A medical examination couch is a primary piece of equipment in the health care delivery system. Unfortunately, the current design of examination couches used by Australian general and nursing practitioners is inadequate. Incompatibility of the couches with physical (anthropometric) dimensions and a majority of medical procedures contribute to risks of Cumulative Trauma Disorders (CTDs) or musculoskeletal problems among practitioner-users. The inappropriate height, width and gynaecological attachments of the existing couches also cause patient discomfort. This research aimed to develop a new examination couch design in order to improve practitioners' effectiveness, efficiency, health and safety while enhancing patient comfort. Ergonomics and user inclusivity were implemented in the vital stages of the couch development process. Practitioner and patient surveys, reviews of patient positions, medical procedures and equipment, Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA) and an ergonomic analysis of couches in the Australian market were conducted to develop design criteria. The design criteria development demonstrated that adjustable height, head, body and foot sections were the major features, and adjustable gynaecological footpads and instrument placement (drawers) were the most important attachments. A wide variety of anthropometric data was applied to the development of design specifications and adjustments. To produce a prototype for a new examination couch design developed from the ergonomic research and initial user surveys, the researcher collaborated with a medical couch manufacturer, Metron Medical Australia Pty Ltd. Through this collaboration, the developed criteria and specifications were applied to actual production processes. User trials (a focus group, practitioner and patient surveys and personal communication) were conducted to investigate the effectiveness and efficiency of the couch prototype in a real clinical environment. From the trials, modifications to particular couch features were identified if they were considered difficult to operate, unnecessary or uncomfortable for patients. For example, the mechanism of the gynaecological footpads, which comprised three different adjustment controls, had to be simplified in order to avoid confusion and time consumption. The footpads had also to be equipped with straps or half a shoe to increase patient comfort and security. The collaborating manufacturer will need to adapt the design modifications from the user trials and conduct more extensive engineering research and value analysis for a final production couch model. Nevertheless, this research succesfully demonstrated the significance of ergonomics and user-centred design in developing design criteria more effectively, detecting usability problems before the couch is brought to the market, and in saving the manufacturer's overall product development costs.

In this thesis the industrial design studio has been investigated with particular reference to studio thinking and learning and project-based activity. This investigation has been set in the context of a final-year, degree program in industrial design that includes a substantial research and development project. From a critical review of the relevant literature the characteristics of studio culture have been identified, together with its role in the teaching of both creative and systematic endeavour. In addition, the history and context of the role of the industrial/product designer is reviewed in order to understand the nature and the required skills of the discipline. In this thesis, an initial study surveyed academics involved in teaching industrial design in Australia, and overseas. The study sought to determine the approach of students, in various industrial design degree programs, to their final-year projects and the extent to which design process and design methods were incorporated in their project reports. The findings revealed a number of operational needs associated with studio-based learning, particularly those associated with final-year, project-based activity. These findings, together with teachings from the literature concerning how students go about design in the studio and the needs associated with project activity, led to the proposal of a generic model, entitled the Major Project Development Model "MPD Model". The operational criteria in the MPD Model guided the development of a computer-integrated system of design methods allocated to the respective phases of the process. This system, called the "MPD System", is designed to support and enhance student design work in major projects. A second study was conducted that analysed: student performance in their project reports; the extent to which their design research conformed to the MPD Model; and the extent to which design methods were used in their final-year projects. Criteria and guidelines for the successful conduct and evaluation of such projects have been proposed and set up as part of the experimental programme. The experimental work, reported in this thesis, is based on an in-depth, comparative investigation of a range of major project reports, firstly those produced in the year 2003 during which final-year students did not have access to or knowledge of the MPD System and secondly, those produced in 2004 where students were provided with the MPD System, hence providing two cohorts for comparative purposes. The theoretical and experimental work have been related, with appropriate results and conclusions, to the following issues: Design theory � an MPD Model has been proposed and applied in keeping with a set of operational criteria; design methods - a model reflecting a range of methods aligned to phases of the MPD Model have been established in keeping with needs of designers in their execution of phases of the process; brainbased learning theory � a model of the integration of the MPD System as a means of linking systematic and creative thinking in the studio process is proposed; academic performance � the academic performance of students has been studied and data have been derived which provide valuable information for the design educational process. The results of this research will encourage use of a more structured teaching and learning approach and the employment of design methods in major projects. This comprehensive research thesis provides a framework for further research and recommendations for further research.

<p>The visual design of twelve mobile telephones was studied and compared. Thirteen university students completed sorting tasks and were also interviewed. Significant correlations were found for most phones between ranks of beauty and desire to possess. Preferences varied among participants. Multi Dimensional Scaling of pile sorting data implied that phones were compared on the basis of prototypicality and trendiness. Four themes were found in the motivations of possession ranks: aesthetic judgements, symbolic perceptions and associations, conclusions of functions and practical conclusions. The results suggest that making sense of visual design determines aesthetic experiences and partly desire to possess, thus giving support to the applicability of appraisal theories of emotion to the study of design.</p>

