Assessing Early Stage Design Sketches and Reflections on Prototyping

Designers routinely create informal “thinking” sketches to explore a design space, “talking” sketches to communicate design ideas during the early phases of the design process, and “learning” prototypes to test potential concepts. This study presents two new tools to assess novice designers' sketch attributes and prototyping reflections in the context of an introductory design course. First, it proposes a rubric for assessing the quality of early stage design sketches including line smoothness, proportion, and understandability. Of particular note is the contribution of assessing understandability as a metric for sketches as communication tools. This study also presents a tool to capture designer reflections after each iteration of a prototype. Not only does this record what is learned about a design, but also personal and emotional reactions to the process. Sketching-related results show a positive correlation between sketch quality and understandability, indicating the importance of sketch quality especially when designers use sketches to communicate. Results also indicate that early stage sketch quantity, but not quality, is linked with design outcomes. The study also finds a link between frequency of sketching and higher maximum sketch quality scores (i.e. at least one excellent sketch) as well as a correlation between individuals' maximum sketch quality scores and overall design outcomes. Preliminary results around prototyping indicate that reflection on both the technical and emotional aspects of prototyping may be a worthwhile area of further study. Finally, several results point to novice designers' lack of consistent focus on users in their prototyping reflections and presentations.

Rigid–Soft Interactive Design of a Lobster-Inspired Finger Surface for Enhanced Grasping Underwater

Bio-inspirations from soft-bodied animals provide a rich design source for soft robots, yet limited literature explored the potential enhancement from rigid-bodied ones. This paper draws inspiration from the tooth profiles of the rigid claws of the Boston Lobster, aiming at an enhanced soft finger surface for underwater grasping using an iterative design process. The lobsters distinguish themselves from other marine animals with a pair of claws capable of dexterous object manipulation both on land and underwater. We proposed a 3-stage design iteration process that involves raw imitation, design parametric exploration, and bionic parametric exploitation on the original tooth profiles on the claws of the Boston Lobster. Eventually, 7 finger surface designs were generated and fabricated with soft silicone. We validated each design stage through many vision-based robotic grasping attempts against selected objects from the Evolved Grasping Analysis Dataset (EGAD). Over 14,000 grasp attempts were accumulated on land (71.4%) and underwater (28.6%), where we selected the optimal design through an on-land experiment and further tested its capability underwater. As a result, we observed an 18.2% improvement in grasping success rate at most from a resultant bionic finger surface design, compared with those without the surface, and a 10.4% improvement at most compared with the validation design from the previous literature. Results from this paper are relevant and consistent with the bioresearch earlier in 1911, showing the value of bionics. The results indicate the capability and competence of the optimal bionic finger surface design in an amphibious environment, which can contribute to future research in enhanced underwater grasping using soft robots.

Pengembangan Video Edukatif Volume Bangun Ruang Berbasis Etnomatematika Makanan Tradisonal Via Youtube

The purpose of this research is to produce an educative video of volume building based on the ethnomathematics of traditional food through Youtube. This study uses the Hannafin and Peck development model which consists of 3 stages, namely the needs analysis stage (Analyze), the design stage (Design), the development and implementation stages (Development & Implementation). Collecting data in this study using interviews and questionnaires. The instruments that accompany this research are a material expert and media expert validation questionnaire sheet, as well as a small group trial questionnaire. The results of the validation in the study showed that the educational video developed had met the eligibility criteria for the material expert test with a proportion of 78.9%, met the criteria very feasible for the media expert test with a proportion of 82.4%, met the eligibility criteria for a small group trial with a percentage of 77 ,5%. Based on these results, the ethnomathematics-based educational video developed is feasible to be used as a medium for learning mathematics in SMK.Keywords: Educational video, Spatial Building Volume, Ethnomathematics, Youtube

Stage Design as a Spatial Environment of the Performance: Definition of the Concept

The article is devoted to the definition of "stage design". On the basis of terminological analysis, the essence of the concept of "stage design" is revealed, its essential features are determined and the connection with other concepts in the context of artistic design of a theatrical production is analyzed. With the help of comparative analysis, common and different features between the concept of "scenography" and "theatrical and decorative art" were revealed. The definition is understood by us as a list of essential features of an object or phenomenon that represent the concept and verbal expression of those specific features that distinguish this concept from related to it. The study found that stage design as a type of design and art activities involves the design, construction and organization of stage space with elements of other types of design, composition and stylistic devices. Its main task is to work with the environment of human life in a conventional play space, to create an artistic image of the play, which will make the viewer an emotional impression, relevant to the issue of staging. In our opinion, the term "stage design" most accurately reflects the state of the essential and conceptual approach to the solution of scenographic design of plays in domestic directing theater, the process of creating a unique visual image due to the synthesis of symbolic means to reveal the author's concept and meaningful content.

