process (time) is also considered (the third dimension). This 3D model allows all involved design participants to measure work performance at any time during the product development process. In order to develop this model, the role-based task analysis and industrial survey methods were utilized. Three groups of role-based product design and development performance measurement criteria were identified for measuring design performance of the top managers, middle managers and individual designers in a project team. A 3-dimensional performance measurement method was proposed to calculate final performance scores from a performance measurement matrix. The proposed model was evaluated as a tool which can support project managers to reduce potential design and collaboration risks and increase confidence in decision-making process. The model has been discussed on implementing in a web-based application for measuring design performance throughout the product design and development process.

Measuring the brand category through semantic differentiation

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the cognitive processing mechanisms of concepts and categories by examining the methodologies behind how branded‐product concepts behave in the second of two co‐incident alternative constructs – as a member of a product category, and in some cases, as a category by itself. General proposals for such mechanisms present language as a facilitator in the process. Therefore, linguistic concept assessment models are proposed to confirm the “brand as category” hypothesis evident in an example brand.Design/methodology/approach – The study extended conventional semantic differentiation (SD) methodologies; sets of bi‐polar measures of concept properties describing the concept “semantic space”, to the brand category. Through iteration, the SD tool is refined and the effects of weighted scales understood.Findings – The results provide evidence that some brands do act as categories, with clearly identifiable exemplar positions within the brand‐category “semantic space”.Practical im...

Identifying Strategic Directions for Design Development of General Hospital Equipment for Thailand

ABSTRACT This research sets out to achieve a better understanding of the Thai public healthcare sector and Thai medical device industry in order to identify strategic directions for the Medical Devices Laboratory (MDL) of the National Metal and Materials Technology Center (MTEC), other researchers in related fields and Thai medical device producers. Based on this strategic platform, the ultimate goal is to enhance the capability of medical device design and development in Thailand, increase the competitiveness of the Thai medical device industry and improve the quality of life for Thai people. Soft System Methodology was adopted, as a rigid structure was not suitable for the fuzzy nature of the research. A series of qualitative research methods were employed to capture requirements from all stakeholders and suggest potential products that matched the capabilities of the MDL and the Thai industries. Although the research intended to explore all possibilities, the results revealed that non-surgical hospital equipment and basic rehabilitation devices held the highest potential. At the end of Year Two, concept designs for a standing frame and hoist were developed. The rationale, research methods and findings are presented and discussed in order to address current challenges that the Thai healthcare practitioners and medical device developers face.

Optimizing Multidisciplinary Contributions for the Smart Clothing Development Process

This research aims to introduce a strategic approach to overcome creative boundaries and optimize multidisciplinary contributions in Smart Clothing development, since former research results revealed that these issues are key to achieving fully integrated Smart Clothes. Therefore, this paper examines collaborative projects that are shown to break through the creative boundary and integrate multidisciplinary contributions, and identifies how individual designers overcome their creative constraints and collaborate with others in order to identify a practical method. The research results indicate that a clear description of Smart Clothings context will provide a new framework for developers to work with.