Methods of the design process: an inventory
Abstract
Ergonomics, usability and user-centred design are principles that are well known among designers. Yet designers often seem to fail to meet the users’ needs, designing things people don’t understand or know how to use. To have a clear view on the causes of this failure it is necessary to know what steps designers take during the design process. This research aimed to understand the methods used by designers in practice during the design process. A total of 151 design cases of students in product design were analysed.
Autors:
Barbara N.E. KOK, Media Arts and Design Academy, KHLim, Genk, association Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, BE
Prof. dr. Peter VINK , Dept. of Industrial Design, Delft university of technology, NL
Dr. Karin SLEGERS, Centre for User Experience Research, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven/IBBT, Leuven, BE.
Fultext mail to: barbara.kok@khlim.be
Tools for more user friendly design: do they really improve the quality of the design?
Abstract
There are many tools to improve the quality of design, jet designers often seem to fail to meet to the users’ needs, designing things people don’t completely understand, or know how to use. The aim of the research described in this paper was to understand the relationship between the design process and design tools that were used on the one hand, and the quality of the product on the other hand. In this research the design processes of students of the Master Product Design education of the Media And Design-faculty (KHLim, Belgium) are studied. This study is limited to the design of tangible products. Seventy-five design cases of student designers are studied. In this study, first, all the techniques applied the students’ design processes were listed. Second, for each case the techniques that were used were mapped. Finally the relationship between the use of those techniques and the quality of the designed product was assessed. The grades given for the product (not the process) were used as indicator for the quality of the design. 22 cases are grade by a jury (who had no knowledge of the design process) or by users. This might be perceived as a weakness (53 cases graded by the supervisors, the grades of the product could be partly influenced by the process). Since there was no significant difference in grades between the cases grade by a jury or user and the cases graded by the supervisors only, this bias is ignorable. The following categories had a positive effect on the evaluation of the product: doing a state of the art research of non-relating products; problem solving through literature study or by consulting specialists; conducting an ergonomic and functional study (study of ergonomic guidelines, performance study etc.); designing by drawing and by making tangible models; user analysis and user involvement ; gathering per group feedback; having critical attitude towards the found information and feedback. The effect of the use of design tools could not be analyses since it was only reported in two cases. Why design tools are hardly used should be studied as well as the effect of design tools on the quality of products. Furthermore research should be conducted about the strength of the correlation of each individual method as well as the correlation between the methods themselves, for these analysis more cases are needed. Using student cases instead of cases of professionals might be considered a weakness of this study because the cases do not include professional designs. However, since professional evaluations of the quality of the designs were already available and because it is difficult to obtain the design processes of professionals, these cases provided an unique opportunity to study the relationship between the methods in design process and the quality of the final product. In addition, such student cases are representative of the way young professionals work because, young designers apply the design techniques and methods they learned during their education.
Autors:
Barbara N.E. KOK; Media Arts and Design Academy, KHLim, Genk, association Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, BE
Prof. dr. Peter VINK; Dept. of Industrial Design, Delft university of technology, NL
Dr. Karin SLEGERS; Centre for User Experience Research, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven/IBBT, Leuven, BE.
Fultext mail to: barbara.kok@khlim.be
werkweek Productdesign
Van 4 tot 8 april vond de jaarlijkse werkweek van onze masteropleiding Productdesign plaats.
Hierin werken de studenten van alle vijf jaren samen rond een bepaald thema.
Dit jaar werkte metn samen met een aantal Kringloopcentra in Limburg: Turnhout, Maasmechelen, Genk, Hasselt, Lommel en Heusden-Zolder.
De studenten van de opleiding Productdesign van de Media, Arts & Design faculty (of kortweg MAD-fac) gingen in de ateliers op de verschillende locaties werken met de materialen die daar binnengebracht worden: meubels, elektronica, textiel.
De doelstelling was in groep twee objecten te creëren. Enerzijds een combinatie uit meubelstukken en elektronica en anderzijds een face-à-face-stoel.
Deze laatste was in opdracht van de organisatie “De Genks”. Zij willen met dit object de communicatie met de burger stimuleren om met dit meubel de straat op te gaan en daar de mensen uit te nodigen voor een gesprek.
Hiervoor hadden de studenten van
maandagnamiddag tot woensdagnamiddag de tijd.
Wie meer foto’s wil zien van deze inspirerende werkweek kan surfen naar:
www.zita.be/foto/kr10/school/workshopweek
www.daarmoetopgedronkenworden.blogspot.com
Students project at International Design Biennal in Liège
The fifth edition of the International Design Biennial in Liège invites you from 1st to 24th October 2010 to discover nature, source of inspirations and of various interpretations as well as matter of social, economic and philosophical issues. Nature inevitably refers to Man and to his relationship with it. The history of design with its schools and personalities has offered us an exceptional illustration of these diverse evolutions for more than a century. Between creation and economy, this discipline is today no longer a simple form of expression but an actor of our Western societies. This privileged position implies lively dialogues with other disciplines such as architecture, fashion or visual arts and is a reality that the Biennial wants to echo in many ways.
In the heart of the Biennial, the Espace Saint-Antoine, Musée de la Vie wallonne, welcomes the main exhibition Design Nature, which presents the projects of sixty designers selected by an international jury as well as projects of Design Schools from the EMR. As guests of honour, the French designer Mathieu Lehanneur, the Designskolen Kolding (Denmark) as well as REcentre, the valuation centre in eco-design from the Euregio Meuse-Rhine.
Visit the biennale and you will also find some work of the students Productdesign of the MAD-faculty campus C-mine.
Indigo Award
Discover the Indigo Master-projects on Design At Work | Interior from October 15 to 24 in Kortrijk Xpo and celebrate the Design After Work Party at Buda Libre on 21|10.
Stand on the Indigo Design At Work | Interior shows the great final products of 12 students from three colleges (Artesis, Howest and Mad-faculty) Those students worked in six different companies.
Whoever ultimately wins the Indigo Award? The answer on 21|10 at Indigo closing event!
Free enterance: http://www.flandersinshape.be/index.php?id=46&L=0&tx_pxevents_pi1[showUid]=346&tx_pxevents_pi1[Back]=56&cHash=69351cf02c