National Programme on Micro and Smart Materials and Systems (NPMASS) / A computer-aided technique is developed in this thesis to systematically generate concepts for sensors of a wide variety. A database of building blocks, based on physical laws and effects that capture the transduction rules underlying the working principles of sensors, has been developed to synthesize concepts. The proposed method uses the database to first create a concept-space graph and then selects concepts that correspond to paths in the graph. This is in contrast to and more efficient than existing methods, such as, compositional synthesis and graph-grammar synthesis, where solution paths are laid out first and then a concept-space graph is generated. The research also explores an approach for synthesis of concepts for closed-loop sensors, where a quantity is sensed indirectly after nullifying its effect by using negative feedback. These sensors use negative feedback to increase the dynamic range of operation without compromising the sensitivity and resolution. According to the literature, generation of un-interesting solutions is a major drawback of the building block-based synthesis approaches. In the proposed approach, this shortcoming is mitigated substantially by using some rules. For a number of the concepts generated, in the sensor problems attempted, we found that those concepts were already implemented in existing patents; thus emphasising the usefulness of the concepts produced. The synthesis approach proposed new, feasible sensor concepts, thereby indicating its potential as a stimulator for enhancing creativity of designers. Another important problem is to improve the robustness of designs. Robustness can be achieved by minimizing the side effects. Side effects are defined as unwanted effects that affect the intended working of the sensor. The research presents an algorithm that (a) predicts the potential side effects for the synthesized concepts of sensors; (b) aids in quantifying the magnitude of the side effects, thus helping the designer to predict the significant side effects; and (c) suggests ways to improve the robustness of the design.

Evaluation of the performance of a product and its components under impact loading is one of the key considerations in design. In order to assess resistance to damage or ability to absorb energy through plastic deformation of a structural component, impact testing is often carried out to obtain the 'Force - Displacement' response of the deformed component. In this context, it may be noted that load cells and accelerometers are commonly used as sensors for capturing impact responses. A drop-weight impact testing set-up consisting of a moving impactor head with a lightweight piezoresistive accelerometer and a strain gage based compression load cell mounted on it is used to carry out the impact tests. The basic objective of the present study is to assess the accuracy of responses recorded by the said transducers, when these are mounted on a moving impactor head. In the present work, a novel approach of theoretically evaluating the responses obtained from this drop-weight impact testing set-up for different axially loaded specimen has been executed with the formulation of an equivalent lumped parameter model (LPM) of the test set-up. For the most common configuration of a moving impactor head mounted load cell system in which dynamic load is transferred from the impactor head to the load cell, a quantitative assessment is made of the possible discrepancy that can result in load cell response. Initially, a 3-DOF (degrees-of-freedom) LPM is considered to represent a given impact testing set-up with the test specimen represented with a nonlinear spring. Both the load cell and the accelerometer are represented with linear springs, while the impacting unit comprising an impactor head (hammer) and a main body with the load cell in between are modelled as rigid masses. An experimentally obtained force-displacement response is assumed to be a nearly true behaviour of a specimen. By specifying an impact velocity to the rigid masses as an initial condition, numerical solution of the governing differential equations is obtained using Implicit (Newmark-beta) and Explicit (Central difference) time integration techniques. It can be seen that the model accurately reproduces the input load-displacement behaviour of the nonlinear spring corresponding to the tested component, ensuring the accuracy of these numerical methods. The nonlinear spring representing the test specimen is approximated in a piecewise linear manner and the solution strategy adopted and implemented in the form of a MATLAB script is shown to yield excellent reproduction of the assumed load-displacement behaviour of the test specimen. This prediction also establishes the accuracy of the numerical approach employed in solving the LPM system. However, the spring representing the load cell yields a response that qualitatively matches the assumed input load-displacement response of the test specimen with a lower magnitude of peak load. The accelerometer, it appears, may be capable of predicting more closely the load experienced by a specimen provided an appropriate mass of the impactor system i.e. impacting unit, is chosen as the multiplier for the acceleration response. Error between input and computed (simulated) responses is quantified in terms of root mean square error (RMSE). The present study additionally throws light on the dependence of time step of integration on numerical results. For obtaining consistent results, estimation of critical time step (increment) is crucial in conditionally stable central difference method. The effect of the parameters of the impact testing set-up on the accuracy of the predicted responses has been studied for different combinations of main impactor mass and load cell stiffness. It has been found that the load cell response is oscillatory in nature which points out to the need for suitable filtering for obtaining the necessary smooth variation of axial impact load with respect to time as well as deformation. Accelerometer response also shows undulations which can similarly be observed in the experimental results as well. An appropriate standard SAE-J211 filter which is a low-pass Butterworth filter has been used to remove oscillations from the computed responses. A load cell is quite capable of predicting the nature of transient response of an impacted specimen when it is part of the impacting unit, but it may substantially under-predict the magnitudes of peak loads. All the above mentioned analysis for a 3 DOF model have been performed for thin-walled tubular specimens made of mild steel (hat-section), an aluminium alloy (square cross-section) and a glass fibre-reinforced composite (circular cross-section), thus confirming the generality of the inferences drawn on the computed responses. Further, results obtained using explicit and implicit methodologies are compared for three specimens, to find the effect, if any, on numerical solution procedure on the conclusions drawn. The present study has been further used for investigating the effects of input parameters (i.e. stiffness and mass of the system components, and impact velocity) on the computed results of transducers. Such an investigation can be beneficial in designing an impact testing set-up as well as transducers for recording impact responses. Next, the previous 3 DOF model representing the impact testing set-up has been extended to a 5 DOF model to show that additional refinement of the original 3 DOF model does not substantially alter the inferences drawn based on it. In the end, oscillations observed in computed load cell responses are analysed by computing natural frequencies for the 3 DOF lumped parameter model. To conclude the present study, a 2 DOF LPM of the given impact testing set-up with no load cell has been investigated and the frequency of oscillations in the accelerometer response is seen to increase corresponding to the mounting resonance frequency of the accelerometer. In order to explore the merits of alternative impact testing set-ups, LPMs have been formulated to idealize test configurations in which the load cell is arranged to come into direct contact with the specimen under impact, although the accelerometer is still mounted on the moving impactor head. One such arrangement is to have the load cell mounted stationary on the base under the specimen and another is to mount the load cell on the moving impactor head such that the load cell directly impacts the specimen. It is once again observed that both these models accurately reproduce the input load-displacement behaviour of the nonlinear spring corresponding to the tested component confirming the validity of the model. In contrast to the previous set-up which included a moving load cell not coming into contact with the specimen, the spring representing the load cell in these present cases yields a response that more closely matches the assumed input load-displacement response of a test specimen suggesting that the load cell coming into direct contact with the specimen can result in a more reliable measurement of the actual dynamic response. However, in practice, direct contact of the load cell with the specimen under impact loading is likely to damage the transducer, and hence needs to be mounted on the moving head, resulting in a loss of accuracy, which can be theoretically estimated and corrected by the methodology investigated in this work.

Produktkoncept för en dubbelhaspel för plåt – För effektivisering inom stålindustrin vid hantering av plåt, är ett projekt som genomförts på Karlstads universitet i samarbete med Camatec Industriteknik AB och är ett examensarbete i högskoleingenjörsutbildningen ’Innovationsteknik och Design’. Projektet handlar om att ta fram ett produktkoncept för en dubbelhaspel. Camatec Industriteknik AB är ett konsultföretag och arbetar i en nära relation med företaget Camcoil Systems AB. Camcoil Systems AB tillverkar idag enkelhasplar, maskiner som används inom stålindustrin vid hantering av tunn plåt, bandplåt. Camcoil Systems AB har uttryckt en önskan att på sikt även tillverka dubbelhasplar. Genom detta projekt läggs en grund för Camcoil Systems AB att ta vid och vidareutveckla det framtagna konceptet. För att ta fram ett hållbart produktkoncept har fyra huvudkategorier undersökts; marknad, teknik, design samt budget. Säkerhet är en kategori som också tas hänsyn till i projektet. I projekt tillämpas designprocessen för att nå målet. En förstudie ligger till grund för hela projektet, där de fyra nämnda huvudkategorierna samt vetenskapliga teorier vad gäller perception, färglära, produktutveckling samt gestaltningslagar behandlas. Det framtagna konceptet består av enkla former uttryckt i runda former där dess utseende och funktion går hand i hand och på så sätt förstärker varandra. Konceptet besitter samtidigt en hållbar teknik och en god säkerhet som ryms inom Camcoil Systems AB’s kostnadsram. Med det framtagna konceptet skapas ett hållbart underlag och möjliggör en vidareutveckling för Camcoil Systems AB att på sikt vara en potentiell aktör på marknaden vad gäller dubbelhasplar. / Product