Creating space and time for innovation - a methodology for building adaptation design appraisal using physics-based simulation tools and interactive multi-objective optimization

PurposeIt is crucial to consider the multitude of possible building adaptation design strategies for improving the existing conditions of building stock as an alternative to demolition.Design/methodology/approachIntegration of physics-based simulation tools and decision-making tools such as Multi-Attribute Utility (MAU) and Interactive Multi-objective Optimization (IMO) in the design process enable optimized design decision-making for high-performing buildings. A methodology is presented for improving building adaptation design decision making, specifically in the early-stage design feasibility analysis. Ten residential building adaptation strategies are selected and applied to one primary building system for eight performance metrics using physics-based simulation tools. These measures include energy use, thermal comfort, daylighting, natural ventilation, systems performance, life cycle, cost-benefit and constructability. The results are processed using MAU and IMO analysis and are validated through sensitivity analysis by testing one design strategy on three building systems.FindingsQuantifiable comparison of building adaptation strategies based on multiple metrics derived from physics-based simulations can assist in the evaluation of overall environmental performance and economic feasibility for building adaptation projects.Research limitations/implicationsThe current methodology presented is limited to the analysis of one decision-maker at a time. It can be improved to include multiple decision-makers and capture varying perspectives to reflect common practices in the industry.Practical implicationsThe methodology presented supports affordable generation and analysis of a large number of design options for early-stage design optimization.Originality/valueGiven the practical implications, more space and time is created for exploration and innovation, resulting in potential for improved benefits.

THE USE OF A FUZZY LOGIC SET-BASED DESIGN TOOL TO EVALUATE VARYING COMPLEXITIES OF LATE-STAGE DESIGN CHANGES

Advanced design methods, such as set-based design (SBD), can provide a structured approach to evaluating the design space in order to make accurate and informed decisions towards reaching a globally optimal design. The set-based communications required to appropriately implement SBD are counter-intuitive to the point-based communications of a typical design process. The use of a hybrid agent fuzzy logic design tool can help to facilitate the SBD process by ensuring the use of set-based communication of design variables. The design tool uses automation of certain aspects such as data collection and analysis while still allowing for input from human designers. One important advantage of using SBD is the ability to delay decisions until later in the design process when more information is known. This paper focuses on the robustness of the SBD process and its ability to handle late-stage design changes of varying complexity. Multiple SBD experiments instituting design changes of varying magnitude late in the design process were conducted using a hybrid agent fuzzy logic SBD tool. A simplified planing craft design was utilized for the experiments. Conclusions regarding the robustness of the SBD process under late-stage design changes were determined and outlined using information gathered by the SBD tool.

Promoting social distancing in a pandemic: Beyond good intentions

Do reminders to promote social distancing achieve the desired effects on behavior? Much of the existing literature analyses impacts on people’s intentions to comply. We run a randomised controlled trial in Denmark to test different versions of a reminder to stay home at the beginning of the crisis. Using a two-stage design, we follow up with recipients and analyse their subsequent self-reported behaviour. We find that the reminder increases ex-ante intentions to comply when it emphasises the consequences of non-compliance for the subjects themselves and their families, while it has no effect when the emphasis is on other people or the country as a whole. We also find, however, that impacts on intentions do not translate into equivalent impacts on actions. Only people in poor health react to the reminder by staying home significantly more. Our results shed light on important gaps between people’s intentions and their actions in responding to the recommendations of health authorities.

Bits + Pieces : Investigating the Procedural Ideation of Architectural Massing for Early Stage Design

<p>The architectural discipline is constantly experiencing change to the way in which its practitioners operate. The continual evolution of computing hardware and the substantial development of Computer Aided Architectural Design (CAAD) has seen Architecture shift from a discipline of predominantly analogue techniques to one that relies almost entirely on the digital medium. As a result, the role of the practicing architect has seen considerable change. Architecture, once a discipline of pencil and paper, now shares creative techniques and tools with Computer Science, Film, Visual Effects, Interactive Media, Robotics, and Computer programming. Such new partners are providing alternative views of what it is to be a creative practitioner, challenging the discipline of architecture to step beyond the preconceived boundaries and means of operating embodied within conventional practice. Architects now have the opportunity to adopt new methods for the production of the built environment. This research engages with developing computational techniques designed for film and interactive media and explores how they can be utilised to augment the way in which architecture may be produced. This body of researches adopts the technique procedural generation as a vehicle for this investigation; a technique used for content creation in interactive media and game design. This research also adopts the use of a computational design software called Houdini - an industry standard procedural software used widely within film and game. Through an architectural lens, it explores the re-purposing of this software and procedural design, developing an understanding for how they can both aid in the ideation of built form during the infancy of the design process. This research initially addressed the question: ‘how can conventional architectural practices be augmented by procedural computational design techniques, to further explore the impacts of opportunity and ideation on architectural design?’ As a result of refinement, it came around to focus on asking ‘how can the application of procedural generation design techniques augment the ideation of architectural massing for early stage design?’ It identifies how procedural techniques can be used in the process of ideating architecture and aims to investigate how procedural generation offers an alternative methodology to the production of architecture in early design stages. It explores, through computational design, the limitations and constraints that occur in the process of mastering design orientated procedural techniques. It subsequently develops, through computational design, an understanding of how procedural techniques can be applied to the early stage design of architecture. Finally, through architectural design, it examines how procedural design techniques can be partnered with specific architectural conditions such as site, function, and form, in order to augment the architectural ideation process.</p>