Novelty and distinctive character are the conditions of protection for a registered design in Turkey. This study investigates the ways in which novelty and distinctive character are interpreted and assessed by the parties actively involved in the assessment process &ndash / judges, court experts, the Turkish Patent Institute experts, attorneys and design agents. The face-to-face interviews conducted with 51 participants from the parties involved indicate that the assessment of distinctive character presents more challenges than the assessment of novelty. Not being exactly the same with a previous design is the main consideration in the assessment of novelty. The assessment of distinctive character is primarily identified with the comparison of designs&rsquo / overall impressions whereas designer&rsquo / s degree of freedom remains as the least mentioned consideration. The study suggests that being subject to protection of designs not fulfilling the conditions of protection coupled with the uncertainties in the assessment of novelty and distinctive character, which may have a negative impact on the public trust in the design registration system. The study concludes with a set of suggestions for developing an assessment guide for the design registration system in Turkey.

In the multidisciplinary design process, design documents are used to help support a team's design and mediate any misunderstandings that occur. Current methods of organizing such design documents are either difficult to keep up to date physically with their digital versions, or inhibit distributed users access to important comparative information. Digital tag and content thumbnail-based document organization is presented as a possible alternative. The effects of tag-based document organization on the manner in which collocated and distributed design teams categorize, review and search design documents and resolve design misunderstandings were compared to the effects of traditional physical (the pin up walls of project rooms)&digital (shared digital file folders) document organization. Student participant design teams were assembled. These teams were observed organizing a provided set of design documents and develop a design solution as a team using either tag-based or traditional physical or digital document organization. Team members were given retrieval tests to compare search times between methods of document organization. User feedback on organization preferences were collected and used to develop a conceptual prototype of a document organization interface supportive of the multidisciplinary design process. Though the quantitative results did no clearly favor tag-based organization, observational results and user comments were in support of the capabilities tag-based organization provides.

<p>The thesis consists of the design of an electric bike.</p><p>Based on the analysis of the needs arising from urban transport in Sweden and its people.We wanted to develop a bicycle that could be manufactured in the coming years and be widely accepted by the Swedish population and later also in Europe.</p>

Thesis (M. S.)--Industrial Design, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. / Committee Chair: Neta Ezer; Committee Member: Ellen Yi-Luen Do; Committee Member: Jon Sanford. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

Every year, approximately 100 people die in fire related incidents in Sweden. ”Seek” is designed to assist fire fighters to locate people faster in smoke diving procedures. ”Seek” identifies people and possible dangers within the building before the smoke diving procedure begins. This allows the operation to be streamlined and planned, as well as avoiding risks which fire fighters are exposed to today. The early overview created by the ”Seek” smoke detector not only saves time in planning but reduces the time from accident until the people in the burning building can receive skilled care, increasing their chance of survival.

published_or_final_version / Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

This thesis project is a stand-alone project with the goal to develop an optimized material suited for speaker cabinets, with the focus on acoustic abilities, production possibilities and environmental impact. And to further on design a high performance to price speaker, using the developed material properties and todays technology. The thesis is focused heavily on testing material, starting with research and thereafter creating and testing samples, to continue with find a material combination that would work for a product fit for the market. The final product should fulfill the demands of typical furniture handling, meaning it should be able to be moved around and withstand moderate abuse from daily events. The project results in a functional prototype for evaluation of material and the overall design. The project is based on design methods and design thinking.

Design needs to collaborate with many other disciplines to achieve success. Ergonomics is one of these disciplines that design needs its collaboration. A designed object should be in good relation with the human body and cognitive system to be effectively used by its potential users. Changes in the competitive market have forced firms to enhance product differentiation for achieving market success. Design is widely used as one of the differentiation tools. As a component of design, ergonomics should also be integrated into the design process to fulfill the user requirements. There are success stories of companies integrating ergonomics into their design process and achieving differentiation and success on their products through the results of this integration. Even their marketing strategies are based on this integration. It is observed that there are some missing points in the integration of ergonomics into consumer electronics design which make results in poor interaction with the end users. The background of this problem is investigated by reviewing design processes of four different firms and integration of ergonomics into these processes. The information on the cases is collected by literal information for the former three companies and information based on the participant observation results and company reports for the last company.

iv It is widely known that Turkey has a great amount of data of traditions and cultures on its broad land. By the effects of different dynamics in the 20th century, many craftsmanship and mastery as parts of traditional culture have been transforming day by day. Throughout that transformation period, some traditional craft products could find alternative methods to survive although some others did not. Craft products have been searched by social anthropology since they are members of material culture of humankind for a long time. It can be said that most contemporary objects are transformed versions of older ones in the history. However, all the products today are continuously transforming by the effects of different factors. There still are craft objects and craftsmanship in the market. Traditional craft products, in Turkey, have been transforming by the effects of technology, change in social conditions and marketing issues and designer&rsquo / s initiative as well. Industrialization directly has effected craft production to weaken but some alternative methods are found to provide revival of these professions and objects. This study examined transformation in craft objects focusing on the existing scene of traditional products in Turkish market. Data about craft culture is collected through observations and interviews with craftsmen considering existing craft products in the market. Examples of craft objects and objects designed by getting inspired from craft culture are classified in the chart constituting a schema for the methods for transformation of craft objects. Dynamic factors affecting the transformation process of craft objects are discussed. The need for the revival of traditional culture via design and reasons to do so are explained. In the thesis, it is claimed that one of the agents of traditional product&rsquo / s transformation is the designer&rsquo / s attitude. Designer can determine the method for the transformation of traditional products. So, for the revival of craft culture in the next generations, the essence of traditional culture behind the traditional products can be re-used in industrial design. While searching for the convenient methods of transformation of traditional products, designers&rsquo / opinions about craft culture and reusing information of culture and tradition in design are searched through a questionnaire. Possible methods for the revival of craft culture through design are examined.

This thesis analyses the concept of sustainability as applied and reflected in industrial design practice in a theoretical way. The discourses on sustainability in general are explored in terms of ecology, economics and politics. The underlying motives resulting in unsustainable ways of production and consumption practices are attempted to be located in contemporary society.