concept for a double-reel for sheet metal – For a more effective process in steel-industry in handling sheet metal, is a project as implemented at Karlstad university in cooperation with Camatec Industriteknik AB and is an examination of the engineering education ’Innovationsteknik och Design’. The project is about to develop a product concept for a double-reel. Camatec Industriteknik AB is a consulting company and works in a close relationship with the company Camcoil Systems AB. Camcoil Systems AB manufactures single-reel’s, machines as used in the steel industry in handling thin sheet, strip steel. Camcoil Systems AB has expressed the desire to in the future be a double-reel manufacture. By this project Camcoil Systems AB wants to build a base to develop the produced concept. In order to develop a sustainable product concept there are four major categories in this project which are investigated; Market, technology, design and budget. Security is something that is also taken into consideration in the project. The design-process is applied in order to achieve the goal. A feasibility study is the basis for the entire project, where all these four main categories, scientific theories regarding to perception, colour theory, product development and design laws are treated. The produced concept is built upon a clean design in which the functions and the design are synchronized towards each other. In that way, they reinforce each other. There are also a sustainable technology and a good security. At the same time the costs are not too high. With the produced concept, there is a foundation which enables a further development for Camcoil Systems AB to be a potential entrant for the market in producing double-reels.

As alpine skiing is becoming more and more popular the need for sustainable products are increasing in order to enable great skiing and snowy winters in the future. The ski industry is unfortunately far behind many other industries when it comes to sustainability and the shift towards sustainable skis is going slow. Norse Skis is a unique ski manufacturer as they have a sustainable profile and are always in the lookout for new possibilities to take that forward. The goal in this master thesis project is to develop a pair of sustainable skis that will widen Norse Skis’ product catalog. The project was conducted in collaboration with Norse Skis as a master thesis project within the degree of Industrial Design Engineering at Luleå University of Technology. During the development of the skis, the user-centered design process Design Thinking Process was used. The process was divided into three phases; Inspiration, Ideation, and Implementation. During the design process, most of the energy was put on creating a ski that meets the user needs and is as sustainable as possible. Through constant dialog with the users, feedback and evaluation were gained to customize the product to the needs and opinions of the users. To develop skis that are as sustainable as possible, the project has had its base in the three aspects of sustainability; ecological, economic, and social, which are defined in the Brundtland report (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987).  At the beginning of the project, a deep understanding of alpine skis and alpine skiing was gathered. This was followed by a thorough examination of the users through surveys and user observations. It was identified that the users spent most of their time skiing on the piste, but had a vision of being an off-piste skier. This led to the conclusion of designing a ski that is high performing on-piste but also gives the user the possibility to great off-piste skiing. In a benchmarking, Norse Skis’ current skis were compared to their competitors’ to identify Norse Skis’ strengths and what could be improved. When an understanding of the product and the users was gained, the project proceeded into the ideation phase. In the ideation phase solutions on lengths, shapes, names, colors, graphics, and materials were created. Through user surveys, three concepts were created which eventually resulted in one final design. The project result is a pair of 90 mm wide skis with focus on sustainability that are high performing and playful in the piste while providing a nice off-piste ride as well. From the social aspect, they are created with the skier in mind instead of either men, women, or some specific age group. By using materials that are more environmentally friendly than what is used in Norse Skis’ skis today and that either have the same or lower price, the skis are more sustainable from both an ecologic and economic perspective. The design has been approved by the users which led to the recommendation of broadening Norse Skis’ current product catalog with the ski that was the result of this master thesis project. / Samtidigt som skidåkning blir mer och mer populärt för var dag som går så ökar behovet av hållbara produkter som möjliggör framtida snöiga vintrar och bra skidåkning. Tyvärr ligger dagens skidtillverkare långt bakom många andra branscher när det kommer till hållbarhet och skiftet mot hållbara skidor går trögt. Norse Skis är en unik skidtillverkare då de har en hållbar profil och ständigt letar efter möjligheter att komma ännu längre fram i utvecklingen. Målet i detta examensarbete är att utveckla ett par hållbara skidor som kan bredda Norse Skis produktkatalog. Projektet utfördes i samarbete med Norse Skis som ett examensarbete på Civilingenjör Teknisk Design med inriktning produktdesign vid Luleå Tekniska Universitet. Under utvecklingen av skidorna användes den användarcentrerade designprocessen Design Thinking Process som är uppdelad i tre faser; Inspiration, Ideation, och Implementation. Under designprocessen låg fokus på att skapa en skida som uppfyller användarbehoven och samtidigt är så hållbar som möjligt. Genom att hela tiden återkoppla med användarna för utvärdering och feedback kunde produkten anpassas efter deras behov och tycke. För att utveckla en så hållbara skida som möjligt har projektet utgått från de tre perspektiven av hållbarhet; ekologisk, ekonomisk, och social som identifieras i Brundtlandsrapporten (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987).  