In the past decades, humanity is facing the consequences of the irresponsible production of plastics and the expansion of industries such as industrial agriculture, Therefore, the development of new sustainable alternative materials has become increasingly popular as a science field. That is the case of mycelium composites, a biodegradable material made out of agricultural and the thread-like roots of mushrooms called mycelium. The mycelium, when growing, binds all the particles of organic matter together, creating a stiff material that takes the shape of the mold where it was cultivated. The material is lightweight, fire resistant, provides acoustic and thermal insulation and has good behavior under compression efforts. So far, research has been conducted on testing the properties of the material, but there is a lack of knowledge on how to address this material from a design perspective. How to design with it, how to make it appealing to the users or how to value its intrinsic characteristics. For that, the design thinking methodology "Design thinking bootleg" was followed and theory and methods under the perspective of "Design for emotion" and the approach of "Material driven design" that facilitates design processes where the material is the main driver. An acoustic insulation solution was developed as a result, since it was concluded to be the most competitive application among the different possibilities of mycelium composites. The product aims for a certain emotional response in the users, seeking the development of an emotional connection and creating awareness about the role mushrooms play in nature and the use of sustainable materials. Eventually, the product succeeded in transmitting more than mere curiosity, especially after explaining the story behind it. Overall, the product is still far from competing against plastics in terms of scalability and speed of production. However, research on this topic is increasing exponentially and the material proves to have a lot of potential, so it is expected to be improved in the next few years.

This study aims to create a design concept for a digital twin to understand how it could be used to increase the health adherence of users through risk communication. This was done while also looking at how such a system could counteract potential health anxiety. The massive digitization and available data has enabled better opportunities to accurately represent and affect a person’s health in the form of a digital twin. The primary way of conducting the study was by using the ’Design Thinking’ method which incorporates five steps: Empathizing with the users’ needs, defining the problems, ideating, creating prototypes, and finally testing these. A literature study, four user interviews as well as two interviews with healthcare professionals were conducted to get a better understanding of what problems needed to be solved. The findings from these together with a brainstorming session resulted in low fidelity (LoFi) and high fidelity (HiFi) versions of a mobile prototype. A single overview page of a desktop version for health professionals was also created. The mobile prototypes were user tested, and input was asked from stakeholders and healthcare professionals regarding the risk communication and visualization via walkthroughs of the prototypes. The usability results of the tests were positive with the HiFi version scoring 83.5 / 100 on the System Usability Scale which measures usability, and this score is deemed to be ’good’. The risk communication used received positive feedback, and the findings showed that a digital twin could potentially help with adherence and prevention by the use of summaries, visualization, as well as combining icons with the use of absolute risk and frequencies. To minimize the risk of health anxiety, a digital twin could reduce health information that is not very serious or important through a ”less-is-more” approach. Other effective means could be to show positive visualization and by being mindful of the ordering of risks and benefits, showing the user the positive aspects after the negative ones. Despite this, because of the lower sample size and hypothetical test scenario, further studies need to be conducted to verify the validity in more real-life scenarios. More isolated testing should be done to understand the effects better, both in terms of risk communication and usability. Additional things that could be beneficial to look at could be the implementation of gamification elements in the digital twin, further development of a desktop version for healthcare staff, as well as using more personalization options.

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The development of new technologies is changing the world as we know it. Augmented reality (AR) is one of many new technological innovations that have been dominating the tech industry and, as a result, our everyday lives. AR takes the digital user experience to a whole other level, while more and more e-commerce marketers are adopting the technology within their platforms. Considering the many different gadgets and digital devices that most individuals use on a daily basis, it is of utmost importance for product designers to craft effective yet user-centered digital experiences. Hassenzahl's model of user experience formed the theoretical framework of this qualitative case study, while the design thinking methodology was adopted as this study’s aim is to examine the user experience design of IKEA Place from a user perspective. In order to empathize with the end users, a user experience (UX) research was conducted through semi-structured interviews, where IKEA Place users gave their insights in regards to their experience with the AR product.    The empirical results of this case study showed that the interviewed users found the purpose of the app along with its interface to be very appealing, and despite the fact that various limitations, some having higher impact than others, were spotted by all users in connection to the pragmatic attributes of IKEA Place, their individual experience did vary. The users who had been exposed to similar products or other technologies had a better experience with the AR app compared to the users who are less tech savvy, as the latter found utilizing the app to be difficult. In addition, the lack of interconnectedness between IKEA Place and the main IKEA app was not mentioned as a prominent limitation by the users. With the user needs having been defined, the ideation, prototyping, and testing phases followed for the redesigned features to be finally crafted. Lastly, this case study has limitations addressed as suggestions for future research, including more data collection practices being used simultaneously along with a larger sample size for UX research and prototype testing purposes.

