scholarly journals Creation of a Framework of Design Tool Characteristics to Support Evaluation and Selection of Visualisation Tools

Author(s):  
Wenwen Zhang ◽  
Charlie Ranscombe ◽  
David Radcliffe ◽  
Simon Jackson

AbstractIn Industrial Design, new design visualisation tools are emerging offering significant benefits to the designers. However, studies show alongside some benefits, new tools can also inhibit designers' creativity or cause time inefficiency if used in the wrong context. Thus, understanding which tools to use and when during the design process is increasingly necessary to ensure the best use of resources in design practice. Existing research on understanding the performance of design tools and the resulting frameworks for comparing tools are either specific to certain tools or highly generalised making evaluation across different design tools challenging. As such, this paper reports the creation of a more comprehensive framework of design tool characteristics to facilitate a better understanding of design tools and their uses. Demonstration of application of the framework is also given in the form of a case study on the use of Digital Sketching and its comparable tools with four practising designers. In conclusion, we show how the Design Tool Characteristics (DTCs) framework is an effective way to understand design tools, with further implications for design tool development.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anika Kozlowski

Sustainable fashion has developed as a response to the growing prominence and awareness of the negative environmental and social impacts of fashion apparel throughout its life cycle. Responses to these wide-scale impacts have focused on piecemeal strategies that lack a cohesive perspective. The notion of design thinking and a holistic viewpoint are increasingly being seen as valued strategies for developing a sustainable fashion system. Fashion designers generally lack the tools to enable change and are caught within a system that cannot fulfill the potential of design-driven solutions for sustainability. Transformations to the design process, business practices, consumer behaviours and supply-chain sustainability are needed. This dissertation presents a series of manuscripts investigating a re-conceptualization of fashion design for system sustainability. Concepts put forth in the first manuscript, Theorizing the Fashion System provide context for a design focus. This study reviews existing theories of fashion production and consumption, for the purpose of establishing a theoretical framework to support subsequent research and tool design. The second manuscript Tools for Sustainable Fashion Design: An Analysis of their Fitness for Purpose examines existing design tools developed specifically for sustainable fashion designers. This research led to the creation and proposal of two conceptual frameworks: an innovation framework and five-dimensional model of sustainable fashion. Using the frameworks to analyze the tools and sustainable strategies within the tools resulted in the identification of three tool archetypes: 1) Universal, 2) Participatory and 3) Assessment. The third manuscript investigates and analyzes current design practices of sustainable fashion micro and small enterprises (MSE) and available sustainable design tools. The fourth manuscript, The reDesign Canvas: Fashion Design as a Tool for Sustainability, is a qualitative in-depth case study with a small fashion start-up. Utilizing observations in the field, interviews and design sessions, this study was able to identify leverage points within the design process to integrate sustainable strategies. The data collected informed the development of a sustainable fashion design tool, the reDesign Canvas. This framework was tested and refined with the case study. This work aims to contribute a reconceptualization of the fashion design process to provide designers with the tools necessary to achieve a sustainable fashion system.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anika Kozlowski

Sustainable fashion has developed as a response to the growing prominence and awareness of the negative environmental and social impacts of fashion apparel throughout its life cycle. Responses to these wide-scale impacts have focused on piecemeal strategies that lack a cohesive perspective. The notion of design thinking and a holistic viewpoint are increasingly being seen as valued strategies for developing a sustainable fashion system. Fashion designers generally lack the tools to enable change and are caught within a system that cannot fulfill the potential of design-driven solutions for sustainability. Transformations to the design process, business practices, consumer behaviours and supply-chain sustainability are needed. This dissertation presents a series of manuscripts investigating a re-conceptualization of fashion design for system sustainability. Concepts put forth in the first manuscript, Theorizing the Fashion System provide context for a design focus. This study reviews existing theories of fashion production and consumption, for the purpose of establishing a theoretical framework to support subsequent research and tool design. The second manuscript Tools for Sustainable Fashion Design: An Analysis of their Fitness for Purpose examines existing design tools developed specifically for sustainable fashion designers. This research led to the creation and proposal of two conceptual frameworks: an innovation framework and five-dimensional model of sustainable fashion. Using the frameworks to analyze the tools and sustainable strategies within the tools resulted in the identification of three tool archetypes: 1) Universal, 2) Participatory and 3) Assessment. The third manuscript investigates and analyzes current design practices of sustainable fashion micro and small enterprises (MSE) and available sustainable design tools. The fourth manuscript, The reDesign Canvas: Fashion Design as a Tool for Sustainability, is a qualitative in-depth case study with a small fashion start-up. Utilizing observations in the field, interviews and design sessions, this study was able to identify leverage points within the design process to integrate sustainable strategies. The data collected informed the development of a sustainable fashion design tool, the reDesign Canvas. This framework was tested and refined with the case study. This work aims to contribute a reconceptualization of the fashion design process to provide designers with the tools necessary to achieve a sustainable fashion system.