I projektets startskede införskaffades en djup förståelse alpina skidor och alpin skidåkning. Detta följdes av djupdykning i användaren genom enkäter och användarobservationer. Det identifierades att användaren spenderar mest tid i pisten, men har en vision om att vara en off-pist åkare. Detta ledde fram till slutsatsen att designa en skida som är högpresterande i pisten med också ger användaren möjlighet till bra off-pist åkning. I en benchmarking jämfördes sedan Norse Skis nuvarande skidor med konkurrenternas för att identifiera Norse Skis styrkor och vad som kunde göras bättre. När en förståelse över produkten och användarna skapats gick projektet in i idégeneringsfasen. Där skapade olika lösningsförslag på längder, former, namn, färg, grafik, och material. Genom användarundersökningar kunde tre slutkoncept tas fram som slutligen resulterade i ett slutgiligt resultat. Projektresultatet är ett par 90 mm breda skidor med fokus på hållbarhet som är högpresterande och lekfulla i pisten som även ger en härlig åkning utanför. Ur den sociala aspekten är de gjorda för skidåkare istället för enbart män, kvinnor eller någon specifik åldersgrupp. Genom användning av material som är miljövänligare än de som Norse Skis tidigare använt och antingen har samma eller lägre pris så är skidor både hållbarare ur både ett ekologisk och ett ekonomiskt perspektiv. Designen har bekräftats av användarna vilket ledde till att rekommendationen att bredda Norses Skis produktkatalog med skidorna som var resultatet av detta examensarbete.

Le déploiement du développement durable passe par des enjeux de transition sociétale et technique auxquels cherche à répondre le Design for Sustainability (DfS). Dans le cadre de la conception des systèmes de production, et en particulier pour les produits manufacturés, les impacts environnementaux que ce soit en termes de consommation de ressources ou de rejets (déchets, émissions) doivent être intégrés comme des paramètres de conception. L’évaluation des impacts environnementaux (par exemple par l’Analyse de Cycle de Vie, ACV) doit donc s’articuler avec la gestion du cycle de vie des produits (PLM). L’inventaire de cycle de vie, ICV est un élément central du lien entre le système de production et son environnement, caractérisé par des informations géographiques et spatiales sur l’écosphère. Le travail de thèse proposé stipule que les impacts environnementaux des systèmes conçus dépendent de cette caractérisation géographique. Les approches d’écoconception et de DFS doivent donc intégrer ces informations géographiques ce qu’elles ne font que très peu, ces informations n’étant pas intégré dans les outils de conception. La thèse propose donc une approche de modélisation pour intégrer les informations relatives au produit et son système de production (via le PLM), l’évaluation de son potentiel d’impact environnemental (via l’ACV et en particulier l’ICV), et les informations géographiques en conception. Pour cela, les informations géographiques à associer sont identifiées et des cas d’études illustratifs sont construits pour montrer l’impact de ces informations sur la définition des produits / There are different approaches to implement sustainability and Design for Sustainability (DfS) is the one that give more accurate result by considering both global and regional scales. Integration of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) into Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is an example of tool integration to support sustainability. In LCA framework, Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) is the quantified and classified list of input and output flow of the LCA model that is a model of the product system, linking the technological system to the ecosphere (Environment system). As each region has a unique environmental system, design characteristics and specifications of technological system should be modified and adopted based on these differences. Implementation of this approach will require geographical information of interacted environmental systems, which is a kind of new strategy in DfS. Therefore, we tested the interest of the integration of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) with PLM to support geographical considerations during product development activities. The main research question of this research work is then how to propose this PLM-GIS integration for DfS. Thus, we conducted that literature review on existing data models about product, environment, geography and their combination is a key to prove the link among them