<p>The doctoral thesis sets out to describe and analyse how the mid-twentieth century Norwegian design community domesticated ideologies partly inherited from the traditional applied art movement (brukskunstbevegelsen), partly imported from various international currents of the so-called “modern movement”, in their co-construction of industrial design culture. The empirical studies follow two paths/levels; the ideology/propaganda debated in and mediated through the design magazine Bonytt, and the strategies/materiality/products developed by the ceramics/earthenware/porcelain manufacturer Figgjo. As such, the thesis is a cultural history of industrial design, where design (as) culture is seen as a sort of dialectic or discourse between ideology and practice. This often uneasy relation between ideology and practice is the leitmotif of the study. The concept of domestication, along with other theoretical frameworks and methodological tools appropriated from STS, becomes valuable when studying this process by following the actors in their construction, negotiation and mediation of these ideologies as played out in their main debate forum, the design magazine Bonytt. However, the domestication of industrial design culture in Norway does not end with the writings of campaigning designers, enthusiastic journalists, ardent academics and organization men. The mediations between ideology and practice is also traced in a domestication perspective. As such, the manufacturing industry - here represented by the ceramic tableware manufacturer Figgjo - represents a second site of domestication, where the ideologies undergo new negotiations and transformations in meeting other users, requirements and circumstances.</p>

Thesis (M.S.)--University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2006. / Title from PDF title page screen. Advisor: Robert Charest.; submitted to the School of Human Environmental Sciences. Includes bibliographical references (p. 102-104).

The doctoral thesis sets out to describe and analyse how the mid-twentieth century Norwegian design community domesticated ideologies partly inherited from the traditional applied art movement (brukskunstbevegelsen), partly imported from various international currents of the so-called “modern movement”, in their co-construction of industrial design culture. The empirical studies follow two paths/levels; the ideology/propaganda debated in and mediated through the design magazine Bonytt, and the strategies/materiality/products developed by the ceramics/earthenware/porcelain manufacturer Figgjo. As such, the thesis is a cultural history of industrial design, where design (as) culture is seen as a sort of dialectic or discourse between ideology and practice. This often uneasy relation between ideology and practice is the leitmotif of the study. The concept of domestication, along with other theoretical frameworks and methodological tools appropriated from STS, becomes valuable when studying this process by following the actors in their construction, negotiation and mediation of these ideologies as played out in their main debate forum, the design magazine Bonytt. However, the domestication of industrial design culture in Norway does not end with the writings of campaigning designers, enthusiastic journalists, ardent academics and organization men. The mediations between ideology and practice is also traced in a domestication perspective. As such, the manufacturing industry - here represented by the ceramic tableware manufacturer Figgjo - represents a second site of domestication, where the ideologies undergo new negotiations and transformations in meeting other users, requirements and circumstances.

The visual design of twelve mobile telephones was studied and compared. Thirteen university students completed sorting tasks and were also interviewed. Significant correlations were found for most phones between ranks of beauty and desire to possess. Preferences varied among participants. Multi Dimensional Scaling of pile sorting data implied that phones were compared on the basis of prototypicality and trendiness. Four themes were found in the motivations of possession ranks: aesthetic judgements, symbolic perceptions and associations, conclusions of functions and practical conclusions. The results suggest that making sense of visual design determines aesthetic experiences and partly desire to possess, thus giving support to the applicability of appraisal theories of emotion to the study of design.

Industrial design is an expanding field. Through new research, discussion and explorations the definitions of what designers can and should do is constantly discussed and redefined. The starting point for my master thesis is the investigation of the concept of emotional durability. In other words, I have looked into how designers could create more meaningful relationships between users and products. It concerns product style norms, terminologies for describing relationship types, as well as a product’s meaning to a user. In order to put learning outcomes into practice, this master thesis also involves a design project where I created a proposal for a new rehabilitation product. There is great potential in investigating how meaningful medical devices for the home should be designed. During my design process I try to dig into what it means to design medical products for a home environment. At the same time, I explore how to create emotionally durable experiences for the patients and increase the motivation in their rehabilitation. My proposal is a balance exercising device that introduces a new level of user interaction, which connects back to my research on emotional durability.

This master thesis project is about easier commuting in a more eco-friendly way thus a new foldable pedelec - pedal electric cycle was created. The idea is that the commuters are able to fold their bicycle to a convenient size and store it under the desk in the office, in a trunk of a car, or even brought on a bus if used as a connecting transport. It incorporates the latest ergonomic, safety, display and drivetrain features in combination with a sleek single-fork design. This enables the pedelec to be folded more conveniently and save additional space. To appeal to a wider range of users they are given the opportunity to choose their own colour codes and personalize their own foldable pedelec.

This study explored the phenomenon that a consumer's preference on color of car body may vary depending on shape of the car body. First, the study attempted to establish a theoretical framework that can account for this phenomenon. This framework is based on the (modern-) Darwinism approach to the so-called evolutionary psychology and aesthetics. It assumes that human's aesthetic sense works like an agent that seeks for environmental patterns that potentially afford to benefit the underlying needs of the agent, and this seeking process is evolutionary fitting. Second, by adopting the framework, a pattern called fundamental aesthetic dimensions was developed for identifying and modeling consumers aesthetic response to car body shape and color. Next, this study developed an effective tool that is capable in capturing and accommodating consumers color preference on a given car body shape. This tool was implemented by incorporating classic color theories and advanced digital technologies; it was named Color-Shape Synthesizer. Finally, an experiment was conducted to verify some of the theoretical developments. This study concluded (1) the fundamental aesthetics dimensions can be used for describing aesthetics in terms of shape and color; (2) the Color-Shape Synthesizer tool can be well applied in practicing car body designs; and (3) mapping between semantic representations of aesthetic response to the fundamental aesthetics dimensions can likely be a multiple-network structure.