The role of visual communication design continues to increase in importance around the world. In Bahrain, organisations are increasingly considering visual communication design as a means of accomplishing organisational goals. The research aims to understand the process by which design managers in organisations in Bahrain manage and evaluate visual communication designs to gain strategic advantage. Even though the management of visual communication design has not yet been recognised as a separate category of design management in Bahrain, its processes and approaches may differ from other management applications. This research opens with a contextual overview of the visual communication design management field, before presenting an understanding of how visual communication design can be utilised as an innovative approach to the strategic structuring organisational thinking. Methods have been developed for investigating how Bahraini client design managers manage visual communication design projects. Observational studies and interviews with client design managers and creative directors have been conducted to obtain an understanding of the visual communication design process, together with evaluation procedures in the Bahraini context. These empirical investigations have led to the development of a conceptual framework that describes the visual communication design management process and the evaluation procedure that is carried out by client design managers in Bahrain. The remainder of this thesis explains the outcomes of each phase of the research. The unique contributions of this study are embodied in a discussion of the findings together with reflections and recommendations for those involved and interested in design management in Bahrain.

This thesis is based in the research area of Design for Sustainable Behaviour (DfSB), a field which seeks to reduce the social and environmental impact of products in the use phase of their life cycle. There has been significant theoretical development in this area in recent years, leading to a proliferation of intervention strategies and design methodologies. However, there has been a recognised lack of a reliable means of selecting which intervention strategy to use in a given situation, and a lack of real world intervention case studies generating measurable medium-to-long term reductions in energy consumption. Addressing these gaps was a central focus of this research. This thesis documents four distinct research phases; an extensive literature review, an in-depth user study of existing energy consuming behaviours and motivations, the development and trialling of design interventions, and the evaluation of the generated theories as a tool for designers. Literature on domestic energy consumption, human behaviour, and approaches to changing behaviour was reviewed to establish the current level of thinking and to identify opportunities for further research. This guided the undertaking of the user study with a number of families in the East Midlands of the UK, which illuminated the relevant motivational goals, and highly routinized nature, displayed in many energy consuming behaviours. Over the course of this phase of the research journey a new conceptual model of behaviour in context was developed, and refined to create the Behavioural Intervention Selection Axis (BISA). These theoretical developments were then applied to the generation of DfSB intervention concepts, one of which was selected and developed to a functional prototype stage. These prototypes were trialled in situ in family homes for an extended period, and achieved a significant change in behaviour and related energy consumption. Further evaluation of the BISA as a tool to guide designers was performed through a series of workshops with design students, which ascertained its usefulness in this respect. Both the intervention development and trialling and the design workshops showed the conceptual model and BISA to be successful in providing designers with a reliable and useful means of selecting appropriate intervention strategies to change behaviour. In addition the intervention trial provided a wealth of qualitative insight into the way in which DfSB can effect behaviour, and the range of new motivational goals it can engender.

This thesis investigates design methods and phase models towards a reinterpretation of the design process towards a specific design task. The study reveals the essence of the process as a design process core, onto which may be built design process models to suit design tasks of diverse nature and scale.

This thesis aims to establish the recommendations, proposals and procedures under which the company Mediaresearch will be able effectively use marketing communication and build a unique Corporate Identity. Through strong identity company will be able to influence its image among stakeholders. The theoretical part describes the different elements of corporate identity including the current trends. These components are then supplemented by appropriate research methods for the situation analysis. The theoretical part is followed by analysis of the company's market position. In addition to the analysis of current practices the findings of two internal employee surveys and interviews with the Board are used for the deduction of the recommendations. Each element of corporate identity is analysed separately and marketing recommendations are then drawn in wider context.

Nowadays about 1.2 billion people in world lack modern access to electricity, with the majority of them living in rural areas in low-income and developing contexts. This research addresses the issue of energy access by investigating the design of sustainable business models, and in particular by exploring the combination of Product-Service Systems (PSS) with Distributed Renewable Energy systems (DRE). The combination of PSS and DRE represents a new design approach to explore promising business models for energy access and to deliver clean and affordable solutions in low-income contexts. The overall aim of this research is to explore the applications of PSS and DRE in low-income and developing contexts, thus defining characteristics of these models, their variables and critical factors. Additionally, this research aims at developing a support for companies, practitioners and other stakeholders for designing sustainable PSS applied to DRE, with a specific focus on the idea generation phase of new solutions. The first part of this PhD resulted in the development of a classification system for PSS applied to DRE, in the identification of 15 Archetypal Models and in the collection of critical factors to successfully implement these models. Then, these findings have been translated into three tools for designing PSSs applied to DRE: the Innovation Map, the Design Framework and Cards, the Energy System Map. These tools have been tested, refined and evaluated through a series of iterative applications in South Africa, Botswana, Kenya and the UK. Through the testing activities, which involved a wide range of companies, NGOs, practitioners and experts, the usefulness, usability and completeness of the tools were demonstrated. This research concludes with reflections on the design process for different scenarios of applications and by highlighting further research activities for the field of PSS applied to DRE in low-income and developing contexts.

This study aims to present the state of outsourcing design in the Turkish manufacturing industry, which, in the past, has been scrutinized in a limited sense. An investigation has been carried out in order to reveal the reasons for and procedures of hiring product design services from outside resources and to explore -if any- the benefits gained from this collaboration through a survey conducted with either design or production managers from a sample selection of firms manufacturing and/or marketing products in Turkey. Findings regarding the processes of outsourcing design have been recorded as well as an evaluation of the advantages and disadvantages of external design resources.