Construction machines use quick couplers to rapidly change the attached tool. The gear lets the machine operator control the hooking and unhooking of the tool from inside of the cabin. This saves time and makes construction work much easier for the workers. The quick coupler is most commonly used on excavators, placed at the outer end of the excavator arm. The tool which the quick coupler connects to needs to have an adapter welded on it for the coupling process to work. Both quick coupler and adapter are equipped with hydraulic quick couplings, the female halves in the quick coupler and the male halves in the adapter. They connect the distribution of hydraulic fluid from the machine to the tool. This master thesis, in industrial design engineering, is focusing on developing a test equipment that can ensure the quality of hydraulic quick couplings. The project is done in collaboration with the company Steelwrist, which requests that the equipment can detect if the couplings are leaking, in both connected and unconnected state, as well as, measuring the internal friction and spring forces that occur during the connection and disconnection.  The project was carried out through a design process with four phases, inspired by ‘the double diamond process’. The used process consists of three sessions of diverging and converging in the form of first widely exploring followed by taking focused actions. The focus in the first phase was to discover information about safety, quality, measurements and instruments, along with conducting interviews and observations in order to understand the current state at the company. In the second phase was the specification and workflow of the new test equipment defined. In the following phase the development of the test equipment started. First by generating hundreds of potential solutions to partial functions, which could be divided into five concepts that were parallely developed and evaluated. In the last phase was the best of the five concepts finalized and constructed in CAD, in order to deliver models and drawings on the final design.  The main focus in the developing and evaluating process has been to create a as safe product as possible. The positions needed to be performed by the operator were extensively investigated and the ergonomics were highly prioritized. Another important factor was the simplicity of the machine components of the test equipment. The project resulted in a complete solution for a new testing station, consisting of storage for adapters, spare parts and documents, along with the test equipment in the shape of a floor standing machine. The test equipment seals the hydraulic quick coupling half, which is meant to be tested, towards an adapter with a pneumatic cylinder. A servo motor then moves the opposite quick coupling half in order to enable the connection and disconnection. The last mentioned coupling half is attached to a load cell which measures the force. The existing leak detection instrument is connected to the test equipment in order to fill the test object with air in the different states. / Byggmaskiner använder snabbfästen för att snabbt byta det fastsittande verktyget. Redskapet låter maskinföraren styra på- och avkopplingen av verktyget från insidan av hytten. Detta sparar tid och gör konstruktionsarbetet mycket enklare för dem som jobbar. Snabbfästet används oftast på grävmaskiner, placerade längst ut på grävmaskinsarmen. Verktyget som snabbfästet ansluter till måste vara utrustad med en fastsvetsad grind för att kopplingsprocessen ska fungera. Både snabbfästet och grinden är utrustade med hydrauliska snabbkopplingar, honhalvorna i snabbfästet och hanhalvorna i grinden. De ansluter hydrauliken från maskinen till verktyget. Detta examensarbete inom teknisk design fokuserar på att utveckla en testutrustning som kan säkerställa kvaliteten på hydrauliska snabbkopplingar. Projektet utförs i samarbete med företaget Steelwrist, som begär att utrustningen ska upptäcka läckage i kopplingarna, både i anslutet och ej anslutet tillstånd, samt att mäta de interna friktion- och fjäderkrafter som uppstår under anslutning och frånkoppling. Projektet bestod av fyra faser, inspirerad av design processen 'the double diamond process'. De fyra faserna omfattar totalt tre sekvenser innehållande en divergerande del och sedan en konvergerande del i form av att först utforska brett, följt av att smalna av med mer fokuserat besluttagande. Fokus i den första fasen var att ta reda på information om säkerhet, kvalitet, mätningar och instrument, tillsammans med intervjuer och observationer för att förstå det aktuella tillståndet på företaget. I den andra fasen definierades specifikationer och arbetsflödet för den nya testutrustningen. I följande fas inleddes utvecklingen av testutrustningen. Först genom att generera hundratals potentiella lösningar på delfunktioner, som sedan kunde delas in i fem koncept som parallellt utvecklades och utvärderades. I den sista fasen färdigställdes det bästa av de fem koncepten och konstruerades i CAD så modeller och ritningar på den slutliga designen kunde levereras. Huvudfokuset i utvecklings- och utvärderingsprocessen har varit att skapa en så säker produkt som möjligt. De positioner som utförs av operatören undersöktes grundligt och ergonomin prioriterades högt. En annan viktig faktor var enkelheten i testutrustningens olika komponenter. Projektet resulterade i en komplett lösning för en ny teststation, bestående av lager för adaptrar, reservdelar och dokument, tillsammans med testutrustningen i form av en markplacerad maskin. Testutrustningen försluter den hydrauliska snabbkopplingshalvan, som är tänkt att testas, mot en adapter med en pneumatisk cylinder. En servomotor flyttar sedan motsatt snabbkopplingshalva för att möjliggöra anslutning och frånkoppling. Den sistnämnda kopplingshalvan är fäst på en lastcell som mäter krafterna som uppstår. Det befintliga läckagedetekteringsinstrumentet är anslutet till testutrustningen för att fylla testobjektet med luft i dem olika tillstånden.

