Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, March, 2004. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 70-73)

Thesis (DTech (Marketing))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2009. / Many South African businesses experience a lack of competitiveness against a background of increasing globalised competition. One of the reasons for the lack of competitiveness in South African businesses is as a result of a lack of innovation. In response, many scholars have concluded that design can contribute to the competitiveness of a company. Distinguished and refereed business journals have published articles that claim design can have value. One of the causes of the lack of innovation could be that managers do not use design as widely as it might be. Some say that it is mainly as a result of a poor understanding of the benefits of design. This prompted the research question: How can the competitiveness of businesses be improved through the application of product design as a knowledge creation management tool? This question was investigated by a combination of a literature survey, construction of a conceptual model, a questionnaire survey, a focus group discussion and a curriculum content analysis. Through a literature study evidence was presented that design could contribute to innovation, which could add a competitive edge and could lead to commercial success, provided it is managed properly. Unfortunately, managers do not use design as widely as it might be as a result of a poor understanding of the contribution of design. This raises the question, how can the understanding of design be improved? An alternative to the traditional views was presented whereby product design can be used as a knowledge creation management tool. In this regard, a framework was proposed, which indicated product design as both a user and a producer of knowledge. This framework could assist managers to acquire a sufficient understanding of design. The next step is to ask what managers should understand about design in order to use it as a knowledge creation management tool. A questionnaire survey managed to distinguish, in a statistically significant manner, between certain items that were indicated by the respondents as important for managers to understand and other items that the respondents felt were unimportant. In general, the items that were design specific, such as conceptualisation and the psychology of creativity, were indicated as unimportant and the items close to managing a business, such as the writing of a creative brief and the risk factors, were indicated as important for managers to know. Two focus group discussions agreed in the main with the results of the questionnaire survey, but with one exception. One group felt that managers should have a basic understanding of the whole design process. Another aspect of importance was that the manager should trust the designer. The groups also suggested a number of topics that should be included in a curriculum on a basic understanding of product design for management students.

No description available.

In current practice, design documentation often fails to support the activities of design understanding, communication, and redesign. A Design History Tool has been developed to improve current design documentation. This tool is a computerized design history that represents and plays back important information generated during the process of designing a mechanical system. This tool not only documents the final design results, but also documents the constraints developed and decisions made in the evolution of a product from initial specifications to final detailed design. This tool supports design understanding, communication, and redesign. It allows designers, manufacturing engineers, and management personnel to review and examine an existing design. For playback, the Design History Tool provides four major browsing capabilities: a} browsing design artifacts from isometric drawing, design hierarchy, to details of a product; b) browsing design evolution from the initial specifications to the final detailed design; c) browsing design rationales and alternatives behind each design decision; and d) browsing constraint dependencies. To enhance the browsing capabilities, different interfaces have been developed to allow the users to efficiently retrieve and easily understand the design information. / Graduation date: 1992

Thesis (Master)--İzmir Institute of Technology, İzmir, 2006. / Keywords: Globalization, local culture. Includes bibliographical references (leaves.74-79).

Este trabalho coloca em discussão a problemática da inserção do mobiliário na habitação popular urbana. Analisa a atual produção do móvel popular e diferentes experiências e projetos que enfocam uma melhor adequação do móvel nos pequenos espaços das habitações urbanas. Com esta pesquisa, cria-se um quadro de base para o desenvolvimento de diretrizes de projetos que visem a melhoria da habitabilidade destas moradias, viabilizada através de uma relação mais coerente entre o mobiliário e a casa. / This work puts in discussion the problem of placing the furniture in social urban housing. It analyses the actual production of furniture for the low-income people and different experiences and designs, which treats a better adequacy of furniture in small space of urban housing. This research creates a basic scene for the development of design orientations with the goal of getting better the habitability of such homes, allowed through a more consistent relation between the furniture and the house.

Este trabalho coloca em discussão a problemática da inserção do mobiliário na habitação popular urbana. Analisa a atual produção do móvel popular e diferentes experiências e projetos que enfocam uma melhor adequação do móvel nos pequenos espaços das habitações urbanas. Com esta pesquisa, cria-se um quadro de base para o desenvolvimento de diretrizes de projetos que visem a melhoria da habitabilidade destas moradias, viabilizada através de uma relação mais coerente entre o mobiliário e a casa. / This work puts in discussion the problem of placing the furniture in social urban housing. It analyses the actual production of furniture for the low-income people and different experiences and designs, which treats a better adequacy of furniture in small space of urban housing. This research creates a basic scene for the development of design orientations with the goal of getting better the habitability of such homes, allowed through a more consistent relation between the furniture and the house.

Tese de mestrado. Design Industrial. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto, Escola Superior de Artes e Design. 2005

Dissertação apresentada para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Design Industrial, na Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, sob a orientação do Professor Doutor José António de Oliveira Simões

Estágio realizado no INEGI e orientado pelo Eng.º João Paulo Pereira / Tese de mestrado integrado. Engenharia mecânica. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 2009