scholarly journals User research enabled by makerspaces: bringing functionality to classical experience prototypes

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 315-326
Author(s):  
Matilde Bisballe Jensen ◽  
Martin Steinert
Keyword(s):  
Product Development ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
User Research ◽  
Specific Product ◽  
Requirement Elicitation ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
Research Activities

AbstractThis paper sheds light on the new possibilities for user research activities facilitated by access to makerspaces. We present four case studies of user research conducted in two university-based makerspaces as examples of makerspace-driven user research. Further, by comparing the cases to three classical user research activities, namely observation, prototyping, and user journey mapping, we highlight the main aspects of this new context of user research. We find that accessibility to makerspaces enables user researchers to build low-fidelity yet high-functionality prototypes for exploring users’ preferences and motivations in controlled and repeatable ways. These prototypes fall into the category of experience prototypes, but they have greater functionality than the prototypes previously used in this field. Thus, a user researcher can explore a topic more systematically and in a more hypothesis-driven manner. In summary, this study encourages stakeholders in the early stages of product development to consider a makerspace as a resource for user-related requirement elicitation rather than for only specific product iteration.

Product Modeling, Evaluation and Validation at the Detailed Design Stage

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristian Iorga ◽  
Alain Desrochers
Keyword(s):  
Product Development ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Design Stage ◽  
Product Modeling ◽  
Specific Product ◽  
Development Processes ◽  
Product Variation ◽  
Process Methodology ◽  
Capstone Projects ◽  
Short Time

The expansion of the markets corroborated with product customization and short time to launch the product have led to new levels of competition among product development companies. To be successful in the globalization of the markets and to enable the evaluation and validation of products, companies have to develop methodologies focused on lifecycle analysis and reduction of product variation to obtain both quality and robustness of products. Keywords: Modeling, Evaluation, Validation, Design ProcessThis paper proposes a new design process methodology that unifies theoretical results of modeling stage and empirical findings obtained from the validation stage. The evaluations and validations of engineering design are very important and they have a high influence on product performances and their functionality, as well on the customer perceptions.Given that most companies maintain the confidentiality of their product development processes and that the existing literature does not provide more detailed aspects of this field, the proposed methodology will represent a technical and logistical support intended for students or engineers involved in academic as well as industrial projects.A generic methodology will be refined based on a new approach that will take into consideration the specification types (quantitative or qualitative), the design objectives and the product types: new/improved, structural/esthetic. Hence the new generic methodology will be composed of specific product validation algorithms taking into account the above considerations. At the end of this paper, the improvements provided by the proposed methodology into the design process will be shown in the context of the engineering student capstone projects at the Université de Sherbrooke.

scholarly journals TOOLS FOR RECORDING PROTOTYPING ACTIVITIES AND QUANTIFYING CORRESPONDING DOCUMENTATION IN THE EARLY STAGES OF PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 3159-3168
Author(s):  
Sohail Ahmed Soomro ◽  
Yazan A M Barhoush ◽  
Zhengya Gong ◽  
Panos Kostakos ◽  
Georgi V. Georgiev
Keyword(s):  
Product Development ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Design Education ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Digital Fabrication ◽  
Prototype Development ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
Creative Solutions ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractPrototyping is an essential activity in the early stages of product development. This activity can provide insight into the learning process that takes place during the implementation of an idea. It can also help to improve the design of a product. This information and the process are useful in design education as they can be used to enhance students' ability to prototype their ideas and develop creative solutions. To observe the activity of prototype development, we conducted a study on students participating in a 7-week course: Principles of Digital Fabrication. During the course, eight teams made prototypes and shared their weekly developments via internet blog posts. The posts contained prototype pictures, descriptions of their ideas, and reflections on activities. The blog documentation of the prototypes developed by the students was done without the researchers' intervention, providing essential data or research. Based on a review of other methods of capturing the prototype development process, we compare existing documentation tools with the method used in the case study and outline the practices and tools related to the effective documentation of prototyping activity.

