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The Industrial Design (ID) education offers numerous opportunities for students to learn the market and user-centered approach; however, in cases in which design students lack technical knowledge, they can have difficulty and lack confidence in technology-driven design projects. The purpose of this study is to answer a research question "how are design students and recent graduates currently educated to contribute their design ability to the technology-driven NPD process?" A grounded theory approach was used to understand how design educators and practitioners teach, guide, and mentor ID students and novice industrial designers. Primary (semi-structured interviews and surveys) and secondary (syllabi and class activities about technology-driven design process) data were collected and reviewed to understand (1) ID educators' and practitioners' teaching/mentoring experience in technology-driven design projects and (2) ID students' and recently graduated students' experience in technology-driven design projects. Synthesizing both primary and secondary data led to the development of a technology-driven process model that will help to guide how to teach and mentor ID students and novice designers within a technology-driven context.

The design brief informs particularly the first phases of the design process; however, there are very limited studies on its role and functions. The current study proposes a framework that relates problem statement types in a design brief to creative outcomes by promoting the priming effect, which is a cognitive phenomenon describing the ways individuals behave accordingly to the way they receive a stimulus. The claim is that the brief has the potential to stimulate creativity and influence the type of outcomes by priming the design students using the problem statement. An experiment was conducted in which two groups of design students generated sketches in response to two types of problem statements (in noun and verb formations) in similar design briefs. The problem statements in verb formation were found to lead to a higher number of sketches containing more novel and flexible, yet less realisable ideas. The results support the contention that the design brief and the type of problem statements have the potential to act as a catalyst for creativity early in the design process.

This article discusses a study conducted to determine if visual aids, such as mirrors, could reduce awkward postures, which often led to musculoskeletal discomfort, of assembly line workers. The authors concluded that mirrors and other visual aids provided relief from neck and shoulder discomfort.

Corporate America's effort to regain the competitive edge has radically impacted the design phase of the product life cycle. The product design process can no longer be viewed as linear, […]

The design brief informs particularly the first phases of the design process; however, there are very limited studies on its role and functions. The current study proposes a framework that relates problem statement types in a design brief to creative outcomes by promoting the priming effect, which is a cognitive phenomenon describing the ways individuals behave accordingly to the way they receive a stimulus. The claim is that the brief has the potential to stimulate creativity and influence the type of outcomes by priming the design students using the problem statement. An experiment was conducted in which two groups of design students generated sketches in response to two types of problem statements (in noun and verb formations) in similar design briefs. The problem statements in verb formation were found to lead to a higher number of sketches containing more novel and flexible, yet less realisable ideas. The results support the contention that the design brief and the type of problem statements have the potential to act as a catalyst for creativity early in the design process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For more than two decades, surveys of imaging technologists have consistently reported high prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal discomfort (WRMSD). Yet, workplace intervention research involving sonographers is limited. In this study, a transdisciplinary team of researchers used a participatory approach to work with diagnostic medical sonographers (DMS) and vascular technologists (VT) to identify needs and opportunities for developing new approaches to work that will reduce sonographers' exposures to WRMSD risk factors. In this paper, we describe the approach and the resulting identified needs. We also describe the prototyping and testing of two work approaches that target specific needs of DMS and VT, respectively. We would like designers, manufacturers, engineers, and ergonomists, in collaboration with sonographers and their managers, to recognize this area of opportunity and come together to apply their knowledge of biomechanics and design in developing useful and usable workplace interventions (solutions) to reduce sonographers' WRMSD risk factor exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A model of visual and musculoskeletal strain associated with computer monitor placement was developed. The main premise of which is that monitor placement decisions must take into consideration development of […]

Car-sharing system users generally rent a vehicle for a brief amount of time, and they often do not take enough time to learn the controls and functions of a car that they are unfamiliar with. The purpose of this study is to understand the difficulty of controlling a car's functions while driving an unfamiliar car and to redesign controls to improve safety and usability. This study focuses on the secondary controls, such as those for the audio system and temperature system. Fifteen participants were asked to perform simple tasks while driving two different cars: one was their own car and another was a car rented from Zipcar. The participants tended to glance at the controls more often (we counted how many times the participants' glanced at a control) and spent more time completing the tasks in a car rented from Zipcar compared to their own car. Two sets of prototypes (one set was for the center fascia and the other was for the steering wheel) were developed, and a usability study was conducted in a driving simulator to evaluate the usability of the prototypes. We used an eye tracking device and conducted semi-structured interviews for both studies. The results of the usability study indicate that the participants tended to have less difficulty completing tasks using the prototypes in their own personal car when compared to performing the same tasks using a rented Zipcar. Also, the location of controls on the steering wheel and center fascia is recommended for consideration when designing sharing-friendly vehicles. Recommendations regarding the location of controls, such as volume control on steering wheel, are included in this paper. Pros and cons of using eye tracking and driving simulators are also discussed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]