Stab resistant body armour had been used throughout history, with examples ranging from animal hide construction to the moulded Polycarbonate units typically used by United Kingdom (UK) Police Officers. Such protective articles have historically, and continue to present a number of issues which have shown to impair the operational performance of its wearer including but not exclusive to poor thermal regulation, large masses, and reduced manoeuvrability. A number of developments have been made in an attempt to minimise the effects of such issues. One potential solution yet to be fully explored is the utilisation of Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies. In recent years the use of such manufacturing technologies, particularly Laser Sintering, has successfully demonstrated their suitability for a range of high performance applications ranging from Formula 1® to aerospace. Due to the fundamental additive nature of AM build processes, the utilisation of such technologies have facilitated the realisation of design concepts that are typically too expensive, difficult or impossible to create using traditional manufacturing processes. In order for AM technologies to be used for the generation of stab resistant body armour a number of historical issues and performance characteristics fundamental to ensure stab resistance is achieved must be satisfied. This body of research firstly evaluated the stab resistive performance of two of the most common materials suitable for Laser Sintering as highlighted by an initial review of AM technologies. Once an appropriate material had been highlighted it was used as the basis for further experimental testing. Such tests focussed on minimising the material thickness required to maintain an appropriate level of stab resistance within United Kingdom Home Office Scientific Development Branch (HOSDB) KR1-E1 requirement of 24 Joules of stab impact energy. Test results demonstrated that specimens manufactured from Duraform EX® required a minimum single layer thickness of 11.00 mm, and a dual layer total thickness of 9.00 mm to provide an appropriate level of stab protection within the HOSDB KR1-E1 standard. Coupled with the results generated from an investigation identifying the overlapping/imbricated assembly angle required to maintain an appropriate level of coverage across a scale structure, the stab resistant characteristics initially identified were used for the development of an imbricated scale-like assembly. Additional design features were also investigated to further minimise the total thickness of the final element design and corresponding assembled imbricated structure such features included angling strike surfaces and integrating a dual layered structure within individual elements. When the finalised imbricated assemblies were stab tested, they successfully demonstrated levels of stab resistance to the UK HOSDB KR1-E1 impact energy of 24 Joules.

Objective: The goal of this research was to explore how the design of clothing, specifically the design of the suit, can create height illusions. Background: Taller people enjoy many advantages, such as increased income and perceived attractiveness. These advantages motivate people to try to appear taller than they actually are, and clothing experts provide advice on how to accomplish this. However, there is little empirical evidence to validate the illusory effects clothing might have on overall height perception. The few studies that have explored illusions of body size created by clothing design have been limited in two important ways – the test stimuli have included unnatural body shapes and have failed to include naturalistic context (i.e., surrounding depth and size cues available in real scenes). Method: In the first phase, participants (nonexperts in clothing design) provided suggestions for how to appear taller by changing clothes. In the second phase, participants 1) viewed photographs of a variety of targets wearing suit designs that are commonly believed to manipulate viewers’ perceptions of height, 2) rated the targets on traits associated with height such as income and attractiveness, and 3) estimated the heights of these individuals. This study focused on the potential effects of suit color, specifically overall lightness (light vs. dark) and monochromaticity (monochromatic vs. lightness blocking). The effects of these designs were tested with and without contextual information by presenting targets within a natural streetscape or on a white background. Results: In the first phase, we found that nonexperts provided similar suggestions as experts in clothing design, including those pertaining to monochromaticity and lightness. In the second phase, we found that estimates were more accurate with more contextual information, and that clothing can impact height estimations, where monochromatic outfits yielded taller height estimates, although other outfit comparisons did not have effects. Outfits overall did not impact ratings such as income and attractiveness, although estimated height did correlate with these same social attributes. In an exploration of the impact of contextual and target-specific cues other than clothing on height estimations, we found that height perception was potentially dependent on a variety of factors such as the target's race, location (indoors vs. outdoors), stance, and the presence of nearby people. Scientific merit: This study increased our understanding of the conditions under which illusions of size in simple geometric stimuli generalize to the manipulation of size perception in real-world scenes. Broader impact: A better understanding of biases in height perception is relevant to domains in which such estimates are used to identify individuals (e.g., criminal justice) as well as domains in which visual characteristics of individuals are associated with errors in judgments of performance-based merit. (e.g., personnel selection and promotion).

