This dissertation presents an inquiry into the roles played by persistent, shared external representations in design collaboration. It advances an understanding of the active participation of these representations—including drawings, models and prototypes—in the collective reasoning of design teams. Interaction was analyzed using a novel network formalization to portray the accomplishment of essential work in this context. A synthesis of analyses over different time scales provides the basis for a comprehensive notion of representational support for design interaction, and a diagnostic for problems that may arise with inadequate support and/or disparities of access and participation. Data were collected during working sessions of a leading, “real-time” concurrent design practice at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, notable for accelerated performance and the use of technologically-advanced, shared representations. Fine-grained analysis of this activity offers insights to complement those obtained from laboratory studies of individual designers, ad-hoc groups, and organizationally-situated ethnographic accounts. A microanalytic technique was developed to assess dynamic interaction between participants and representations. The resulting, novel formalization of an actor-discourse network makes concepts derived from actor-network theory operational to understand the work accomplished through design interaction. Network visualization and structural metrics highlight patterns associated with productivity in the design process. On this basis, indicators for the quality of design conversation are proposed: these include the degree of participants’ engagement, the development of design discourse, the integration of representations and the consolidation of commitment to action. Specific roles and situational attributes of representations are identified that foster and sustain advances in collective design reasoning. The dissertation advances a view of design activity in terms of temporally-evolving constellations of issues and actors, in which representations act to stabilize and anchor expanding networks of commitment. Directions for further work include technical enhancement to network metrics and visualization, extension of the actor-discourse network formalization and further exploration of theoretical and practical issues pertaining to representational actors in social situations.

There is a strong connection between a product’s architecture and the ease with which it can be evolved into future generations of products. The main goal of this dissertation is to create a measurement tool that can assess the extent to which a design exhibits different characteristics of being flexible for future evolution. The High Definition Design Structure Matrix (HDDSM) is presented as a product representation model that captures the specific types of interactions between components of a product. An interaction basis is defined that extends the detailed flows of signal, material, and energy used in functional modeling to include detailed spatial interactions. By including an external element to represent all interactions that cross outside of the product boundary, the HDDSM is shown to be a modular product model. A process for reverse engineering products and creating a HDDSM is presented and shown to significantly reduce the effort required to create a HDDSM model. The repeatability of the HDDSM model is evaluated by calculating the interrater agreement between models created by independent examiners. Four analysis processes are presented to analyze the HDDSM model for characteristics of evolvable design. These characteristics are taken from design guidelines for product flexibility for future evolution. The analyses produce quantitative metrics that allow an examiner to measure and compare how well a particular characteristic of evolvable design has been incorporated based only on the component interactions recorded in the HDDSM. Three of the metrics, the Space Potential Ratio, the Framework metric, and the Energy-Flow Module metric are shown to be consistent with a product’s flexibility for future evolution as measured by a Change Modes and Effects Analysis. / text

The effects of empathic experience design (EED) on the product design process are investigated through a series of product redesign experimental studies. As defined, empathic experience design is the simulation of the experiences of a lead user, or someone who uses a product in an extreme condition. To better understand product innovation, the link between creativity in engineering design and commercial market success is explored through literature and a study of award-winning products is performed to analyze the current trends in innovation. The findings suggest that products are becoming increasingly more innovative in the ways in which they interact with users and their surroundings and that a gap exists between the current tools available for engineers to innovate and the types of innovations present in award-winning products. The application of EED to a concept generation study shows that empathic experiences while interacting with a prototype results in more innovative concepts over typical interactions. The experimental group also saw an increase in user interaction innovations and a decrease in technical feasibility. The application of EED to a customer needs study compares the effect of empathic experiences in an articulated use interview setting. The EED interviews discovered 2.5 times the number of latent customer needs than the control group. A slight decrease in the breadth of topics covered was also seen, but was compensated for when used in conjunction with categorical questioning. Overall the use of empathic experience design is shown to increase the level of innovation throughout the product design process. / text