Mémoire en recherche par le design / Étant donné que les problèmes en développement de produits sont de plus en plus complexes et difficiles à résoudre, le rôle des designers est en changement continu. Ils sont de plus en plus impliqués dans les équipes multi-disciplinaires dès le début d’un projet. Des compagnies adoptent une approche de travail d’équipe qui réunit plusieurs bases de connaissances (disciplines, expertises) différentes dans un seul groupe. Tandis que ces groupes donnent accès à plusieurs bases de connaissances différentes, les membres de l’équipe doivent surmonter le défi de communiquer, négocier et développer une compréhension partagée des objectifs à travers leurs raisonnements différents et parfois opposés. En tant que designer junior, ces dynamiques peuvent intimider, puis faire le pont entre les points de vue différents peut paraître difficile. Afin d’améliorer l’intégration dans une équipe, une réflexion sur les dynamiques mêmes est nécessaire, mais il semble y avoir peu de moyens pour bien expliquer les interactions. Cette recherche se penche donc sur la question de comment décrire et mieux comprendre l’intégration dans une équipe en tant que designer nouvellement impliqué dans un projet et une équipe multi-disciplinaire. Afin d’y répondre, cette recherche créé d’abord un cadre théorique centré sur l’implication d’un designer dans le processus, la gestion de la complexité, le travail en équipe, puis l’intégration efficace à travers le développement d’une compréhension partagée. Une étude de cas qualitative est menée par une approche nommée Research-through-Design (recherche par le design dans le contexte d’un projet) qui permet de jouer le double rôle de chercheur et designer. La collecte de données se fait surtout par journal de bord et observations participantes afin de documenter les actions et réflexions d’un designer qui s’implique dans une équipe multi-disciplinaire menant des projets de développement de nouveaux produits. D’après les données recueillies, cette recherche tente décrire et mieux comprendre le cas en utilisant les catégorisations empiriques des facteurs qui influencent le développement d’une compréhension partagée proposées par Kleinsmann, Valkenburg et Buijs (2007). Grâce à ce cadre d’analyse, la description et réflexion sur l’intégration dans l’équipe furent un succès. Toutefois, cette recherche propose quelques précisions au cadre d’analyse ayant pour but d’y améliorer et faciliter l’observation, la description et la réflexion sur les dynamiques d’équipe pour des futurs designers juniors. Cette recherche espère donc proposer un appui aux designers pour développer leurs compétences à mieux travailler en équipes multi- disciplinaires. / As new product development continues to change, designers appear increasingly involved in multi- disciplinary teams from the outset of project inception. This is due to the progressively challenging, multifaceted, and complex problems design must resolve. After all, no single individual possesses the knowledge to create most new products. Companies depend on the teamwork of individuals with different knowledge bases who come together as a single design group. In breaking down silos and creating these integrated teams, overall effectiveness is threatened by their ability to communicate, negotiate, and develop a shared understanding of their goals and means of achieving them. As a junior designer, team dynamics can be intimidating. Bridging different and sometimes conflicting individual views is challenging. Tougher still is reflecting on and describing dynamics as they happen in practice. Without the ability to explain dynamics, identifying and improving team integration seems nearly impossible. As such, this research aims to address these constraints by finding a way to describe and better understand team integration in action. To accomplish this, a theoretical framework is developed to explore designer involvement, managing complexity, teamwork, and effective team integration. From this, a qualitative case study is conducted to reflect on teamwork in action using a Research-through-Design approach. This places design practice in the centre of research and allows the researcher to also play the role of a newly integrated designer. It relies extensively on journal entries and participative observations in order to create a story of designer involvement in new product development. In interpreting the data through an empirical categorisation of factors that are said to influence the development of a shared understanding (Kleinsmann, Valkenburg, & Buijs, 2007), a working description and reflection of team integration was achieved. In addition, this research proposes some amendments that aim to improve the framework and enable other junior designers to better observe, describe, and reflect on team dynamics in the future. This research therefore hopes to contribute by supporting designers in improving their ability to work effectively within multi-disciplinary new product development teams.

