Product life cycle perspective, a concept emanating from sustainable product development has gradually emerged as one of the key areas in product design and development. Several studies and research have shown the direct co-relationship between product design, development and manufacturing and its impact on our environment and ecosystem. The need to take these environmental factors into consideration is fundamental and highly prioritized in organizations that seeks to minimize the environmental impact of their operations in our ecosystem and if possible redirect these operations to contribute positively to saving the natural ecosystem. In the latest revision of ISO 14001:2015 standard, the term product life cycle perspective (LCP) has now become a fundamental requirement for organizations to fulfill. The requirement specifies the need for life cycle perspectives to be a significant factor during product design and development. However, the practical challenges of continuously integrating life circle analysis in product design is enormous for companies and organizations. This thesis will look at the challenges confronting ISO 14001 certified product manufacturing companies and allied services in implementing product LCP during product development and design and also the interpretations given by auditors from certification companies concerning how companies implement product LCP in relation to the requirements in ISO 14001:2015 at the product design and development stages.

This thesis aims at developing a (dis/re)assembly oriented methodology towards product end-of-life. Particular focus in this thesis is on the circularity of furniture via design for (dis/re)assembly. The main motivation behind this study was the need for a method to evaluate the (dis/re)assembly options of furniture designs to be able to facilitate repair, reuse, remanufacturing, refurbishing, or recycling. The study draws upon relevant theories and prior research on Circular product Design, Design for EoL, Design for Environment, and Design for (Dis)assembly of vehicles, electrical and elocronic equipments, whitegoods, as well as office furniture, though relatively limited. The proposed methodology determines major aspects of design for (dis/re)assembly to be taken in to consideration in the early stages of product development. It further provides a set of parameters that are relevant to cabinet type and upholstery furniture group. The study involves a variety of qualitative research methods that are embedded in an interactive research conduct with the engagement of different stakeholders that are charged with the task of product development at Ikea of Sweden (IoS), the collaborator of this study.  The proposed methodology is implemented on three selected furniture designs in a pilot study. The results of the study, above all, suggest that (dis/re)assemblability of a product is a strategic choice that needs to be made at early phases of product development, namely the design phase. Two particular features of the furniture groups, upon which this study focuses, emerges as factors having negative impact on the disassemblability of products: first, wooden frame sofas with respect to their complex structure and connectivity of componants and, second, permanent joints with respect to their destructive impact on the product. The study concludes that it is feasible to develop and implement a potentially comprehensible method to evaluate the ease of disassembly of furniture products and to design for disassembly. The proposed methodology in this study is a contribution to support product design for disassembly towards product circularity.