For several hundred years there has been a great deal of emphasis on how industries and businesses may encourage excellent production work that does not harm the environment or the working individual. NKT is a world leader company in cable technology and designs, manufactures, and installs voltage cables. The company includes a department where splicing is performed on cables to extend or repair them. To complete the splicing process, however, the inner most structures of the cable must first be cleaned from a substance called compound. Today, this cleaning process is carried out manually by the workers. Despite the efficient operation of NKT's splice department, various risks have been identified that might have a negative impact on both the worker and the environment. On one hand, there is a risk that the cleaning agent containing a certain amount of unhealthy chemicals will encounter the worker and cause health risks, and on the other hand, chemical leakage may occur on the work surface, resulting in a contaminated work area, and unnecessary material waste. This material waste also adds to less cost-effective operations, since bigger amounts will be required to accomplish the intended work, this in relation to the fact that the process requires a considerable time. Thus, the aim of this degree project is to investigate if streamlining the procedure of cleaning the compound from the conductors in high voltage cables before splicing is possible by developing a mechanical device or replacing the current used solvent or both. The methods used for this project were a combination of the design thinking strategy and participatory action research and to deeply understand the methods, a literature review was also performed. The results obtained were a well-detailed virtual simulation in SolidWorks, a functional alpha prototype, and results from a conductivity measurement for PF-Solvent and Strovels Smådelstvätt 100. Although the first laboratory tests showed equivalent effects for PF-Solvent and Strovels Smådelstvätt 100 regarding the solubility of the compound, PF-Solvent's good conductivity properties wereconfirmed while Strovels Smådelstvätt 100 proved not to be suitable for this cleaning procedure due to the big difference in the values. The results obtained from the sustainability template provided the project with useful guidelines for refining the concept into a long-term solution. Many of the components of the physical product will be built from stainless steel, which will make it simpler to recycle at the end of its useful lifespan. In conclusion, it requires a development of a device that cleans the conductor from the compound. The device / machine can keep the solvent in a special place and at the same time, the worker has more control over how much solvent is used. According to the laboratory tests, the solvent Strovels Smådelstvätt 100 had an equivalent effect on the compound during the same time interval as PF-Solvent. It was also milder from the environmental and health aspects. Furthermore, the development of a mechanical device can contribute to reduced waste of various materials, such as brushes, gloves, and spray bottles, during the procedure. Finally, investing in such a machine can be expensive, but in the long run this investment leads to savings in materials used today. However, a machine procedure involves a large transition that requires a lot of time, resources and planning as it shall be developed through collaborations with different industries.

Plastics are known to cause plenty of problems for the environment such as sewerage water,birds, marine life and even human health issues. Normally the cause for such small particles tobe such a huge problem lies in the adversity of collecting it after the use phase. Other occurringproblems are health related, where such small-sizes particles are getting in the eyes or eveninhaled by the workers handling the material. An example of such material is glitter. Tarkett AB is a Swedish company located in Ronneby, Sweden, and deals withmanufacturing of flooring mats created with homogeneous blends of different plastic materialsresulting in interesting designs for customers. One of their products uses glitter flakes in themix and causes the company a few problems, the biggest of which is the glitter getting stuckinside the blender thus risking the glitter particles getting into the next blend that isn’t supposedto have any glitter flakes in it. The company’s current solution is mixing waste material in theblender to clean the blender from most of the stuck glitter. The purpose of this work is to investigate why the glitter flakes stick to surfaces in generalthus getting an idea of why it could be sticking inside the blender. This knowledge is later usedto ideate different solutions for the company and select one winning concept that will beprototyped and possibly tested through conduction of experiments. There are a few reasons asto why this problem is worthwhile solving, firstly and most importantly is the operator’s healthwhere the glitter that is being used can be inhaled by the operators thus leading to potentialhealth problems. Secondly the company will save time by not needing to clean around andinside the blending machines to get them ready for the next mix. Thirdly, solving this problemwill lead to environmental sustainability where no energy or water will be used during thecleaning process both around and inside the blending machine. Method used to achieve this will be the design thinking process with plenty of differenttools. Starting off by understanding the problem further through need finding and tech watchingto investigate the problem further and the current available solutions for it. A literature reviewwill be done on the material to get a better idea of the root causes for the problem. Ideageneration will be a big part based on previous tools used to generate many different ideas tolater be filtered using concept selection methods. Through this a concept will be developedwhich can potentially lead to a prototype that’ll be tested at the company. The main finding from this thesis is a concept derived from biomimicry which is atransparent slime and oil mixture to prevent glitter spread during the handling stage at theproduction line. Both variants prevent glitter particles from spreading, which results inminimized glitter spread thus minimizing the cleaning requirements. Experiments show that theoil-glitter variant had a positive effect of improved distribution of glitter flakes in the finalproduct. The experiments were discussed with a design expert at Tarkett to evaluate the twopresented variations and assess the final product.