An issue of great concern for amputees continues to be lack of proper fit and comfort in their sockets. This lack can often be attributed to changes in the shape of the residual limb that cannot be compensated for by existing prosthetic socket technology. In regions where cost is a prohibitive factor in the replacement of ill-fitting prosthetic sockets, the need for a volume adjustable, and potentially longer lasting, socket design is abundant. This research focuses on designing a volume adjustable lower limb prosthetic socket that accommodates the needs of amputees in underdeveloped countries using collaborative design techniques. Though advocated as a means of accurately identifying and satisfying their needs, including end-users in the design process often adds an additional layer of complexity because of differences in culture, language, or geography among the participants. This research therefore includes a study in which product design techniques were applied to the same volume adjustable socket design problem with a variety of users – typical users, lead users, and new Empathic Lead Users - from different countries, one developed and one developing. To overcome differences among participants, this research includes an alternative strategy to create Empathic Lead Users (ELU) from non-user product design engineers through the use of simulated lead user experiences. As a result of this study, customer needs analysis with ELU helps to identify 95% of traditional and lead user customer needs and 100% more latent needs, and possibly more avenues for product innovations, than interviewing lead or traditional users alone. The concepts generated by all users were also compared. Based on the resulting concepts’ novelty, variety, quality, and quantity, all users were able to satisfactorily complete the concept generation exercises and produced competitive design solutions. Using the concepts generated during this co-design study, a volume adjustable socket was developed. The final socket design, based on the analogous rotational movement of a camera aperture, is pursued through mechanical and subject testing. Early users of the socket liked the design and it has been demonstrated to provide the necessary volume adjustments, but future design iterations to improve its comfort are necessary. / text

This thesis consists of a workshop that investigates theperformative act of designers in producing gendered productaesthetics. Product designers make many active choicesin the project they are working on, but what about thenot so active choices, the once that just happen becauseit looks right or because it fits the product? By putting thegendered assumptions of fomgiving into the hands of thedesigners, I hope to generating a realisation of the (re)creationof the gender norms of society into products. I wish toput the designers in a position where they formgive wrongin relation to the norms of product aesthetics, so that theform feels unfitting or misplaced. This to expose the suggestionof how the development of products not only isan iterative design process, but also an iterative processof re-installing norms and objectives of society into thedesign. The end product of this project will be a workshopwhere the designers gets to try out how another normativeagreement of product aesthetics would appear.

Human spatial experience has recently expanded due to the development of location-aware technology. Locative information has become more significant within urban space; as such, related discourses have attempted to focus on the issue as a way in which we acquire locative information when we experience space. Digital location-aware methods enable the demonstration of live densities of telecommunication through which one can infer temporal and spatial factors of live urban situations. When locative telecommunication data is mapped onto urban space, temporal-spatial demographic maps are obtained. Based on these maps, one can infer the correlation between spatial experience and architectural programmes via on site observation and by determining the multi-layered structure of spatial experience via designed data installation. These considerations aim to investigate locative interaction in urban space in order to expand spatial experience. This research begins with two linked theoretical notions: rhythm analysis and heterotopia—in other words, temporality as it relates to our everyday life and spatiality as it relates to our search for ideal space. In addition to these positions, the following discourses are specifically developed to investigate locative interaction in urban space. Firstly, the temporal and spatial patterns of urban activities are investigated in an attempt to grasp current urban interactions. The telecommunication data is then mapped geographically. Secondly, the gap between the endowed architectural programmes and the observed activities in urban space is explored in order to examine the multi-layered structure of urban interaction. Thirdly, the above discussions are synthesised using a design project that interprets epistemic aspects of this initiative. Lastly, urban rhythms and locative virtual layers are suggested as the concept for locative interaction in urban space where architectural programmes become more flexible, thus expanding spatial experience. Two projects demonstrate as applicable scenarios of locative interaction in urban space; they involve a heterotopia finder and a floating gallery over London. This research suggests a new viewpoint from which to consider our world and its digital presence by mapping a ‘live urban space’ using telecommunication data—an initiative that highlights the importance of people as a crucial aspect of our digital surroundings. This research ultimately contributes to expanding urban spatial experience and providing an informative and holistic mapping structure for architecture and urban design, interweaving it with the digital environment.

Our everyday lives are surrounded by gadgets and digital devices that help us perform our daily chores with ease and efficiency. However, these digital devices can also separate us from what we should do ourselves. Although children who are exposed to high levels of technology might become attuned to the latest and the best gadgets, they might not learn to use their physical abilities. Another implication of a child’s over dependence on technology is that parental interactions such as encouragement, tutoring and reinforcement are provided by gadgets rather than living, breathing parents. Research done by Padma Ravichandran and Brandel France de Bravo, revealed the importance of child interaction with live people and games noting that “Very young children learn best by relating to real live people, but they also learn by moving and doing. Part of the problem with screen time is that young children who watch TV and DVDs or use computer games may be substituting these activities for free play”. The aim of this project is to reduce the gap between young children and the tactile world by creating toys that are attractive for the children, but are low-tech and involve parental interaction. Thus, the primary goal that this thesis seeks to achieve is the stimulation of children toward tactile games, while the secondary goal is to allow and encourage parental involvement in the playtime of the child. The research is guided by the premise that children can absorb substantial knowledge through the tactile world and that such tactile centered play will broaden the horizon of their knowledge and experience.

