Concept Generation and Sketching: Correlations With Design Outcome

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria C. Yang
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Prior Experience ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Design Concepts ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
Information Tools

Design outcome is influenced by many hard-to-measure factors in the design process. This paper examines four of these factors to understand their possible correlation with design success. First, is the quantity of design concepts linked to design outcome? Second, is the timing of concept generation associated with design outcome? In both of these cases, the sketches created by designers were taken as evidence of concept generation. Third, is the type of sketch linked to design outcome? And finally, what is the role of a novice designer’s prior experience in design outcome? Statistically significant correlations were found between dimensioned drawings generated at the early stages of design and design outcome, and also between a novice designer’s prior fabrication and building experience and design outcome. Ultimately, the goal of this research is to develop paradigms for appropriate graphics and text-based information tools for design.

An Approach Toward Developing Metrics to Predict Performance and Creativity of Final Products in Project-Based Design Class

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shun Takai ◽  
Ashok Midha ◽  
Marcos Esterman
Keyword(s):  
Correlation Analysis ◽  
Product Design ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Concept Selection ◽  
Preliminary Results ◽  
Design Concepts ◽  
Early Stages

This paper investigates metrics to predict performance and creativity of final products at the early stages of product design, i.e., at concept selection and proof-of-concept (POC) prototyping. Three deliverables (concept sketches, POC prototypes, and final products) in a project-based design class are evaluated using Creative Product Semantic Scale (CPSS). Then, CPSS scores are analyzed using correlation analysis to find CPSS of concept sketches or POC prototypes that significantly correlate with CPSS or performance of final products. The preliminary results of this paper indicate that CPSS subscales may be used to predict performance and creativity of final products; that the earlier the stage of the design process is, the more difficult it is to predict performance of final products; and that building fully-functional prototypes is important to test performance of design concepts.

Metaphors in Conceptual Design

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan H. G. Hey ◽  
Alice M. Agogino
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Research Effort ◽  
User Needs ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Design Concepts ◽  
Overall Design ◽  
The Core ◽  
Computer Interfaces ◽  
The Impact

A metaphor allows us to understand one concept in terms of another, enriching our mental imagery and imbuing concepts with meaningful attributes. Metaphors are well studied in design, for example, in branding, communication and the design of computer interfaces. Less well appreciated is that our understanding of fundamental design concepts, including design itself, is metaphorical. When we treat design as a process of exploration or when we get together to “bounce ideas off each other” we understand the abstract concepts of design and ideas metaphorically; ideas don’t literally bounce, nor are we literally exploring when we design. Our research is a descriptive study of the metaphors employed in design. It is the first phase in a longer research effort to understand the impact of design metaphors on creativity. We investigated whether design authors employed different metaphors for the overall design process and consequently for core design concepts. To address this hypothesis we analyzed the language used in the concept generation chapters of nine widely used engineering design textbooks. We coded each metaphorical phrase, such as “finding another route to a solution”, and determined the core metaphors in use for common design concepts including, ideas, problems, solutions, concepts, design, the design process, user needs and others. We confirmed that authors with differing views of design do indeed emphasize different metaphors for core design concepts. We close by discussing the implications of some common metaphors, in particular that Ideas Are Physical Objects.

Towards the Development of an Elaboration Metric for Concept Sketches

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel C. Sevier ◽  
Kathryn Jablokow ◽  
Seda McKilligan ◽  
Shanna R. Daly ◽  
Ian N. Baker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Communication Tool ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
Iterative Improvement ◽  
Concept Representations ◽  
Fine Tune

Assessment of elaboration in concept generation is critical, as it functions as a communication tool for the designer to iterate on solutions and to convey the generated ideas to other stakeholders involved in the early stages of the design process. Further, design educators may offer feedback to students about the elaborateness of their sketches, so they may fine-tune their techniques and optimize their sketch “literacy.” Although metrics exist for sketch complexity, product elaboration, and sketch quality, a gap remains in assessing elaboration. In this paper, we report on the development of an elaboration metric to evaluate concept representations as a means to facilitate greater understanding of designers’ ideas and their iterative improvement.

