Product design education: a kit for building empathy

This study evaluates a new pedagogic approach implemented in material courses for product design students at bachelor level education. Material education within the field of design education at technical faculties has, in general, a strong technical focus, e.g. selecting materials with predominant focus on engineering properties of materials. Product design education at a bachelor level need to offer material courses that prepares the design students to work both on inspirational and analytical levels in material selection processes. Early in the design education, students often have a preconception of materials, and they need to be introduced to an open-minded inspirational material selection process, based on scientific design methods. When developing a new curriculum for the material courses, it is important to teach materials and production methods in a contextualized setting with emphasis on how materials can be approached in a design process. Methods can be seen as mental tools that aids the design students in navigating complexity and offers them a structure to deal with unfamiliar territories. After an evaluation, we selected some methods, guidelines and tools to integrate in the mandatory material courses for the product design students e.g. the Expressive-Sensorial Atlas, Meaning Driven Materials Selection and the Material Driven Design method. The implementation were made in two steps in order to test, evaluate and further develop a framework for teaching materials courses to product design students. This study only reports the first step of implementation since the second step is under development and will be implemented during autumn 2017.

Building product usage scenario of products, building product-user relationship, thinking like users and empathizing with users are the most frequently encountered problems in project-based studio courses in current undergraduate education of Industrial Design and Industrial Product Design departments in Turkey.In this research, undergraduate second and third year programs of Industrial Design departments of 13 different universities in Turkey are examined. Learning outcomes, contents and objectives of the product design courses are compared and contrasted. Thus the similarities and the differences are obtained. Consequently, the two main reasons for the ignorance of user research during design process are; the absence of theoretical courses about user research and the absence of practical and supportive reflection of these courses on product design studio courses. Application of these concepts in design process could be one of the solutions for current problems. As a result of this study, integration of the new methods such as; participatory design, co-design and collaborative design approaches to design process in product design education is suggested. Besides, the importance and the necessity of user participation experience are emphasized. Keywords: Design education, design process, user research, participatory design, co-design

Creativity is acknowledged as an essential component of the design process and considered a key design graduate attribute. Despite this assertion, several studies have highlighted that the teaching of creativity in design education is often implicit rather than explicit. Moreover, there is a paucity of research on product design students’ experience of creativity in design education, leaving a gap in knowledge relevant to how creativity may be better fostered in design education. In this study, reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyse the data from online focus groups conducted with product design students. The three themes constructed provide insights into how students perceive and engage with creativity. Theme 1, the influence of social factors on creativity, uncovers the diametric effect students’ social eco-system can have on their creativity. These include an aversion to being associated with it due to weight of expectation and negative perceptions around creativity, as well as the ‘invisible support system’ created by peers. Theme 2, sanctuary seeking tendencies of novice design students, reveals behaviours that oppose essential creative attributes: a freedom from risk and ambiguity and desire for certainty and achievability. Theme 3, tension between passion for and pursuit of creativity, outlines the conflict between participants’ ideologies and actions when pursuing creativity highlighting a reluctance to utilise structured creativity tools while gravitating towards unstructured methods such as ‘relaxed attention’. Together, the three themes form a picture of product design students’ complex relationship with creativity and importance of self-efficacy. The findings of this study make an important contribution to our understanding of design students’ perception of, and engagement with, creativity in design education. As such these findings are relevant for both design education and future creativity tool development.