The project has the purpose of designing and developing a wearable haptic device for experiencing music through tactile vibrations on the body, and the result is the product concept BEATHOVEN and a completely new way of experiencing music.  Music is powerful, it touches our soul and gives form to our emotions. It captures the inner landscape of our minds, resonating in endless colours and nuances and shares it with others. Music has been a part of the human species for over 40 000 years and has played a fundamental role in our evolution and society; it is believed that we sang before we even spoke. Music, along with its aesthetic qualities, has throughout history been closely tied to our auditory perception. It was originally created and designed for listeners and has long been considered as something for the hearing. That perspective is starting to get more and more blurred out, however, and music is stepping out of auditory exclusivity. The general view of music today excludes over five percent of the world's population: people with disabling hearing loss. Hearing loss can impact a person’s life in many ways and one major impact is their ability to communicate with others. Music is another form of communication, and it is one where all of these people have thus far been excluded. The goal of this project is to design and develop a product that includes more people in music.  The project is carried out in collaboration with Pariception, a company specialized in research and development of assistive devices for people with deafblindness, and stems from one of their existing products: Good Vibrations. Good Vibrations is a wearable device for experiencing music through vibrations; it is a completely unique product and differs from all other solutions on the market. There are some brands, such as SubPac and Woojer, who have developed tactile music accessories, but these products are focused on enhancing a listening experience. Good Vibrations and BEATHOVEN are unique because they aim to convey the full musical experience and to be used independently from hearing. The current project brings Good Vibrations back to its basic concept idea, to redefine, refine, and design it into a usable, viable, and desirable consumer product: BEATHOVEN.   The project is made up of three main parts; to understand how the vibrotactile experience of music can be designed into a meaningful product, to understand how music can be conveyed through vibrotactile sensations on the body, and to know where on the body the vibrations should be conveyed to optimize the experience. To do this, we have created our own approach, adopting a mix of different design approaches such as design-driven innovation, human-centered design, embodied design, and aesthetic exploration. Research strongly indicates that it is possible to perceive aesthetic qualities within music through other senses than hearing, for example through stimuli such as tactile vibrations. To aid us in the development of the product, and to explore the aesthetic qualities of vibrations, we have defined a new research subject called Vibraesthetics.  The project has resulted in BEATHOVEN, a product concept featuring five vibrotactile actuators distributed to the chest and the neck. The product takes the input from any song or piece of music and transposes its frequencies to fit within 5-1000 Hz, which is the general range of human tactile perception. The music is further divided into three registers and distributed to separate and dedicated actuators. Some of the artist's original intentions with the music may be altered, but the richness of the experience is still there and available to anyone, regardless of their hearing abilities. / Målet med projektet är att utveckla och designa en bärbar haptisk produkt för att uppleva musik genom taktila vibrationer på kroppen. Resultatet av projektet är produktkonceptet BEATHOVEN och ett helt nytt sätt att uppleva musik.  Musik är kraftfull, det berör vår själ och sätter form på våra känslor. Det fångar vårt inre landskap, resonerar i oändliga färger och nyanser och delar det med andra. Musik har varit en del av den mänskliga arten i över 40 000 år och har spelat en grundläggande roll i vår utveckling och i vårt samhälle; mycket tyder på att vi sjöng innan vi ens började prata. Musik, tillsammans med dess estetiska kvalitéer, har genom historien varit nära knuten till vår hörsel. Den skapades ursprungligen och designades för lyssnare och har länge ansetts vara något för just hörseln. Den här synen på musik börjar dock mer och mer suddas ut, och nya sätt att uppleva musiken får ta plats. Genom den allmänna synen på musik vi har i dag utesluts dock över fem procent av världens befolkning: personer med nedsatt hörsel. Hörselnedsättning kan påverka människors liv på flera sätt och en viktig inverkan är på förmågan att kommunicera med andra. Musik är en annan form av kommunikation, en form där alla dessa människor hittills har blivit exkluderade. Målet med detta projekt är att designa och utveckla en produkt som inkluderar fler personer i musik.  