Dissertation (PhD)--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The globalisation is increasing the complexity of product development in terms of product variants and the range of technologies implemented. It emphasises the requirement for developing various design information support systems for the world market. However, small and medium enterprises that employ a wide range of design procedures may not be able to afford customised information support systems, with the result that there is a need for flexible, i.e. easily adaptable, design support tools. Four case studies were carried out to investigate the requirements for an information support system aimed at the design process and design documents. They indicated that a design information support system aimed at supporting design teams in the pre-detail mechanical design phases should be able to adapt various design methods and handle design information in a flexible way. Flexible here means being applicable over a wide range of contexts and extendable without affecting data already captured. Ontology based approaches are widely applied where diverse information has to be handled. The development of the Internet today also makes a distributed design approach more and more popular for mechanical design. An internet-based design support system called DiDeas II (Distributed Design assistant) was developed here with an ontologybased approach implemented to provide distributed and flexible assistance during concept generation in small companies. The DiDeas II has separate server side and client side programs, which communicate through a TCP/IP connection. DiDeas II allows design teams to manage their design information according to various design methods, to decrease time-delays and to improve communication between team members. These benefits were confirmed in two case studies carried out to evaluate DiDeas II. Keywords: Distributed design; ontology; concept design, web-based system. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Globalisering verhoog die kompleksiteit van produkontwikkeling, in terme van produk variante en die bereik van tegnologieë wat geïmplementeer word. Dit beklemtoon die behoefte om verskeie ontwerp-inligting-ondersteuningstelsels vir die wêreldmark te ontwikkel. Klein en medium ondernemings wat 'n wye spektrum ontwerpsprosedures gebruik, kan egter nie doelgemaakte inligting-ondersteuningstelsels bekostig nie, met die gevolg dat daar 'n behoefte vir maklik-aanpasbare ontwerp ondersteuningstelsels is. Vier gevallestudies is uitgevoer om die vereistes vir 'n inligting-ondersteuningstelsel gemik op die ontwerpproses en ontwerp dokumente, te ondersoek. Dit het aangetoon dat 'n ontwerp-inligting-ondersteuningstelsel, wat ontwerpspanne in die voor-detail meganiese ontwerp fases moet ondersteun, by verskeie ontwerpmetodes moet kan aanpas en ontwerpsinligting op 'n aanpasbare manier kan hanteer. Aanpasbaarheid in hierdie konteks beteken toepaslik oor 'n wye spektrum kontekste en uitbreibaar sonder om data wat alreeds ingevoer is, te beïnvloed. Ontologie-gebaseerde benaderings word wyd toegepas waar diverse inligting hanteer moet word. Die ontwikkeling van die Internet maak 'n verspreide-ontwerpbenadering meer en meer gewild vir meganiese ontwerp. 'n Internet-gebaseerde ontwerpondersteuningstelstel genaamd DiDeas II (Distributed Design assistant) is hier ontwikkel met 'n ontologie-gebaseerde benadering wat daarop gemik is om verspreide, aanpasbare hulp te verleen aan klein maatskappye gedurende konsep- ontwikkeling. Die DiDeas II stelsel het afsonderlike bediener en kliënt programme wat deur 'n TCP/IP verbinding kommunikeer. DiDeas II laat ontwerpspanne toe om hulle ontwerp inligting volgens verskeie ontwerpmetodes te bestuur, tydvertragings te verminder en om kommunikasie tussen spanlede te verbeter. Hierdie voordele is bevestig in twee gevallestudies wat uitgevoer is om DiDeas II te evalueer. Sleutelwoorde: Verspreide ontwerp; ontologie; konsepontwerp; web-gebaseerde stelsel.

This thesis describes and demonstrates a method for consolidating, developing, and using green design guidelines for the innovation of greener products. Life cycle analysis (LCA) is one well-accepted tool for quantifying the environmental impacts of a product so designers can identify areas for redesign effort. However, LCA is a retrospective design tool that requires detailed design information that isn’t known until designs are near completion. Alternatively, green design guidelines provide proven techniques for designing greener products. They can be used during the early stages of design, when many decisions fundamental to innovation and environmental impact are made and before LCA is viable. This thesis extends the work already done in green design guidelines, by updating the current knowledge base and introducing a method for extending the set of existing guidelines to encompass new and emerging areas of sustainability. While guidelines have been created from prior experience in design for environment and life cycle analysis, they have not been maintained as a shared and coordinated repertoire of green design solutions. Instead, sets of guidelines are scattered throughout the literature, contain overlaps, operate at different levels of abstraction, and have varying levels of completeness. For example, some areas of green design guidelines, such as design for disassembly, are well established, while other areas of green design guidelines, such as minimizing energy consumption during use, are still being explored. Additionally, while numerous examples of green design guidelines exist, many of the guidelines have no documented validation of their life cycle impacts. The work for this thesis began with the compilation of a dynamic knowledge base of green design guidelines. This set of guidelines is a consolidation and updating of the green design guidelines already available in literature and can be used as a starting poinrt for future improvements and extensions as the field develops. A standard method was then proposed and tested for creating guidelines in currently undeveloped areas of green design, particularly energy consumption during the operation of a product. The method employs reverse engineering techniques and life cycle analysis to identify green requirements and develop corresponding, new green design guidelines. A case study of electric kettles demonstrated the usefulness of the method by yielding four new guidelines and four, corresponding, energy saving re-designs. For this example, the redesigns showed that guidelines can reduce energy consumption, but may incur tradeoffs with other life cycle stages. Calculation of tradeoffs revealed a range of net life cycle impact values that were caused by increased manufacturing demands and variability in consumer use habits. In addition to redesign in the kettle study, the four new guidelines were tested for usefulness in new product design by use of focus groups. Two groups were tasked with designing a new energy efficient toaster concept. Only one group was given the four green design guidelines that were uncovered using the proposed method. The design group using the new green design guidelines produced more viable and practical green features than the design group that did not have the guidelines as a design tool. These preliminary results suggest that the proposed method is useful for creating new guidelines that are beneficial to design teams tackling novel design problems that differ from the original case study. Further work is needed to establish the statistical significance of these results. / text