Design consultancy is a service that is given by professional designers to clients to respond to their design requirements. In Turkey, design consultancy services are given through design firms since the 1980s, mostly founded by the early graduates of industrial design. This thesis is carried to recognize the firms that give service in design consultancy sector, to identify the given services as design consultancy and to determine the conditions of design consultancy sector in Turkey through a survey made on the design consultancy firms in Turkey. A questionnaire is prepared to investigate the history of design consultancy firms, their profession fields, their client firms&rsquo / sector types, scope of services, the profession&rsquo / s advantages and disadvantages, the problems and opinions consultancy is carried out in Turkey. The survey also investigates the structure of design about the future of industrial design sector. This survey also inquires how design consultancy firms, given service types and sectors of client firms in detail. Twenty design consultancy firms responded to the questionnaire. The study indicates that, design consultancy service types by the firms are mostly product design, concept development, project drawing, project management, interface design and field tests.

Exhibitions have played a significant role within the dynamics that have been effective in the development of industrial design in the West. Similarly, exhibitions have recently become a significant issue in the history of industrial design in Turkey. This study first looks into the exhibitions in the West and the dynamics that have been effective behind them, and draws an analytical framework accordingly, then presents the historical development of industrial design in Turkey. Through the key factors that have been effective in the development of industrial design in Turkey, this study aims to analyze the relationship between design exhibitions and the development of industrial design in Turkey.

Biomimesis, the imitation of animate and inanimate forms in nature to inspire new designs, is term introduced in the 20th century. The concept that there exist models and solutions in nature that may improve and optimize the way mankind lives has been the subject of much discussion. Although biomimesis as a well-defined discipline is a relatively recent concept, modeling nature is as old as mankind itself and can be seen in many different forms in all aspects of life. In the field of architecture there have been several designs created by imitating/modeling or aspiring to forms in nature. Most of the &ldquo / end products&rdquo / of these processes can be considered as milestones in the history of architecture, with their innovative form, structure, and construction techniques, and have resulted in developments in many fields through the pioneering of new and successful designs. The implementations of the concept of Biomimesis in the field of architecture are mostly observed in the design of forms. In the proposed study, besides those forms, structural behavior and the optimized response to internal and external loads of these forms, together with their geometrical configurations, have been studied to provide a methodology to understand relationships in nature for optimized structures and in the further steps a system design has been aimed. Within the frame work of methodology, in the first part of the study, form/structure groups in animate and inanimate nature are classified and their representative characteristics are discussed. The next part focuses on the &ldquo / shell&rdquo / , as a case to exemplify the proposed methodology. For this reason, the &ldquo / seashell&rdquo / form is chosen to explore the forms/structures in architecture. For this purpose, initially the definitions of a shell and its implementations in architecture have been examined and the &ldquo / real problem&rdquo / has been described: what are the codes in architecture to understand the language of shells in nature and how this knowledge can be translated to man made design. The modeling approaches of the researchers working on the seashells have been examined and parameters developed to generate a mathematical model closer to a real shell. A program has been written to generate the computational model of selected seashell Turitella Terebra as a case. Through a series of abstractions/assumptions first mathematical then computational model of the actual seashell have been obtained to explore the behavioral properties of shells. In the experimental part of the study, 86 shells have been exposed to compression tests, similar boundary conditions and loads have been applied to the computational model in two different FEA software, to compare simulation results with the experimental ones in order to check the precision and efficacy of the computational model. The results have been analyzed and a number of non-dimensional parameters are obtained. It is believed that potential relations in the realm of architecture regarding such non dimensional parameters would be a new era to talk new design methods and to construct optimized structures. Through this perception/thinking/designing/manufacturing method a platform would be formed to discuss the concept of Biomimesis in architecture subjectively.

The term &ldquo / urban architecture&rdquo / has different meanings and is open to many interpretations. This thesis aims to highlight and further elaborate some definitions of &ldquo / urban architecture&rdquo / in which it is mainly characterized as architecture in the urban context. The Second Volume of Harvard Architecture Review on &ldquo / Urban Architecture&rdquo / is referred as a main source in discussing the content of the term. The concept of &ldquo / urban architecture&rdquo / can be identified in several theoretical contributions to the field of architecture. In this context, the themes &ldquo / urban artifact&rdquo / developed by Aldo Rossi and &ldquo / urbatecture&rdquo / developed by Bruno Zevi, are discussed in relation to &ldquo / urban architecture&rdquo / . In order to further clarify the concept, its relation to the fields of urban design, urbanism, and landscape urbanism is investigated. While it is distinguished from these fields, &ldquo / urban architecture&rdquo / is defined as an alternative architectural design approach and not as a new field. As an approach to architectural design that operates in an expanded field including landscape design and urbanism, &ldquo / urban architecture&rdquo / points to some strategies that allow to integrate works of architecture into their urban settings. Following this conceptual elaboration, the thesis aims at exploring the design strategies that characterize urban architecture. In this context, strategies related with landscape, infrastructure, and urban field are identified. The strategies based on these themes and their tools of operation are discussed through three case studies that cover Olympic Sculpture Park for the Seattle Art Museum, Kunsthal, and Borneo and Sporenburg.