Children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) are often secluded from society, as the condition is perceived to be a defect. These children constantly fidget, move, lose track of time, and forget to complete tasks, leading them to struggle within existing social environments. Additionally, in Qatar there is a need to educate society about ADHD. This research explores wearable solutions that alter behaviors through physical interactions and sensory engagements. In response to the challenges faced by ADHD, Qatari traditional attire has been customized to support children with time management, and communication between child, parent, and society. Additionally, these wearables challenge Qatari perspectives surrounding existing health conditions in Qatar. Design outcomes consists of clothing elements, driven and shaped by the experiences of ADHD children, their physical behavior, their senses like touch, smell and sight. It addresses the daily conduct of the ADHD child, and the relationship of the child and parent. By challenging existing norms and analyzing the Qatari traditional clothing (the Thobe, the Abaya and the Prayer Bead), design outcomes have been realized by experimenting and playing with materials, prototyping and 3D printing on fabric. Existing functions of zippers, pockets, beads, cuffs and technical construction of the outfit have been redesigned and reconstructed.

Mass production and assembly lines are yesterday’s manufacturing methods. They have exhausted Earth’s resources and limited the possibilities of design in terms of both form and material, prompting designers to search for new processes. A new generation of making includes biomimicry-inspired technologies such as 3D printing and parametric simulation, which have transformed the production paradigm. Utilizing nature as industry, this thesis explores the possibility of “growing” designed objects by employing nature’s own processes and resources. It integrates bio materials, generative design and additive manufacturing to produce objects for a post-industrial world. The project outcomes employ natural minerals, crystallization and 3D printing to develop new forms of making, proposing a new suite of tools for designers.

This thesis paper explores some of the cultural phenomena that influence my conceptual framework and describes the logic behind the formal decision-making that defines my work. Beginning with a description of the nature of the materials and environments I appropriate, this thesis aims to deconstruct the layered system of binaries that build the logic behind my work. The concerns in my work circulate around domestic consumption and the objects detritus, a term coined in the paper, that are produced as a result. However, rather than allow the objects detritus to remain cast-aways of a culture of excess, my work reincorporates these objects as materials in conglomerate sculptures. This thesis depicts the complex of ideas that help delegate how these conglomerate works come into being.

<p dir="ltr">In response to the need for a modernized platform in the medical device industry, this thesis introduces the design of a comprehensive digital B2B (business to business) marketplace. The objective is to provide buyers with a user-friendly interface for streamlined purchases and communication with sellers, while empowering sellers with tools to expand their reach and simplify operations. The methodology involved a combination of on-site case studies, literature reviews, industry research, and user surveys to inform the design process. Through the use of wireframing and user interface design, a cohesive two-part digital service was developed to meet the specific needs of both buyers and sellers effectively.</p><p dir="ltr">The results demonstrate a successful integration of buyer-centric features for enhanced purchasing and seller-centric tools for efficient order fulfillment. For buyers, the marketplace offers an easy-to-navigate interface, transparent pricing, and improved communication channels with sellers. For sellers, it provides a platform to showcase products, manage inventory, and engage with potential buyers. The practical implications of this marketplace highlight the current lack of transparency in pricing and the potential benefits for both buyers and sellers through increased control and direct sales opportunities. By enabling manufacturers to market their products directly, the marketplace offers a solution to reliance on third-party sellers, ultimately enhancing efficiency and transparency in the medical device procurement process.</p>