2013 ◽  
Vol 368-370 ◽  
pp. 78-82
Author(s):  
Ping Shu ◽  
Jun Xu ◽  
Li Jun Wang

Based on theoretical studies of the urban spatial morphology, this paper introduces advanced concepts and methods of BIM (Building Information Model) into the urban design in Nanhe City ,and then respectively makes innovations of the urban design practice supported by BIM technology in the process of design, optimization and implementation of the program, attempting to explore BIM-based design patterns of the urban spatial morphology to make the traditional urban design process more rational and scientific, to expect to reach the green and sustainable urban spatial morphology.


Author(s):  
Cari R. Bryant ◽  
Matt Bohm ◽  
Robert B. Stone ◽  
Daniel A. McAdams

This paper builds on previous concept generation techniques explored at the University of Missouri - Rolla and presents an interactive concept generation tool aimed specifically at the early concept generation phase of the design process. Research into automated concept generation design theories led to the creation of two distinct design tools: an automated morphological search that presents a designer with a static matrix of solutions that solve the desired input functionality and a computational concept generation algorithm that presents a designer with a static list of compatible component chains that solve the desired input functionality. The merger of both the automated morphological matrix and concept generation algorithm yields an interactive concept generator that allows the user to select specific solution components while receiving instantaneous feedback on component compatibility. The research presented evaluates the conceptual results from the hybrid morphological matrix approach and compares interactively constructed solutions to those returned by the non-interactive automated morphological matrix generator using a dog food sample packet counter as a case study.


Author(s):  
Andre´s Felipe Melo ◽  
P. John Clarkson

This paper describes a computational model that provides planning information useful for scheduling the design process. The model aims to reduce uncertainty in the design process and with it the risk of rework. The view is taken that planning is concerned with choosing between alternative actions and action sequences, but not with resource allocation. The planning model is based on an explicit representation of the state of the design process, the definition of the design capabilities as a pool of tasks, and on the generation and selection of plans by evaluating their reliability. Classical decision theory is used for evaluating the plans: a state-action net is built and analyzed as a Markov decision process. The model produces plans based on qualified task dependencies. These plans can be used as a basis for manual and automated scheduling. In an example industrial case study, a reduction of over 30% in the expected rework was predicted.


Author(s):  
W. Stuart Miller ◽  
Sudhakar Teegavarapu ◽  
Joshua D. Summers

This case study observes the effect of design tool use in engineering courses on subsequent uses of design tools. Students gain a familiarity with design tools as they use them in early engineering classes, and will traditionally implement similar methods to seek future design solutions. Problems arise because design tools are often used inappropriately, which may or may not lead to productive outcomes. Understanding how design tools are incorporated into engineering curriculum will reveal how that particular method was selected, the background information given to the student to facilitate tool use, and the benefit gained from using the specific tool in the given case. This information is valuable to the evaluation of the engineering curriculum of which few performance metrics exist. This case study utilizes a design team enrolled in a capstone design course to collect data on the use of design tools throughout their curriculum. Trends are revealed that relate how the tool use is implemented, how the instruction is delivered to the student, and the beneficial application of those to the given design project. These trends directly apply to the intellectual growth of the student as well as the topical coverage and implementation by the engineering department. Using this information, the engineering curriculum can improve its delivery of design instruction. It can be assumed that by improving the curriculum, the quality of the students will follow; yielding engineers who can study better and conduct design projects with intentional precision.