With the continuous development in computer and communications technology the use of computer aided design in design processes is becoming more commonplace. A wide range of virtual prototyping technologies are currently in development, some of which are commercially viable for use within a product design process. These virtual prototyping technologies range from graphics tablets to haptic devices. With the compression of design cycles the feasibility of using these technologies for product evaluation is becoming an ever more important consideration. This thesis begins by presenting the findings of a comprehensive literature review defining product design with a focus on product evaluation and a discussion of current virtual prototyping technologies. From the literature review it was clear that user involvement in the product evaluation process is critical. The literature review was followed by a series of interconnected studies starting with an investigation into design consultancies' access and use of prototyping technologies and their evaluation methods. Although design consultancies are already using photo-realistic renderings, animations and sometimes 3600 view CAD models for their virtual product evaluations, current virtual prototyping hardware and software is often unsatisfactory for their needs. Some emergent technologies such as haptic interfaces are currently not commonly used in industry. This study was followed by an investigation into users' psychological acceptance and physiological discomfort when using a variety of virtual prototyping tools for product evaluation compared with using physical prototypes, ranging from on-screen photo-realistic renderings to 3D 3600 view models developed using a range of design software. The third study then went on to explore the feasibility of using these virtual prototyping tools and the effect on product preference when compared to using physical prototypes. The forth study looked at the designer's requirements for current and future virtual prototyping tools, design tools and evaluation methods. In the final chapters of the thesis the relative strengths and weaknesses of these technologies were re-evaluated and a definitive set of user requirements based on the documentary evidence of the previous studies was produced. This was followed by the development of a speculative series of scenarios for the next generation of virtual prototyping technologies ranging from improvements to existing technologies through to blue sky concepts. These scenarios were then evaluated by designers and consumers to produce documentary evidence and recommendations for preferred and suitable combinations of virtual prototyping technologies. Such hardware and software will require a user interface that is intuitive, simple, easy to use and suitable for both the designers who create the virtual prototypes and the consumers who evaluate them.

We live in a very busy world with a variety of sensory stimulation including the olfactory, visual, tactile, and auditory. The five senses are triggered by our surroundings and help us to form meaning about the world.ⅰ Based on where someone grows up, she or he is introduced to various sites and sounds, affecting how they interpret the world. Sounds relate meaning through the association between hearing, memory and an event. Hearing is one of the learning processes, in which individuals give, receive, and store information. We typically rely on our five senses, which contribute to the process of understanding, communicating, and comprehending information. Moving beyond visual perception requires systematic attention to individual learning modalities.ⅱ Sound is one of the developing areas in the field of perception that moves beyond vision to help people understand nature, objects, narratives and varieties of perception. In order to comprehend how people hear, it is important to understand the role of perception. Sound functions as a signal, but also varies according to the capacity to hear. An individual’s physical ability to hear, and their unique experiences with sound, differ from one person to the next, and can result in a range of emotions and reactions. Certain sounds, like the voice of a loved one, also have the power to trigger emotion and convey meaning due to the association between hearing, memory and specific events from one›s past In short, the three aspects of sound perception–signal, hearing, and emotional reaction–play an integral role in auditory perception and the subjectivity of sound. However, the value of sound is often taken for granted or viewed as secondary to visual perception. This thesis will explore the value of sound perception by investigating two of its primary aspects–hearing and emotional response–in application to memory. Through a series of experiential objects, that trigger the senses. The aim is to utilize design to memorialize precious sounds in order to raise awareness about the emotional value of sound to the human experience.