Critical Success Factors of New Product Development and Impact on Performance of Malaysian Automotive Industry

2014 ◽  
Vol 903 ◽  
pp. 431-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdul Aziz Fazilah ◽  
Nur Najmiyah Jaafar ◽  
Sulaiman Suraya
Keyword(s):  
Product Development ◽  
New Product Development ◽  
Automotive Industry ◽  
Critical Success Factors ◽  
Success Factors ◽  
New Product ◽  
Success Factor ◽  
Management Support ◽  
Critical Success ◽  
Research Activities

This research paper shows a framework to conduct an empirical study in Malaysian automotive industry in order to improve their performance. There are factors which are effective factors in improving performance of Malaysian automotive companies namely top management support, cross functional teamwork, new product development (NPD) process, NPD strategies, and market research activities. The critical success factor of NPD is playing a fundamental role in determining the performance in Malaysian automotive companies. In this research study, a framework has been developed that includes critical success factors of NPD and project achievement to study their influence on the performance of Malaysian automotive companies. It is hoped that this paper can provide an academic source for both academicians and managers due to investigate the relationship between critical success factors of total NPD, project achievement and company performance in a systematic manner to increase successful rate of NPD progress.

Sprouted grains in product development. Case studies of sprouted wheat for baking flours and fermented beverages

2021 ◽  
pp. 100375
Author(s):  
Jerson Duvan Peñaranda ◽  
Marta Bueno ◽  
Francisco Álvarez ◽  
Patricio David Pérez ◽  
Laura Perezábad
Keyword(s):  
Product Development ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Fermented Beverages

Meta4acle: Generating Compelling Metaphors for Design

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik M. W. Kolb ◽  
Jonathan Hey ◽  
Hans-Ju¨rgen Sebastian ◽  
Alice M. Agogino
Keyword(s):  
Product Development ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
New Product Development ◽  
Team Member ◽  
New Products ◽  
New Product ◽  
Design Teams ◽  
Exploration Tool ◽  
Design Case ◽  
Positive Results

Metaphors have successfully been used by new product development and design teams to help frame the design situation and communicate new products to stakeholders. Yet, the process of finding a compelling metaphor often turns upon stumbling upon it or a flash of insight from a team member. We present Meta4acle: a Metaphor Exploration Tool for design that suggests possible metaphors to make the process more one of ‘seeking out’ than ‘stumbling upon’ an effective metaphor. The tool takes data about the project in the form of a title, domain and key associations required of the metaphor and returns suggestions from a database of possible metaphor sources. We built a Meta4acle prototype and evaluated it with positive results for three existing design case studies. We present plans for its full implementation and evaluation.

Costruire sul costruito. Ipotesi operative a confronto

TERRITORIO ◽  
2012 ◽  
pp. 107-111
Author(s):  
Vitaliano Tosoni
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
Core Set ◽  
The Social

Research activities are trying to address the issues of the recovery, redevelopment and enhancement of the buildings of the Tor Bella Monica neighbourhood through the formulation of a set of operations designed to achieve the social, cultural and architectural promotion of these buildings. By looking at the technical limitations resulting from the heavy prefabricated methods used to build them and also through reference to national and international case studies, a picture was constructed of possible types of action to take as an initial core set of operations designed to support the design process through graphic simulations, the indication of operational areas and the magnitude of the intervention proposed.

Value of Adaptation of Methodologies Between Different Knowledge Areas

2018 ◽  
pp. 221-248
Author(s):  
Eduardo Manchado-Pérez ◽  
Ignacio López-Forniés ◽  
Luis Berges-Muro
Keyword(s):  
Product Development ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Graphic Design ◽  
Industrial Design ◽  
Project Based Learning ◽  
Engineering Degree ◽  
First Moment ◽  
University Degree ◽  
Shared Context

Project-based learning (PBL) is a powerful tool for teaching that helps students to get the best in terms of ratio effort/learning outcomes, especially in studies with a very practical basis, such as university degree studies in engineering. A way of getting even more out of this is by means of the adaptation of methodologies from different knowledge areas, because this allows the launch of innovative ways of working with certain guarantees of success from the very first moment, and at the same time to integrate skills from different fields within a shared context. Furthermore, it helps to put into practice some transversal competences, which are very useful for future professionals. The chapter also includes some case studies on the successful adaptation of different methodologies coming from different fields such as graphic design, biology, and social sciences in the context of a university engineering degree in industrial design and product development.

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