Understanding the differences between how novice and experienced designers approach design tasks

Research was undertaken to understand how to provide the most appropriate support for novice designers in engineering design. However, how designers apply their experience and knowledge is not understood and further research in this area is required. This paper describes an observational study to understand how novice and experienced designers approach design tasks. Electronic Publication     

Investigating the influence of product perception and geometric features

Research in emotional design and Kansei Engineering has shown that aesthetics play a significant role in the appeal of a product. This paper contributes to establishing a methodology to identify the relationships between perceptions, aesthetic features, desire to own and background of consumers. Surveys were conducted with 71 participants to gather their perceptions of 11 vase concepts. Advanced statistical analyses, including mixed models, were applied to allow generalisation of the results beyond the data sample. Significant relations between the desire to own a product and how the product is perceived were found (the desire to own was found to be related to beautiful, expensive, elegant, exciting, feminine, common and dynamic vases), as well as between the perceptions and the parameters describing the form of the vases (a vase was perceived as beautiful if it had many curved lines and was simple and tall). An automated mixed model analysis was conducted and revealed that general rules can be found between aesthetic features, perceptions and ownership, which can apply across gender and culture. The findings include design rules that link aesthetic features with perceptions. These contribute to research as guidelines for design synthesis and can either be implemented via shape grammars or parametric modelling approaches. These rules are also interesting for 3D printing applications, especially important when the consumer is the designer. Some of these design rules are linked to the desire to own a product, they have implications for industry, and they offer guidelines to creating attractive products that people want to own.     

Transfer of knowledge from the service phase: a case study from the oil industry

This paper aims to investigate the knowledge generated during the later phases of the life cycle of a complex customised product and understand how this knowledge is transferred between projects and between different user groups. A series of four identical rigs for offshore drilling was selected as a case study, and the transfer of knowledge between the first two rigs was explored through two sets of interviews with the rig operators and the project management team. The expected knowledge transfer strategies that emerged from the first set of interviews were analysed and compared with the actual transfer mechanisms identified in the second set of interviews, and similarities and differences were investigated. It was found that the transfer of knowledge primarily occurred within the individual phases of the product’s life cycle, and there was poor transfer across the different phases.