Den här uppsatsen undersöker hur språket kan hjälpa att beskriva den kvalitet hos en produkt som utgör dess identitet, det som ligger inbäddat i formspråk och det en designer gör när hen ger form. För detta har jag tagit avstamp i forskning kring de neurologiska fenomenen synestesi och ideastesi vilka hjälper oss översätta abstrakta koncept sinnen emellan. Mot bakgrund av detta har jag genomfört en undersökning i användande av personliga egenskaper för att beskriva färg samt form och sedan använt datan för att beskriva tre olika designföretags formgivning. Jag har funnit att det här språket inte går att göra objektivt, som en kan använda för att stoppa in data och få ut en färdig produkt, där form a plus färg b är lika med respons c, utan att det krävs en designer som tar subjektiva beslut för att fånga upp de små detaljerna. Samtidigt har jag kunnat se att det verbala språket är en riktigt bra grund för mig som designer att tänka över mina formbeslut och göra mig klarsynt i min process. / This paper investigates how language can help describe the quality within a product that make up it's identity, what's embedded in design aesthetics and what designers do when they give shape to objects. For this I have looked into research in the neurological phenomena synesthesia and ideasthesia which help us translate abstract concepts between our different senses. With this in mind, I have conducted a test in using personal traits to describe colors and shapes, later using the data to to describe three different design companies' design aesthetics. What I've found is that this language can't be objective and therefore cannot be used as a way of putting data in to get a finished product, where shape a plus color b equals response c. All without requiring a designer to make subjective decisions to make sure the tiny details and nuances get picked up. At the same time I've realized that this language is a good foundation for me, as a designer, to stand on and use to reflect on my decisions and give me clarity in my process.

Intense competition in the food sector makes food-product design play a significant role in the consumers' choices. Product design includes a number of parameters among which the product's color is one of the factors that matters the most. Emotions are of high importance when choosing low-involvement products. The above assumptions indicate the purpose of this research that is to examine the meaning and correlation of associations between emotional attributes, colors and food-products, which the consumer subconctiously takes into consideration when choosing food-products. The theoretical framework for the research is based on a number of academic papers concerning emotional connections people have towards colors, as well as emotional connections when it comes to making a purchase. An experiment and a survey among 200 respondents have been carried out to investigate the phenomenon. The food product which became the survey objective was coffee and the studied colors were primary and secondary colors. The result clearly depicts there are associations between emotional attributes and various colors of food products, moreover, that one of the emotional attributes and one of the colors had a stronger interconnection than others. This leads to the conclusion that the associations between emotional attributes, colors and food products help consumers to make choices more effectively. Keywords: marketing, choice, associations, colors, emotions, emotial attributes, product design / En intensiv konkurrens inom livsmedelsbranschen bidrar till att livsmedelsprodukters design spelar en central roll vid konsumenters valsituationer. Produktdesign utmärks av ett antal parametrar var av produktens färg är en av de viktigaste. Vid transaktioner av lågengagemangsprodukter spelar känslor en avgörande roll för konsumentens beslut. Detta resonemang leder till denna studies syfte vilket söker att utreda vilken betydelse som associationer mellan känsloattribut, färger och livsmedel har för valsituationen av livsmedelsprodukter. Det teoretiska ramverket för studien är framtagen ur ett antal forskares artiklar som behandlar emotionella sammankopplingar som människor har med färger samt vid transaktioner av produkter. För att utreda fenomenet har ett experiment och en enkät genomförts ur ett urval med 200 respondenter. Undersökningsobjektet i form av livsmedel inom studien blev kaffe och de utvalda färgerna blev primär- och sekundärfärgerna. Resultatet för undersökningen påvisar att det finns vissa samband mellan känsloattributen för olika färger och livsmedlet kaffe och det betraktades att det finns indikatorer som visade på att ett känsloattribut och en färg hade en särskilt stark sammankoppling. Detta mynnar ut i slutsatsen för undersökningen vilket är att betydelsen för associationer mellan livsmedel, färger och känsloattribut vid konsumenters valsituationer är att de hjälper till att effektivisera för konsumenterna att genomföra dessa val. Nyckelord: marknadsföring, valsituation, val, associationer, färger, känslor, känsloattribut, produktdesign