Co-Mission is a framework designed to promote synodality and collaboration between pastors and artists in commissioning sacred liturgical art, bridging the gap between the Church and the Arts. In response to changes in religious expression and the challenges posed by secularization, Co-Mission merges the leadership and creativity of pastors and artists through continuous, community-centered dialogue: the See-Judge-Act method provides a systematic pastoral approach, while Design Thinking introduces an innovative process that encompasses empathy, definition, ideation, prototyping, and testing. Co-Mission fosters spiritual growth, enhances worship experiences, and adjusts to the evolving needs of the faithful. This thesis includes a case study on the commissioning of La Asunción Indígena, assessment tools to guide the Co-Mission process and evaluate liturgical art, and Via Lucis Brevior for prayer and reflection. It contributes to Church-Arts partnerships by offering a practical framework, establishing it as a catalyst for transformational leadership and church renewal. / 2025-01-26T00:00:00Z

Forest machine operators work in an environment that requires simultaneous monitoring of several factors. This is done using a control and information system, MaxiXT, that should provide the right information at the right time. The interface plays an important role in improving efficiency and promoting a favourable working environment for operators. Therefore, it is important to have an interface that effectively meets the needs of users. The objective of this study was to design a prototype of a user-friendly interface that makes it easy for the forest machine drivers to find the information they need. The design thinking methodology was used in this study, with a focus on forest machine operators who are the users of the control and information system. The process involves conducting user research and user testing. The insights gathered from the user research, combined with the findings from literature studies, served as the foundation for developing the prototype. The prototype was tested in both Mid-Fi and Hi-Fi versions, generating valuable feedback and insights. Overall, the impressions of the future users were highly positive. The diverse personalities and backgrounds of the users revealed varying interests in interaction and expectations from the control and information system. This highlights the potential for personalizing the interface, while also providing default settings based on the most typical preferences of Swedish users. To ensure broader usability across a wider user group, it is essential to supplement this information with input from users in other countries.

Customer feedback is essential for improving a company's products or services and increasing customer satisfaction. Despite its value, user involvement faces many challenges, such as low user motivation and feedback with missing context information. To increase the chance of collecting user feedback, the process must be fast, easy, and well-integrated into the system or product.  In this thesis, a suitable way of designing a high-fidelity (Hi-Fi) prototype of a reactive feedback feature that improves the ease of submitting end-user feedback and enriching it with sufficient information to streamline the interpretation and handling process has been investigated. This was done by following the Design Thinking method and its five phases. In the first phase of the process, Empathize, information about the end-users' and the product teams' pain points, wants, and needs regarding the current feedback process were gathered through interviews. A literature study and research of existing feedback tools were also conducted to build a broader knowledge about the subject. The collected data was organized and analyzed during the second phase, Define, through affinity diagramming, a customer journey map, and defining user need statements. In the third phase, Ideate, a wide range of design solutions to the identified problems and user need statements were generated during a Crazy 8 workshop and initial sketching. The two final phases, Prototype and Test, consisted of three iterations of creating and evaluating prototypes through an expert review, a usability test, a heuristic evaluation, and a final usability test.  The two major identified pain points were the product team expressed that customer feedback is often difficult to interpret due to missing context information, and that end users have to go through a long and laborious procedure to provide feedback. End-users wanted an easy and fast way to submit a wide range of feedback to have some impact on the product's future improvement, and the product team wanted to collect as much sufficient information as possible to facilitate the interpretation and handling process. The study explores the challenges of including predefined feedback options and a prioritization feature to enhance the interpretation and management of feedback while maintaining ease of use. The prototype includes the possibility to attach annotated screenshots and screen recordings and automatically collects contextual data to address the lack of information and simplify and speed up the feedback process for end-users. The final usability test resulted in positive feedback and showed that the suggested feedback feature enables end-users to provide feedback quickly and easily while providing the product team with the most necessary information. The result also gives a first indication that the feedback feature will increase the end-user involvement in the product's future development.