Philippe Bihoux, in his 2014 work, L’Âge des low tech: vers une civilization techniquement soutenable suggests that developing increasingly high-tech solutions to address the sustainability crisis is a hopeless cause [1]. Instead, an appreciation of energy sobriety and material conservation as we move to embrace low-tech developments would yield more impactful results. Internationally, design courses offer a range of approaches to teaching and embedding sustainability theory amongst their student body. From focusing on behaviour change [2], and imparting knowledge on sustainable design and manufacturing approaches [3] to a focus on developing product solutions which encourage improved product lifespans [4] there are many worthwhile pedagogies which can be imparted to our students. Low-tech approaches to sustainability require designers to question assumptions held about users’ energy needs through the lens of energy sobriety. Their solutions should reduce technological intensity and complexity whilst encouraging a commons approach to the implementation of a solution. This paper investigates and discusses a project-based learning approach to sustainability design education which focuses on Bihoux’s ideas around sobriété and low-tech development to challenge students to solve everyday design problems with reduced technological intensity. [1] P. Bihoiux, The Age of Low Tech, English Tr. Bristol, United Kingdom: Bristol University Press, 2014. [2] C. Boks and J. Z. Daae, “Design for sustainable behaviour in design education,” in Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education: Design Education for Future Wellbeing, EPDE 2012, 2012, no. September, pp. 611–616. [3] A. T. Butt, E. W. Causton, and M. A. Watkins, “Embedding Sustainability in the Engineering Curriculum: a Complimentary Approach To Performance Engineering and Sustainable Design,” in Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education, E and PDE 2022, 2022, no. September, pp. 9–14, doi: 10.35199/epde.2022.24. [4] C. Green, “Thinking Beyond the Product Moment: Addressing Issues Around ‘Keeping,’” in Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education, E and PDE 2022, 2022, no. September, doi: 10.35199/epde.2022.103.

This research on the participation of industrial design students’ experiences in 3D printing and 3D modelling demonstrates that they are successful in fully utilising additive manufacturing in the design process and as a final fabrication method in the product design area. The project begins with the literature review, prototyping tests, and students' participation in 3D modelling in the specific subject of industrial design. The outcome shared a guideline for how to use Rapid Prototyping (RP) 3D Printers in the model-making and prototyping processes. The result was an example of a design project practice that was made by modelling and then printed with 3D printing.

In this paper, the application of multi-agent system to support decision-making process in design for recycling is presented. The design for recycling term is highlighted either as the design problem or from the point of view of regulations. The structure of agent system supporting the designer during the design process is showed. The basis of special kind of product model, that is the extension of standard 3D product model, called recycling-oriented product model, is described. The example results of analysis, based on real household appliance model, are presented.

The everchanging technological and digital landscape of the Product Design and Product Design Engineering industry now requires graduates to have a wider range of skills and software knowledge. In particular, there is a need for enhanced skills focused on engineering computer aided design (CAD), virtual reality, 3D visualisation and rendering/animation. This has resulted in graduates requiring a more detailed and rigorous CAD and 3D visualisation syllabus to prepare them adequately for industry. With the increased pressures on delivering a wider range of software teaching alongside a greater range of hardware, the need for a good grounding and understanding of 2D/3D engineering CAD competencies is essential. Subsequently we have identified the need for enhanced engineering CAD teaching and learning within the higher education setting especially within the first-year product design curriculum. As such, there is the need to challenge established pedagogy and delivery methods with regards to CAD tuition in order to explore new delivery methods and alternative educational paradigms to allow educators to equip engineers and designers for future industry requirements. To enhance the CAD skills of product design students, the product design academic team at Nottingham Trent University have sought to accelerate the learning of core 2D/3D engineering CAD competencies within first year students by providing an accelerated learning program focussed on SolidWorks. This paper explores and reflects on the development of a ‘CAD Bash’, an accelerated teaching block of 2D/3D engineering CAD, utilizing SolidWorks and delivered in week two of the first year product design students higher education journey. Sixty-Two BSc Product Design first year students undertook eight 1.5-2-hour sessions over the course of a 15-hour accelerated synchronous teaching block during a single week. CAD Bash synchronous teaching was also supported by asynchronous content in the form of pre-recorded videos and prepared worksheets/guides. Prior to commencing ‘CAD Bash’, each student completed a Pre-CAD Bash skills audit to ascertain the student cohorts’ current knowledge/understanding of software programs, situated within Engineering CAD, such as SolidWorks. This survey helped inform the tutors on student prior knowledge allowing adjustments to the level of learning/content delivered. A Post-CAD Bash skills audit was then collected, providing insight into the effectiveness of the accelerated teaching block, thus informing CAD tuition for the remainder of the academic year. This paper also presents student feedback and the findings from CAD Bash to demonstrate the effectiveness and impact of an accelerated CAD teaching block focused on fundamental engineering CAD competencies. Finally, this paper will demonstrate how the delivery of an entire term’s worth of CAD tuition within a single week period not only prepared students better for future CAD learning but has also created room within the CAD syllabus to teach a wider range of software in more depth. Subsequently this has enhanced our entire three-year CAD syllabus for product design students and positively impacted student skill level thus providing greater placement and graduate opportunities in the future.

