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Current discussions in practice-led design research concentrate on the thoughtful dimension of working with materials and the problem of analyzing acts of making at the scale of individual practice. Informed by the theoretical tenets of sociomateriality, this paper encloses a practice-led study addressing both issues. We followed the making of a collaboration-based, material-intensive workshop designed by the first author, where he also participated as a maker. This approach afforded us an insider's perspective to delineate how thinking through making transcends the individual and distributes across the entangled becoming of the social and the material. Our findings shed light on four features of sociomaterial assemblages that warrant critical attention in practice-led design research: temporality, contingency, epistemic capability, and analytical agency. • We contribute a methodological approach to conducting practice-led design research. • Our approach situates design practice in collaborative making. • Collaborative making demands a process of sociomaterial negotiation. • This process decenters the designer-researcher from knowledge production. • Adopting a sociomaterial lens can substantially benefit current efforts to analyze own design activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was motivated by the lack of design knowledge in the area of systems design for collaborative services. It introduces a framework for developing service design goals and strategies to foster collaboration within a community, starting from an understanding of its collaboration network. Network analysis and an interview are used to understand collaboration, and a co-design workshop is used to generate design strategies to foster these relations. For validation, the framework is applied to a community enterprise in South Korea. This paper discusses: the meaning of a sociotechnical approach to collaborative service design; the challenges of co-creating sustainable solutions when empathy cannot be established with users; and the implication of the framework for service design in a sharing economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A multiple case study was conducted to investigate the machineries of designers' user knowledge production at six design consultancies in the Northwestern USA in domains of architecture, industrial design, and interaction design. Karin Knorr Cetina's theory of epistemic cultures was utilised as the theoretical lens. The findings indicate that the user is not a given; instead, the user is a constructed phenomenon in design. The design process is characterised by the deconstruction and reconstruction of the user information and of experiential information, implemented to meet the epistemic needs of designers. User representations are used as the liminal knowledge. Designers manipulated this knowledge in order to narrow down the artefact to be designed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present a framework to expand the design language used to articulate form properties and types of feedback that happen between children’s actions and the intended functionality of maker technologies. Based on field observations in Danish schools we analyze children’s (aged 11–14 years old) interactions with three maker technologies used to work through design processes in school maker settings. Our findings are beneficial on three factors for designers, researchers and teachers involved in work within maker contexts. (1) Reflections on form properties of maker technologies, (2) analysis of relationship between user action and technology function (action-function couplings), and (3) how this relates to feedback when children use these technologies to design digital prototypes. Designers can use the presented framework to improve existing, or prepare them for future designs. Researchers can use the expanded design language to analyze maker technologies in the context of school maker settings. Finally, teachers can make better decisions on how and when to use different maker technologies when school children work through design processes. (Do it yourself/together.) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The design of exact, also referred to as minimal, constraints means applying just enough constraints between the various components of a mechanical assembly, in order to unambiguously define their positions in six degrees of freedom (3 translations, 3 rotations), their desired motions respectively. To ensure a predictable and reliable product performance, a systematic design of the corresponding elementary mechanical interfaces between components is of utmost importance. Over constraints, i. e. part-to-part connections with redundant interfaces which constrain one single degree of freedom, are largely susceptible to variation and therefore result in design solutions which frequently experience production/ assembly issues, reduced performance, excessive and non-predictable wear-rates, etc. Being a basic rule of embodiment design, literature provides various well-know and widely applied approaches for Exact Constraint Design. Examples are the calculation of a mechanisms’ mobility using the Grübler-Kutzbach criterion , the analysis of statically determinate assemblies by means of the screw theory or so called Schlussartenmatrizen , as well as the analysis of engaging surfaces in terms of location schemes or interface ambiguity . However, despite the various existing approaches, workshops with practitioners and academics have shown that the systematic design of optimal constraints appears to be cumbersome for many engineers. Based on an overview of the most relevant approaches for Exact Constraint design, this contribution therefore reviews the challenges experienced by the workshop participants, discusses the necessity of kinematically correct constraints for robustness, and derives an initial prescriptive procedure for a coherent design of constraints throughout the embodiment design phase, which, despite a variety of available approaches, seems to be still missing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Design feedback is an essential pedagogical tool to promote student design progress, yet little research has focused on what instructor feedback looks like, especially across design disciplines. In this paper, we analyzed feedback provided in dance choreography, industrial design, and mechanical