Are you feeling me? An exploration of empathy development in engineering design education

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-57
Author(s):  
Mohammad Alsager Alzayed ◽  
Christopher McComb ◽  
Jessica Menold ◽  
Jackie Huff ◽  
Scarlett R. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Design Education ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Empathy Development ◽  
Trait Empathy ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Having empathy in the design process can help engineers relate to the end user by identifying what and why certain experiences are meaningful. While there have been efforts to identify the factors that impact empathic tendencies in engineering, there has been limited evidence on how a students' trait empathy or empathic self-efficacy develops over a design project or what factors impact this development. The current study was developed to explore the development of students' trait empathy and empathic self-efficacy development and identify the underlying impact of the design project's context and course instructor through a study with 103 engineering students. Students' trait empathy and empathic self-efficacy were measured across each of the four design stages (problem formulation, concept generation, concept selection, and final conceptual design) during an 8-week project. The results highlight that students' trait empathy and empathic self-efficacy did not increase across design stages and the context of the design problem did not impact students' empathy development. Meanwhile, the course instructor negatively impacted students' empathic self-efficacy in one of the three course sections studied, and two of the three interviewed course instructors reduced the role of empathy in the concept generation and selection stages of the design process. These insights call for future research that could empirically assess the impact of trait empathy and empathic self-efficacy in driving design outcomes in the later design stages, which could increase engineering educators' awareness of the role of empathy in the engineering classroom.

Design Methods Used During Early Stages of Product Development: Three Company Cases

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlye A. Lauff ◽  
Daria Kotys-Schwartz ◽  
Mark E. Rentschler
Keyword(s):  
Product Development ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
New Product Development ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Design Education ◽  
Design Theory ◽  
Design Methods ◽  
Consumer Electronics ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Early Stages

Companies need to employ new design methods and tools to remain competitive in today’s global economy. Design methods are used to help teams move through the different stages of the design process, such as during project scoping, concept generation, and concept selection. Concept generation design methods are meant to help teams generate diverse, novel, and creative potential solutions. However, most design methods are developed and refined based on studies with student teams. This limits our understanding of how professionals engage with design methods in practice. This is a case study exploring the design methods used by three companies during the early stages of new product development. These companies are from the consumer electronics, footwear, and medical devices industries, and each design team within the companies was tasked with developing a new physical end product. We identified that all three teams heavily relied on internal and external benchmarking and reverse engineering design methods as part of concept generation. Ultimately, the products they developed were all considered evolutionary, meaning that the final product was a slightly improved version of similar products already on the market. This contrasts revolutionary products, which can change or disrupt the current field in one or more ways. This research contributes to design theory and methodology through empirically studying how companies engage in the design process, identifying the methods employed by professionals, and raising new questions about design methods, especially translation to industry. This research also contributes to design education by identifying methods that professionals use in practice, which can translate to direct recommendations for improving project-based engineering design courses.

Chasing concepts during design: A photo shoot from the field of architecture

2005 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 289-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANN HEYLIGHEN ◽  
GENEVIÈVE MARTIN
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Architectural Design ◽  
Design Concept ◽  
Modus Operandi ◽  
Design Concepts ◽  
Think Aloud Protocol ◽  
Interactive Activation ◽  
Under Construction ◽  
Over Time

This paper examines the role of design concepts in a modus operandi as opposed to a modus operatum, which is how their generation, as it unfolds over time, is perceived by someone involved in designing instead of with the hindsight of being finished. To this end, the interactive activation and competition model, commonly used to model the retrieval of information from stored knowledge of individual exemplars, is applied in the context of architectural design. Parsing the data of an architect's think-aloud protocol through this model at successive points in the design process results in a photo shoot of a design concept “under construction.” This allows for the start of appreciating and accounting for the highly elusive character of concepts during design.

Causing a Stir

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Camilo POTOCNJAK-OXMAN
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Collaborative Design ◽  
Entrepreneurial Activity ◽  
Design Team ◽  
Design Processes ◽  
Early Stages

Stir was a crowd-voted grants platform aimed at supporting creative youth in the early stages of an entrepreneurial journey. Developed through an in-depth, collaborative design process, between 2015 and 2018 it received close to two hundred projects and distributed over fifty grants to emerging creatives and became one of the most impactful programs aimed at increasing entrepreneurial activity in Canberra, Australia. The following case study will provide an overview of the methodology and process used by the design team in conceiving and developing this platform, highlighting how the community’s interests and competencies were embedded in the project itself. The case provides insights for people leading collaborative design processes, with specific emphasis on some of the characteristics on programs targeting creative youth

Experience Design Applied to Research

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea CAPRA ◽  
Ana BERGER ◽  
Daniela SZABLUK ◽  
Manuela OLIVEIRA
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Product Development ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Product Development Process ◽  
Experience Design ◽  
Low Resolution ◽  
Design Concepts ◽  
Innovative Products ◽  
Technological Products

An accurate understanding of users' needs is essential for the development of innovative products. This article presents an exploratory method of user centered research in the context of the design process of technological products, conceived from the demands of a large information technology company. The method is oriented - but not restricted - to the initial stages of the product development process, and uses low-resolution prototypes and simulations of interactions, allowing users to imagine themselves in a future context through fictitious environments and scenarios in the ambit of ideation. The method is effective in identifying the requirements of the experience related to the product’s usage and allows rapid iteration on existing assumptions and greater exploration of design concepts that emerge throughout the investigation.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document