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has placed a huge strain on higher education institutions and educators around the world, which has included the closure of campuses, removal of face-to-face instruction and a shift to remote teaching and learning. However, this situation has also created unique opportunities and conditions that can foster innovation in teaching and learning practices and content delivery. One such innovation gaining traction is Microlearning, which offers learning opportunities through small bursts of training materials that learners can comprehend in a short time, according to their preferred schedule and location. This paper explores the potential of Microlearning within design education and how it can be implemented into the Product Design & Manufacture programme at University of Nottingham Ningbo China to support teaching instruction and enhance the student learning experience post-COVID-19.

In product design courses, prototyping offers a way for students to develop physical intuition about materials while practicing techniques used by professional designers. A web-based platform was developed to explore the use of multimedia to provide students with additional support for prototyping activities. The result is Designy (www.productdesigny.com), a platform containing a series of photo- and video-based resources meant to help students prototype effectively. Students in two product design classes — 2.00b Toy Product Design and 2.744 Product Design — were given access to Designy to aid in their project work. To better understand whether the platform was utilized by students and if access to the platform contributed to student learning and project work, researchers analyzed website activity data and interviewed students (n = 19) to collect data regarding their experiences with the platform. A core group of 24 students (27%) in 2.00b and 29 students (35%) in 2.744 generated the most activity on the platform. Interview data indicates that students used the platform to answer prototyping-related questions when designing, to better understand the landscape of prototyping tools available to them, and to increase a feeling of confidence working in a prototyping shop. Overall, results suggest that while in-person interactions with staff members can better help students in situations where the support students need is poorly identified, Designy was shown to provide efficient support in situations when students could clearly identify the type of support they needed.

This paper examines shifts in manufacturing related to globalization. The purpose of the paper is to provide design educators with a better understanding of changes taking place in manufacturing, with the aim of generating discussion around educational responses to these changes in the subject area of design. In the first part of the paper, the broad transformations taking place in manufacturing are outlined, with a focus on concurrent engineering and agile manufacturing. Next, the ways these changes are affecting the contemporary organization of product development teams are examined. Then, the implications of these shifts for design education are considered. It is argued that changing trends in manufacturing, and related changes in the organization of product development, highlight the importance of equipping design students with skills for working in globally networked organizations. Finally, we overview an educational response to globalization in the subject area of design.

In the curriculum of product design education, some teaching materials for demonstrating and discussing case studies are always presented in images with monocular depth cues. However, using this approach to train students with different spatial abilities is a great challenge. It was reported that stereoscopic 3D (S3D) displays were helpful for the performance of depth-related tasks. Some research groups had tried to use stereoscopic visualization for teaching Descriptive Geometry, and some research reported that the effect of stereoscopic displays on science learning was related to the spatial ability of the viewer. In product design education, identifying proportion and manipulating proportional relationships were important practices of form-giving training. Whether the correctness of proportion judgement would be influenced by different displays remained an open question. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the performances of students with different background across three display modes, i.e. M3D, S3D, and head-mounted display (HMD). In the experiments, physical chairs and the corresponding digital models with different proportions were used as the stimuli. The participants were asked to identify the correct digital models of chairs. The results indicated that HMD approach could facilitate the reflection and adaptation of dimensions and proportions, compensating the differences of spatial abilities, and therefore enhancing the learning effects significantly.

The purpose of the study is to explore how lived experience affect teaching philosophy toward diversity and inclusivity in fashion design education interweaving critical pedagogy and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy with Dewey’s belief on the value of experiences in education. This study starts generating the difference of design process between arts-based top-down design process and engineer-based bottom-up design process in higher education based on my own experiences, but identical and cultural issues are addressed in-between different educational environment at the same time. Through autoethnography within dramaturgical approach in Arts-Based Educational Research, I could generate these issues: How could my identity, as an Asian student, be hybrid within different system and culture? Why are students with different backgrounds in design education struggling within flatten curriculum? What could I do for students-oriented reflexive and creative learning? While researching myself, I could improve teaching philosophy with diverse standpoints, and confirm the value of everyday lived experiences.