engineering to explore variation in feedback type across disciplines as well as how feedback type encouraged students to take convergent or divergent paths in their design processes. Many common feedback types were observed across the three disciplines, regardless of variance in context and expectations, as well as some notable distinctions. With regards to feedback directing convergent and divergent thinking, feedback suggesting convergent pathways was more prominent across all three disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uncertainty is a defining quality of the design space and it stands to reason that designers' personal attitudes toward uncertainty may influence design processes and outcomes via cognitive, affective, and/or behavioral channels. Individual attitudes and behavior patterns related to uncertainty may constitute a critical element of designer identity, which represents the synthesis of knowledge, action, and being. This qualitative study examined how graduate students in an instructional design course reflected on their experiences and beliefs regarding uncertainty. Participants were more reflective when discussing a general experience with uncertainty than their current attitudes toward uncertainty in design. Findings support the use of narrated reflection in design education related to uncertainty and identity. Implications for design education interventions and design are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates those aspects of computation that concern uncertainty, contingency and indeterminacy. Starting from a critique of current dominant models of computation, and drawing on the philosophical notions of the virtual and the event, uncertainty, contingency and indeterminacy are proposed as virtualities that express the ongoing differentiation of digital matter. On these grounds, the glitch is reframed as an event capable of revealing the potential of the digital in processes of computational making. Ideas concerning the incomputable and non-human intelligence of the algorithm underpin this argument. Finally, it is proposed that intuitive and uncognitive modes of apprehending digital making operate as forms of divination that capture the unprogrammed unfolding of matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is essential that graphic design is visually clear and accessible. However, evidence suggests that a lack of consideration is given to visual accessibility in print-based graphic design. Furthermore, effective client–designer communication is a vital component in this. This paper investigates current graphic design practice, with regard to visual accessibility, specifically focussing on client–designer communication. A survey of 122 graphic designers and clients identified that these two groups may not be communicating with each other effectively with regard to visual accessibility, and that there is a need to develop inclusive design tools to assist them with this. This paper adds a novel contribution to our limited understanding of visual accessibility in the UK's graphic design industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This exploratory research examined the degree of adoption and impact of the concepts of Building Information Model (BIM), Integrated Project Delivery (IPD), Integrated Design Process (IDP) and Building Energy Simulation (BES) on the design processes of advanced architectural firms when executing sustainable design. Six offices identified by the press and peers’ recognition for a strong commitment to sustainable design and influence in the design of high performance buildings were selected. In semi-standardized interviews, these firms presented their perceptions of the influence of BIM, BES, and IPD/IDP. The results show that a generalization of sustainable design processes is possible. A design process for sustainability (DEPROSU) model was created by collecting best practices from data gathered from the interviews and the critical literature review. This research provides evidence of commonalities found in the design processes of the selected firms. These commonalities represented in the DEPROSU model can potentially be validated as protocols or standards for sustainable design, providing architectural design practices with concrete patterns for improvement and or validation of their design methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a stage based framework for analyzing transdisciplinary design processes in engineering product design and manufacturing. The framework provides a stage-wise, product lifecycle centric frame of reference for comparing design processes in industries from different industrial sectors involving multi-disciplinary stakeholders. The framework is based on extensive literature analysis in the domain of design theory and methodology, as well as from models in product life cycle management. The paper also reports insights on application of the framework for design processes analysis of 23 industries based on the mapping of their individual design processes to the developed framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the differences between interior design students'' design processes as derived from an analysis of their sketching and design behavior. By implementing qualitative methodologies in the analysis of the sketches produced in the conceptual phase of the design process, the experiment allows identifying sketching characteristics and profiles. The motivation is to show that sketches can serve as a tool to differentiate between designers and recognize their personal approach and design strategies. The results point to three distinct sketching profiles that characterize designers'' use of sketches as a tool for thinking and communicating ideas during their solution generation process. Awareness to differences between students'' sketches and design behavior may support the development of pedagogical concepts, strategies and tools. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper reports an investigation into the verbal interaction between two experienced software designers developing initial ideas for a new software application. Paying attention to the conversational strategies that make manifest the ‘web of moves’ () that characterises expert design behaviour, the study focuses on how the designers keep the designing moving on productively despite uncertainties and ambiguities over the brief and disagreement over elements of the design itself. The study examines how tentativeness supports constructive collaboration and draws attention to the conversational strategies used to accommodate disagreement, in particular explicit reference to it and the use of technicalising terms to encapsulate, but acknowledge, differences about how design requirements should be realised. The work contributes to understanding the subtle conversational mechanisms that support effective design collaboration and highlights the need to acknowledge phenomena that serve collaboration itself. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper investigates personas, an alternative method for representing and communicating customer needs. By using a narrative, picture, and name, a persona provides product designers with a vivid representation of the design target. Numerous benefits of incorporating personas into product design approaches have been suggested, but the present literature fails to identify the most significant and universal advantages of persona use. By incorporating expert opinion through the use of Delphi methodology, this research first examines the benefits of incorporating personas into design processes. After gaining consensus on the perceived importance of the individual benefits, this paper then elaborates on the most significant benefits of persona use and needed future research on the personas method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals with different backgrounds such as engineering, medicine, industrial design, business, healthcare management and computer science often contribute to the design of a medical innovation. But how do such heterogeneous design participants actually combine their expertise to develop a medical device? Adapting Bucciarelli’s concept of “object worlds”, which recognises that those who contribute to a design process inhabit different worlds and see the object of design differently, this paper examines the perspectives of 8 design participants who contributed to the design process of three Canadian medical devices. In-depth analyses of semi-structured interviews clarified what design participants saw through their particular “lens”, how their responsibilities, knowledge and motivations combined and how they engaged into the design process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to introduce the concept of boundary objects in order to better understand the role of objects in participatory ergonomics (PE) design processes. The research question is: What characterizes boundary objects in PE processes? Based on two case studies, we identify eight characteristics of boundary objects and their use, which make them particularly useful in PE design processes. These characteristics go beyond the object itself and extend into the context of their use. We argue that the selection of boundary objects in PE processes is of great importance, since different objects enable workers’ participation and collaborative design in different ways. The framework developed may serve to provide criteria to guide practitioners and intervention researchers in the selection of objects to facilitate a PE process. The paper concludes with a list of recommendations for ergonomic practitioners that are based on the framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Values play an integral role in design: they inform the kinds of trade-offs the designer makes when considering different solutions; they create a basis for the client to assess how a particular artefact may fit into their lives; and they are an important part of negotiating a common understanding in collaborative design settings. In this paper, we examine the interactions in meetings between architect and client to better understand how different values are brought into the design discourse. By analysing the verbal content and non-verbal communication between the architect and client, we identify patterns of discourse that imbue design problem-solving with the language and concepts that express values. From this analysis, we develop a theory of value transfer and describe the social mechanism that facilitates this transfer during design negotiation. This work provides an observational basis for understanding value transfer in the context of collaborative design and is relevant to design domains beyond architecture. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

What does it mean to use something from a design point of view? As an alternative to role-based accounts of designers and users, this paper presents an act-based account that centres on what it is we do rather than who we are. More specifically, the paper analyses relations between design and use with focus on how open a design (process) is with respect to definitions of use through use; from well-defined influence from specific user tests on design decisions, via extensive user participation in the design process, to open-ended design processes that extends into what we otherwise understand as use. Thus, it transforms the relation between design and use into a question not of who, but of how. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Design creativity can be enhanced by identifying the underlying cognitive capabilities used by expert designers and training novice designers for those capabilities specifically. It has been identified by Goel that designers use the Limited Commitment Mode (LCM) control strategy in design problem solving. In this work, we conducted a study to confirm that LCM control strategy is used in solving a design problem and to see whether there is a difference in the level of LCM control strategy between expert and student designers. We devised a quantitative measure that can indicate the level of LCM control strategy usage as well as a visual representation for LCM control strategy usage. As a result, through these methods, we concluded that expert designers used more LCM control strategy than student designers. Also, we compared LCM control strategy usage with how soon critical idea decision is made. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper reviews procedures from five different industries for building safety into design processes, mainly in the context of software development. The industries reviewed are Air Traffic Management, Railway, Aircraft, Process (chemical; nuclear power; food), and Automobile. For each industry it is possible to extract key aspects of the respective safety contexts, safety principles, and tools and methods used for achieving safety-in-design. Generalities are discussed, and then the industry of Air Traffic Management is used as an example to see how cross-industry learning on safety can occur. It is found that ATM can indeed learn from other industries, and possibly vice versa. However, such learning requires a deep understanding of the safety and design culture of the industry seeking new design safety assurance approaches. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The Architecture/Engineering/Construction (AEC) industry is one of the multidisciplinary domains in which collaboration among related parties is of utmost importance. Despite the intense flow of information between design professionals, there is a lack of research to better understand and manipulate these flows. Most of the current process modelling tools in the AEC industry do not enable analyses of iterative information cycles. Moreover, these tools represent the process at high levels, thus, they are inadequate for multi-parameter problems like building design. With a view to alleviate these problems, this paper introduces the use of parameter-based design structure matrix as a process modelling and system analysis tool for building design. The method reveals insights into the process structure, optimum sequence of parameter decisions, iterative cycles and concurrency in the process. The application of the method is demonstrated through a case study on suspended ceiling design in a real-life project. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Human error is often related to flaws in system design which might have been avoided had greater attention been paid to human factors knowledge and methods as the system was developed. The paper considers the role of human factors in system design and argues that adopting an operational perspective in identifying human factors issues ensures that subsequent human factors advice is focused upon real needs and is consistent with how managers and engineers choose to manage their systems. It also considers the issue of timeliness of human factors input. Failure to consider human factors issues at a time when other design decisions are being taken often means that it is less straightforward to accommodate changes. Thus, managers and engineers may resist dealing effectively with potential human factors problems for reasons of cost and delay in meeting project milestones. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Most design problems have multiple interacting constraints and levels of analysis. Some designers are able to reduce errors by developing heuristics and rules of thumb that lighten the cognitive load that such design problems impose. In this study we explore these heuristics by studying three groups of experienced architects solving a one-hour design problem that involves issues of multiple levels of spatial organization. Only one group was able to solve the problem. A special coding scheme was developed to explore the use of several kinds of heuristics such as problem decomposition into design units, rules of thumb from domain knowledge and strategic design moves. The differences in heuristics were examined to identify possible causes for these errors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

To address the problem framing which takes place during the conceptual stages of design notions about individual reflective practice need to be extended to account for team designing. Our research is concerned with formulating an argumentative approach to understanding the process of frame negotiation among the team. Hence we pay attention to designers' interactions, in particular how frame shifts are effected, in the hope of clarifying the phenomenon of frames and their establishment in design teams. This approach is explained on a theoretical level and illustrated with examples drawn from design transcripts. Frame shifts are detected by focusing on rhetorical schemes as markers of reality construction. Transcripts are structured into episodes that show the negotiation of terms. Finally, we discuss support for reflection on the design process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the different ways that uncertainty is understood and approached across design disciplines. Structural attitudes toward uncertainty are assessed in design thinking literature before other possible ways of viewing uncertainty in the design process are introduced. Uncertainty is then presented as a source of epistemological difference between design disciplines, and this difference is explicated through a project that uses literature survey and analytical diagramming to map differences between discipline attitudes to uncertainty. Our review identifies uncertainty as a prevalent source of discipline difference with the goal of better describing barriers, and effective responses to them, in inter- and trans-disciplinary design agendas. • Literature survey and mapping show discipline difference around design uncertainty. • Difference in approaches to design uncertainty may impact interdisciplinary work. • Designers need to understand how design uncertainty is valued as well as resolved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Design processes sometimes begin with solutions rather than problems, particularly when new technologies spur searches for new problems to solve. Previous research on business entrepreneurship describes solution–first processes as a form of "opportunity recognition," and proposes some strategies for finding technology "match" opportunities. However, few studies have addressed the design process of how to begin with novel technological solutions and identify problem applications. In this study, we investigated this process of solution mapping through an empirical study of engineering designers who had experience in successfully searching for a problem to fit their novel technological solutions. Through the analysis of qualitative interviews with 19 professional engineering designers, we identified stages and cognitive strategies in solution mapping. • Solution mapping is defined as starting with a technological solution and identifying a problem application. • 19 engineering designers engaged in solution mapping were interviewed. • The interview results revealed five stages in solution mapping. • Seven different cognitive strategies supporting solution mapping were identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]