Projektet genomförs i samarbete med Pariception, ett företag specialiserat på forskning och utveckling av hjälpmedel för personer med dövblindhet, och grundar sig i en av deras befintliga produkter: Good Vibrations. Good Vibrations är en bärbar produkt som möjliggör upplevelsen av musik genom taktila vibrationer; det är en helt unik produkt i sig och skiljer sig från alla andra lösningar som finns på marknaden idag. Det finns ett fåtal aktörer, som SubPac och Woojer, som har utvecklat taktila musiktillbehör, men de är enbart inriktade på att förstärka upplevelsen för den som redan hör. Good Vibrations och BEATHOVEN är unika av sitt slag då de eftersträvar att förmedla den fulla musikupplevelsen, oberoende av hörseln. I det här projektet tar vi Good Vibrations tillbaka till sin kärna, för att sedan omdefiniera, förfina och utforma den till en användbar, fungerande och åtråvärd konsumentprodukt: BEATHOVEN.  Projektet består av tre huvuddelar; att förstå hur musikens vibrotaktila upplevelse kan designas till en meningsfull produkt, att förstå hur musik kan förmedlas genom vibrotaktila förnimmelser på kroppen, samt att veta var på kroppen vibrationerna ska förmedlas för att optimera upplevelsen. För att göra detta, har vi skapat ett eget tillvägagångssätt, där vi har kombinerat olika designmetoder så som; design-driven innovation, människocentrerad design, embodied design och estetisk utforskning. Forskning visar starkt på att det är möjligt att uppleva estetiska egenskaper inom musiken genom andra sinnen än hörseln, till exempel genom taktila vibrationer. För att hjälpa oss i utvecklingsarbetet av produkten och för att bättre undersöka och förstå vibrationernas estetiska egenskaper har vi definierat ett nytt forskningsämne som heter Vibroestetik.  Resultatet av projektet är BEATHOVEN, ett produktkoncept bestående av vibrotaktila aktuatorer fördelade på bröstet och nacken. Produkten översätter vilken låt eller musik som helst och transponerar ner den till ett område på 5-1000 Hz, vilket är det allmänna omfånget för vår huds taktila uppfattningsförmåga. Musiken är sedan uppdelad i tre register och distribueras till separata aktuatorer. En viss del av konstnärens ursprungliga tankar och idéer med musiken kan förändras eller filtreras bort, men upplevelsens rikedom finns fortfarande kvar och är tillgänglig för alla, oavsett deras hörsel.

Eson Pac is a company that develops pharmaceutical packaging. One problem that thecompany currently has is that they do not have a basis for showing their products andthe information about them. This report presents the development of this to the company,through a degree project. The important focus of the work has been to developan information design that informs and visualizes their products in a user-friendly way.By following well-founded theory and research-based methods, the iterative work hastaken shape. This is partly by following an IDEO based process method called the threeI method which contains the three phases Inspire, generate Ideas and Implement. Inaccordance with Eson Pac’s wishes, certain restrictions have been placed on the productionof the result, such as colors and containing information, in addition to whichthe focus has been on producing a result that benefits the users. The work resulted in aninteractive information design with produced animations and illustrations of the company’sproducts together with information about them. / Eson Pac är ett företag som utvecklar läkemedelsförpackningar. Ett problem som företagethar i dagsläget är att de inte har ett underlag för att visa sina produkter ochinformation kring dem. Denna rapport presenterar utvecklingen av detta till företaget,genom ett examensarbete. Det viktiga fokuset i arbetet har varit att ta fram en informationsdesignsom informerar och visualiserar deras produkter på ett användarvänligtsätt.Genom att följa välgrundad teori och forksningsbaserade metoder har det itterativa arbetettagit form. Detta dels genom att följa en IDEO baserad processmetod som kallasthree I method som innehåller de tre faserna Inspirera, idegenerera och implementera.Utefter Eson Pac’s önskemål har vissa begränsningar gjorts vid framtagnignen avresultatet såsom färger och innehållande information, utöver dethar fokus legat på attta fram ett resultat som gynnar användarna. Arbetet resulterade i en interaktiv informationsdesignmed framtagna animeringar och illustrationr av företagets produktertilsammans med information kring dem.

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.