ABSTRACTThis study aims to identify professional product design roles. It presents the results of a survey of 251 graduates from undergraduate product design courses. Data was gathered about graduate's job descriptions; the companies that employ product designers and the postgraduate education taken. The objective was to show how design practice has evolved and the effect that this has had on product design as a discipline. The results highlight the crossover between design disciplines, the integration of product designers across different industries and the variety of roles that product designers undertake. Implications for product design education are discussed and recommendations are presented.

Research studies and information design lifecycles often include surveys, interviews, and user testing as part of the process-oriented approach to sharing research outcomes with the world. However, there is a lack of research regarding inclusive instrument design, which would help remove barriers experienced by people with and without a disability when taking surveys or participating in interviews or usability testing required for a research study. Using human-centered design, human-computer interaction, and disability studies perspectives, web-based instruments can become more inclusive and accessible. This sequentially phased 4-article dissertation presents lessons learned of inclusive instrument design as a solution-based framework that enables access to knowledge and helps create a positive research study experience for the broadest representation of humans possible. Everyone is impacted by a disability, impairment, or limitation at some point in their life, whether visible, invisible, permanent, temporary, or situational. Therefore, starting the design of instruments used in research studies with a human-centered and inclusive design mindset can increase the chances of creating more usable surveys and interview protocols. The research approach includes people with disabilities and disability advocates as part of the research process and uses multiple methods of co-design sessions, surveys, interviews, observation, document analysis, and automated and manual accessibility evaluation (including user and expert testing). This approach is a form of universal, participatory, and co-design, with researchers and stakeholders working together on various aspects of the research and design process. In addition to uncovering challenges and design flaws of web design, existing survey tools, or instrument question formats in an exploratory manner (Study 1), critical review of the literature (Study 2), and domain analysis and survey accessibility conformance evaluation (Study 3), this research will also identify user challenges with instruments and instrument preferences from surveys and interviews used in a co-design multiple methods study (Study 4). The themes, findings, and criticality counts across the four studies helped to inform my interpretation of the dissertation research, yielding eight conceptualizations which are used to address the research questions. This knowledge informed my model for inclusive instrument design practices, adding procedures, precedent, and new knowledge to the literature on disability and HCI research. This enriched understanding will assist researchers and designers in utilizing an inclusive instrument for conducting research studies that use online surveys and conduct interviews or test web-based products. Additionally, improving such web-based experiences for people with a disability, impairment, or chronic condition may lead to better experiences for everyone. Resulting recommendations include (1) an alternative to traditional medical-based demographic questions used in data collection for the ability status, (2) co-design as a research method, and (3) a model for inclusive instrument design. The inclusive instrument design recommendations can be adapted to future instrument designs, including procedures for multiple method survey accessibility evaluation and instrument design tenets by criticality. Ultimately, this qualitative study uses multiple methods to learn, create, test, and evaluate an inclusive instrument design model that enables a more inclusive research study experience for everyone.

The design intent and the performance targets of projects may sometimes fail to match a building’s actual post-occupancy performance. The mismatch of intended and actual building performance can be attributed to multifarious reasons. This study focuses on the role of project decisions made during design as one of the reasons of shortfall. The aim of the study is to unveil the design decision-making process of a state-of-the-art research building through the analysis of project’s available set of IDP (Integrated Design Process) documentation. To understand the relationship and correlation between the energy performance gap and the decision-making process of the case building, we investigated the design decisions’ effect on the actual performance. The particular emphasis is on the decisions that were based on assumptions rather than measured actual test data for the proposed innovative building systems. The designed heat recovery system, which was dependent on recovered heat from the neighboring research building, had a significant effect on the building’s poor energy performance. We investigated collected project data from coordination meetings, thoroughly analyzed project documentation, and quantified the building’s actual energy performance data. The analysis of the project information shows the ripple effect of decisions that were made based on assumptions, that triggered shortfalls in the building’s overall actual performance. Our qualitative analysis indicates that the poor system performance during operations was related with the design decisions that were not based on the measurement of the actual performance of the existing systems in the neighboring building. The performance of the heat recovery from the neighboring building as a highly dependent Energy Conservation Measure (ECM) analyzed through collected documents and data. The ambiguity of the available heat potential from the neighboring building and related testing issues defined on an explanatory timeline of process coding. The conclusion includes recommendations for the design decision-making process for innovative system integrations for high-performance buildings, and underlines the importance of IDP for complex buildings.