2014 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheila Pontis

Conceptual design is often overlooked and underestimated by information designers who tend to be more focused on implementation and concerned with aesthetic qualities. Consequently, there is a lack of thorough thinking and understanding during the conceptual part of the design process that results in a recurrent development of unintelligible diagrams in information design practice. Bringing awareness to conceptual design can help designers realize its function and importance for the development of effective diagrams. To address this situation, this paper proposes the adoption in professional practice of a conceptual design tool with a guided approach, e.g., MapCI Cards. Working with this approach may aid information designers in the preparation of diagrams by guiding conceptual design tasks: understanding the diagram purpose and intended-audience, analyzing and simplifying information sources, identifying subject areas and information types, and defining their organization into a hierarchical structure. We describe this type of approach and discuss its usefulness for information designers, explaining how it could support their conceptual design decision-making. Then, we present scenarios in which working with the approach could be beneficial, followed by recommendations to use this approach in professional practice.


2019 ◽  
pp. 42-75
Author(s):  
Martijn Ten Bhömer ◽  
Hai-Ning Liang ◽  
Difeng Yu ◽  
Yuanjin Liu ◽  
Yifan Zhang ◽  
...  

Developments of advanced textile manufacturing techniques—such as 3D body-forming knitwear machinery—allows the production of almost finalized garments, which require little to no further production steps to finalize the garment. Moreover, advanced knitting technology in combination with new materials enables the integration of localized functionalities within a garment on a “stitch by stitch level.” There is potential in enhancing the design tools for advanced knitting manufacturing through the use of technologies such as data gathering, machine learning, and simulation. This approach reflects the potential of Industry 4.0, as design, product development, and manufacturing are moving closer together. However, there is still limited knowledge at present about how these new technologies and tools can have an impact on the creative design process. The case study presented in this paper explores the potential of predictive software design tools for fashion designers who are developing personalized advanced functionalities in textile products. The main research question explored in this article is: “How can designers benefit from intelligent design software for the manufacturing of advanced personalized functionalities in textile products?”. Within this larger research question three sub-research questions are explored: (1) What kind of advanced functionalities can be considered for the personalization process of knitwear? (2) How to design interactions and interfaces that use intelligent predictive algorithms to stimulate creativity during the fashion design process? (3) How will predictive software impact the manufacturing process for other stakeholders and production steps? These questions are investigated through the analysis of a Research Through Design case study, in which several predictive algorithms were compared and implemented in a user interface that would aid knitwear designers during the development process of high-performance running tights.


2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 24
Author(s):  
Basim Hasan Hashim Al-majidi

The contemporary ideas were characterized by the abundance and diversity of their knowledge, human and conceptual production, the strategy is both a general and a detailed framework covering all design disciplines both inside and outside the field of architecture. From here, many of these terraces emerged from fields outside the field of architecture, but soon moved to form an important nerve within the field of architecture. Hence the need to define a more comprehensive framework for studying one of the concepts that can frame the framework, namely the concept of "Alliteration", and its adoption as an architectural design strategy aimed at giving the resulting form a feature of rhetoric. So the research highlighted the "scientific need to clarify knowledge about the concept of alliteration as a strategy in the design process". The aim of the research is to "clarify the knowledge about the concept of alliteration as a strategy in the design process and to reveal its mechanisms through which it can reach a contemporary architectural form characterized by rhetoric. The research approach represents several procedures to achieve the goal of research and solving the problem of research through the construction of a theoretical framework and the development of the main and secondary vocabulary after the introduction of previous cognitive studies to the selection of samples for application, then discuss, analyze the results and conclusions. Which explained that the strategy of the alliteration enables the reading of the text of the architect within the objectives of both the designer and the recipient of the product, by combining similar systems in form and content, and the integration of properties, reducing the number of words and expand their participation of recipients as a result of reliance on subjective references within the field of architecture.  


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