Style, Function, Interaction: Do Designers Disregard User-Product Interaction when Proposing Product Design Concepts?

Author(s):  
Jonathan Talbot

This paper reports an investigation of an industrial design project during the preliminary investigation and concept design stages. Conditions for the design project were established where some of the designers followed a more ‘user-centred’ approach to the design problem than others. It might have been expected that designers who were not adopting a user-centred approach would be more focussed on the visual appeal (style) or product technology aspects of their designs and might tend to disregard the interaction sequences involved in actual product use. It was found that designers in both groups resolved the ‘interaction design’ associated with the concepts to a similar level of detail. It was also found that the ‘user-centred’ designers did not tend to gather information on aesthetic issues when inquiring about end user requirements. The implications of these Findings for user-centred design methods are discussed.

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 249-250
Author(s):  
Astrid Göbel ◽  
Tobias Knuuti ◽  
Carola Franzen ◽  
Dinara Abbasova ◽  
Thuro Arnold ◽  
...  

Abstract. EURAD, the European Joint Programme on Radioactive Waste Management (RWM), is the European Research Programme on RWM, aimed at supporting member states with the implementation of their national programmes. It brings together over 100 organisations from different backgrounds and countries, which work together in RD&D projects, Strategic Studies and Knowledge Management (KM). The importance of KM is recognised by EURAD and reflected in a number of activities. One essential activity is the capture of the current State-of-Knowledge in the field of RWM and its transfer to the implementation of the different national programmes. This is done by different types of Knowledge Documents that are made available through a dedicated IT tool (e.g. a Wiki). The development of the individual EURAD KM documents is performed by recognised experts. These experts will share their view on the most relevant knowledge on a specific topic, highlighting safety functions and operational aspects. Additionally, signposting to pre-existing documents is performed (State-of-the-Art Documents, Scientific Papers, etc.). The hierarchy of the works for the KM documents (Theme Overview, Domain Insight, State-of-Knowledge, Guidance) is closely linked to the generic EURAD Roadmap/GBS (Goals Breakdown Structure). It provides a hierarchical structure that facilitates definition, organisation and communication of topics. All of this allows knowledge to be captured and presented with the level of detail that is required by the end-user, from a broad overview down to an increasing level of detail (pyramid of knowledge). To ensure the quality and consistency of the documents with the overall EURAD KM approach, quality assurance and editorial procedures are applied. Collection of end-user feedback will aid the optimisation and further development of the KM activities. To facilitate the transfer of knowledge, the EURAD KM programme goes beyond documents and strives to facilitate exchange between people and signpost to other resources, such as Training and Mobility activities (also organised by EURAD Work Package 13 Training & Mobility) or Communities of Practice. All these activities will contribute to a useful and end-user-friendly EURAD KM programme that is designed to be operational well beyond the runtime of EURAD-1. This presentation will provide further insight into the approaches, status of work and an outlook on future activities that will support member states with the implementation of their national programmes.


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