When a caregiver suffers from epilepsy, a child can often feel frightened, vulnerable, and alone whenever a seizure occurs. In my thesis project I intend to help children negotiate this struggle with the use of therapeutic toys. Through play, children can navigate feelings that are often overlooked by adults. The visual appeal, simplicity, and materials used in their creation help facilitate comfort through sensory cues. By applying coping mechanisms to deal with stress caused by the passage of time, provide tactile comfort, and equip the child with tools to take action, their emotional needs are met. These toys address an overlooked need for children who consistently deal with the emotionally taxing occurrences that come with having an epileptic caregiver.

Today, more than 400 million individuals around the world have diabetes. This number is expected to grow to more than 600 million by 2023. However, diabetes is more than just a statistic. It is an incurable, psychologically nuanced disease, with daily battles and far-reaching complications. The lives of those afflicted undergo permanent physical and psychological changes. Reading the stories of diabetics, or hearing them share their experience may elicit an immediate yet often fleeting sense of realization. How, then, can this brief moment of awareness be prolonged? How can a non-diabetic feel diabetes? More importantly, why should they? This research explores empathy as a tool to achieve that level of understanding. Elements found on the dining table, a place most diabetics are acutely aware of, were redesigned in an attempt to recreate certain aspects of the diabetic experience. These items no longer function in the way they were intended to, but have been transformed into tools that evoke empathy. A non-diabetic will get to experience the struggles associated with four main areas: control, or lack thereof; unpredictable dysfunctionality; a constant state of alertness; and finally, the burden of living with the disease, and the anchoring effect it has on those afflicted.

Le changement de paradigme portant la ressource immatérielle qu’est la connaissance au devant des ressources matérielles est à l’oeuvre dans de nombreuses entreprises industrielles. Nos travaux de recherche mettent en lumière les disciplines du management des connaissances et de l’ingénierie des connaissances, apportant des réponses méthodologiques et techniques pour aborder cette ressource. Nous nous intéressons de façon particulière au mode d’exploitation des connaissances par le biais d’objets tangibles (documents, systèmes d’information). Dans ce cadre nous proposons un modèle conceptuel permettant de structurer les outils supports de connaissances d’un organisme. Ce modèle s’adresse principalement aux entreprises ayant une vision processus de leur fonctionnement, conformément à l’ISO 9000. Il a été évalué suivant deux axes. Le premier axe concerne sa capacité descriptive. Nous montrons que le principe de classification à facettes utilisé est apte à être suffisamment précis et complet pour s’adapter à de nombreuses applications. A cet effet, nous exploitons ce principe dans le domaine de l’ingénierie des connaissances et développons un premier démonstrateur permettant de réaliser des échanges automatisés entre fichiers paramétrés. Le second axe concerne l’aptitude du modèle conceptuel proposé à supporter la construction d’un système d’information contribuant à une démarche de management des connaissances. Un démonstrateur implémentant le modèle a été développé et apporte une vision concrète des possibilités offertes par ce dernier. / Most of the industrial companies are currently performing a change of paradigm that places knowledge, immaterial resource by excellence, before material resources. The presented research works enlighten the scientific fields of knowledge management and knowledge engineering, which give methodological and technical answers to tackle this resource. We focus on the exploitation mode of knowledge through concrete objects (documents, information system). In this context, a conceptual model is proposed in order to structure the tools that support knowledge in an organisation. This model is mainly adapted to companies having a process view of their business, as prescribed by the ISO9000. The model is evaluated according two axes. The first axe evaluates the descriptive capacity of the model. We demonstrate that the concept of facet classification used fits the needs of being enough precise and complete to be adapted to many applications. To this end, we test this concept in the field of knowledge engineering and we propose a first demonstrator performing automatic exchanges between parameterised knowledge objects. The second axe evaluates the aptitude of the proposed conceptual model to support the creation of an information system that contributes to a knowledge management approach. A demonstrator that implements this model is proposed and gives a concrete set of capabilities.