"Handicraft" means a useful or decorative object made by a craftsman who has direct control over all stages of production. Handicrafts have always had a greater value, an identity of their own that is reflective of their place, culture and materials, as well as a sense of belonging to a particular place and time. With the ever-growing mass production that followed the Industrial Revolution, we lost those crafts to multiple reasons: one being cheaper, industrial-made products reducing the demand for handicrafts, and another being a shift in consumer tastes. Most craftspeople hardly earn enough to survive and fulfill their basic needs, and naturally seek greater economic stability. In hopes of making a better future for their children, they send them to schools to gain knowledge that could help them gain employment and be able to make better livings for themselves and their families, halting the passing of knowledge. Hence, the heritage of skills that had been passed for generations in a family comes to end. This risks the loss of a craft that once was a source of pride and joy for these artisans – and for the larger community There are a number of efforts going on around the globe to preserve the indigenous crafts of different cultures, and to allow that knowledge to be passed down to new generations. My focus in this paper is a specific object (the charpai) from the Jandi craft, and its preservation through innovation. My work seeks to advance and preserve the skills and traditions of the artisans, while designing a new set of products inspired by the craft that hope to reconnect more artisans to the craft and empower them in terms of knowledge and finance.

Os óculos se destacam por sua função social no atendimento das necessidades humanas, se considerados os indivíduos que dependem deste produto em sua condição de órtese. Este trabalho considera que para o público infantil, o projeto do produto de armações, demanda estudos e pesquisas, para propor resoluções técnicas, formais e estéticas adequadas, mas, sobretudo para captar os aspectos perceptivos, subjetivos e emocionais, que despertem a afeição desse segmento social com este objeto. A pesquisa teve como principal objetivo a definição e proposta de diretrizes para auxiliar no projeto do produto óculos para o público infantil. Para isto, foram utilizadas abordagens metodológicas do design, que consideram os indivíduos envolvidos como elementos centrais no processo do projeto, a exemplo do Design Centrado no Humano (DCH), adotado como estratégia fundamental no enfoque desta dissertação.A pesquisa presenta um levantamento histórico sobre o produto óculos e sobre as normas já existentes para o seu projeto; além de uma revisão sobre as abordagens metodológicas de design centradas nos indivíduos; e as coletas de dados considerando as crianças usuárias de óculos de 6 a 11 anos e as seguintes partes envolvidas, ou seja, os stakeholders - os responsáveis ou cuidadores; os oftalmopediatras e os atendentes das óticas. Para cada grupo foi definido um método a ser aplicado, com intuito de coletar informações sobre as diferentes visões do produto, considerando principalmente os aspectos emocionais e comportamentais envolvidos nas relações das crianças com as armações. Foram utilizados os procedimentos de storytelling e \'prototipar para empatia\', aplicados com as crianças; entrevistas individuais realizadas com oftalmopediatras e atendentes de óticas; e questionários com os cuidadores. A análise e a discussão dos resultados obtidos em cada um dos métodos foram confrontadas através de relações de triangulação, contribuindo para elencar as diretrizes para o projeto das armações, com conteúdose aspectos objetivos e subjetivos, referendando o uso das metodologias adotadas, e desta perspectiva de aproximação com as emoções de desejos das crianças em relação aos seus óculos, como fundamentais para a atuação em design de produto. / The glasses stands out for their social function in the attendance of human needs, if we consider whom depends on this product in orthoses condition. This research considered for the children audience, the demand for glasses design studies and research to propose technical, formal and appropriate aesthetic resolutions, but, especially to capture the perceptual, subjective and emotional aspects that arouse affection of this social segment with this object. The research aimed to define and propose guidelines to design glasses for children. The methodological approaches adopted considered the user and the individuals involved in the process as central elements in the design process, such as the study of Human Centered Design (HCD). The research presents historical study on the glasses and the existing standards for its project; the design methodologies geared to individuals, and the data collection considering children whom wear glasses of 6 to 11 years and the following third parties involved called stakeholders - the adults caregivers; the pediatric ophthalmology and the optical attendants. For each stakeholder was defined a method to be applied, aiming to collect information about the different views of the product, especially considering the emotional and behavioral relationships involved in children\'s issues with the frames. For the children were applied two methods, the storytelling and prototype for empathy; the individual interviews method was applied with pediatric ophthalmology and optical attendants and questionnaire method was applied with caregivers. The analysis and discussion of the results obtained in each method was compared using triangulation relationship, contributing to define the guidelines for design children glasses, based on the adopted methodology the guidelines has objective and subjective aspects in its contents, approaching of the children\'s emotions and wishes regarding their glasses, a very important issue for design this product.