This thesis specifically focuses on the professional practices and training of Western industrial designers using postcolonial theory to inform working practices in a complex global ecology. It investigates the culturally hegemonic construction of design solutions in man-made products. By adopting key ideas from postcolonial and cultural studies as a lens to evaluate fields of industrial design discourse, practice and pedagogy, the work proceeds from the premise that design is not intrinsic to a product but the result of a myriad different forces and factors acting on it externally including hegemonic potencies. By reinterpreting technological formations in light of research emerging from post-colonial studies, it attempts to broaden our intellectual understanding of how product design in theory, practice and education can often rely upon western [hegemonic] aesthetic and deep cultural archetypes. The purpose of this enquiry is to highlight the potentials that exist to explore a synergy between east and west in industrial design with a prospective vision for global, trans-cultural design. The research claims that current design practice often leads to culturally determined - rather than universal - conceptions in design and it attempts to re-conceptualise design as practice within a necessarily hegemonic culture. This hegemony needs to be acknowledged and redressed via increased awareness and changes to the intellectual heritage and autonomy of West European and American industrial design, in its dialogue, practice and education. As an epistemological project to identify knowledge within this discourse, it suggests new methodological and strategic approaches to engage with the crisis the discipline faces in light of globalisation so as to open up future discussions in design discourse and give a voice to the many silences that make up the noise of the world. It attempts to: • Further understand the trajectory of hegemony and globalisation in relation to design, technology and culture. • Critically engage with cross- and trans-cultural, global and social design implications. • Address the discrepancies between designers’ culture and users’ culture, to expose the necessity for more culturally-cognizant design practice and pedagogic provision. The research was initiated by identifying a number of questions that designers and users may consciously or subconsciously confront when faced with products that problematise the imagined universal values of designed products in terms of gender and culture. It explores how certain design solutions produced and developed in the west and their diffusion into global, international markets and foreign cultures could affect those cultures by asking in what ways the usability, aesthetic and symbolic characteristics of these artefacts often unwittingly contribute to the privilege or marginalisation of people from particular socio-cultural backgrounds. The thesis intervention is that product designers are neither explicitly trained to comprehend nor surmount their respective cultural constraints and design education both nationally and internationally is not sufficiently equipped with the tools to acknowledge and confront this. The key arguments presented in this thesis are: 1. Products can often be deconstructed to identify cultural connotations or omissions in their design. 2. Global, a-cultural design and universal usability are fallacies that frequently deny the existence of an underlying cultural hegemony at play. 3. Mass-produced products can gradually homogenise and eradicate cultural diversity contributing to the negative effects of colonialist attitudes and/or globalisation. 4. Academia and educational institutions have the potential to extend awareness in this field to inform and train future designers and graduates to better advance design obligations in global, trans-cultural, cross-cultural and multicultural contexts.

As a graphic designer and as a creative in general, my interest has always been in the conceptualization and execution of brand identities. I am most comfortable as a designer when I am working in the realm of art direction, and most of my design heroes and inspirations are legendary art directors and designers like Paula Scher, Paul Rand, and Michael Bierut. Logo and wordmark design in particular are among my favorite aspects of design, and finding ways to creatively apply these foundational aspects of a brand to each stage of the user experience is exciting to me. The stages of the user experience which I designed and art directed for my honors thesis included a logo symbol, a wordmark, a set of packaging designs, a storefront, a landing page, and an engaging ad campaign. Designing a brand identity across digital and physical mediums while maintaining a high level of cohesion and story is a rigorous process, and my progress was far from linear. The most important thing I learned was to trust the process; wherever it took me. I am excited to bring what I’ve come to realize during the execution of this project to the industry and to help brands, big and small, design for the digital age across every level of their user experience.

<p>Product evaluation throughout the design process is a fundamental task to ensure product success. Virtual prototyping is displacing physical prototyping for product evaluation due to its lower cost and flexibility to easily generate design alternatives (colors, textures, shapes). The thesis provides a deeper understanding of the influence of the presentation medium on product evaluation. The semantic differential technique was applied in to obtain the consumers’ subjective impression when they observed furniture scenes under two different presentation mediums. High-quality realistic renderings were displayed on a computer screen equipped with an eye-tracker. The same scenes were observed by the same users (repeated measures experimental design) with a virtual reality headset equipped with an integrated eye-tracker (HP Reverb G2 Omnicept). Equivalent areas/volumes of interest were defined to calculate the eye- tracking metric dwell time. Statistical analyses then compared dwell times and values of semantic scales in the 2D and VR conditions to determine if the medium of presentation influenced them.</p> <p><br></p> <p>The experimental data obtained in the thesis confirmed that both the consumer’s subjective impression measured through bipolar pairs and the level of confidence in its assessment was influenced by the visual medium. However, the level of confidence in the assessment of a semantic scale of a product presented on VR was not affected by the sense of presence.</p> <p><br></p> <p>The amount of time (dwell time) that subjects spend looking at a specific product on a joint or individual visualization were influenced by the visual medium.</p>

For centuries, Arabic music has been intrinsically linked to Arab culture and by extension bonded to the environmental landscape of the region, reflecting their emotions, moods, and behaviors. Numerous technological advancements in the latter half of the twentieth century, have greatly affected the rich legacy of Arabic music, significantly impacting the natural progression of traditional Arabic musical genres, scales, and instrumentation. This thesis serves as an introduction to generative methods of music production, specifically music generated through gestures. Through generative music, and its unique ability to map gestures to different musical parameters, music can be produced using computer algorithms. The outcome of this thesis aims to demystify the intricacies of recent technological advancements to enable the musician and the audience to incorporate responsive technology into their ensembles. This approach aims to further evolve Arabic music, using the concepts of Arabic music creativity while addressing international accessibility through integration. The intention of this thesis is to bridge between the contemporary and the traditional Arabic audiences and provides insight into a possible future of Arabic music based on its own fundamental principles.