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Hand postures: an analysis of patterns in novice design drawing
No full textIn the realm of design drawing, extensive research and professional expertise have been dedicated to identifying the techniques and specific methods employed by designers. However, limited knowledge has been captured as to the potential in-fluence of human biomechanics on the act of design drawing. This research en-deavors to scrutinize the specific hand postures adopted by a diverse group of de-signers, particularly those who are at the early stages of their design training, name-ly second-year design students. This exploration extends to investigating how these postures are influenced by prior exposure to design or art drawing instruction and, most crucially, how they impact factors such as pain, strain, and contribute to changes over time. To accomplish this, we gathered and analyzed a dataset of 284 images featuring a group of novice design drawing participants (n=71). The results indicate that certain postures may lend themselves to design drawing and reduce hand strain
Policy Design, Lived Experience, and Speculative Futures
No full textGood policy design calls for analysis of problems, how they might be addressed, and likely outcomes. Policy scholars and practitioners have devised methods that bring rigor to policy design through problem framing, assessment of potential interventions, and prediction of outcomes of those interventions. This pursuit of analytical and predictive rigor has often given short shrift to the insights of people whose lives are affected by current challenges and who will be impacted by policy change. We consider how lived experience might effectively inform policy design. Our theory of change is that creative engagement with citizens can generate insights of high value to the process of policy design. We introduce the Tomorrow Party – a design method for generating novel stakeholder insights regarding desirable future states. Initial findings from a series of pilots suggest the Tomorrow Party is a broadly applicable creative tool for advancing policy design
‘We’re all in this together’: A mixed methods randomised controlled trial exploring Cross-Pollinative Team Learning studio pedagogy’s effects on Academic Resilience and Performance
No full textDesign education\u27s pedagogy of ambiguities and the One-on-One Master-Apprentice\u27s Hidden Curriculum purportedly led to psychological distress and poor academic performance for beginning design students. Despite favourable social conditions, few studies have examined Social Support as positive adaptations towards students\u27 academic resilience in design studios. This mixed methods randomised controlled trial compared One-on-One and Cross-pollinative Team Learning (CTL) students. Inferential statistics revealed that One-on-One students were more resilient (p = .065 & p = .126), but CTL students have academically outperformed significantly (p = .0003 & p = .017). Thematic Analysis of CTL students’ focus group interview as they transitioned to One-on-One pedagogy during their second year revealed that ongoing peer-to-peer social support was crucial in mitigating negative experiences with the siloed pedagogy. This paper emphasises the need to cultivate a heterarchical pedagogical culture among students, where failure is seen as a learning opportunity, and criticism is taken as constructive feedback for growth
A participatory approach to healthcare service improvement focused on staff behavior change
No full textHealthcare systems are complex social systems wherein improvements related to staff practice and behavior can be difficult to implement. Knowledge and practice can be uneven between various specializations, hierarchical imbalances limit the degree of agency of different professionals, and evidence-based guidelines may be interpreted or implemented according to context-specific factors. When changes are imposed from a top-down perspective, invaluable insight and know-how from frontline staff are usually left out, making it further difficult (if not altogether impractical) to implement interventions. The current paper presents a case study focused on improving urinary tract infection diagnosis and treatment, in the emergency department of a hospital within the National Health Service of England. The empirical research addresses identified gaps in the literature by proposing an original framework for healthcare staff practice and behavior change that integrates participatory design and behavior change methods
New European Bauhaus: A designer\u27s retrospective.
No full textIn this paper, the former lead designer of the New European Bauhaus Unit at the European Commission offers a retrospective on how design has helped to shape the initiative, from the definition of its visual identity, through the development of the co-design phase, to the establishment of the New European Bauhaus Prizes, the Community and the NEB Lab
Enhancing traditional food experience: A Food Ritual Design Framework
No full textCultural globalisation threatens some traditional foods, as foreign food cultures can make local foods less popular. While food-related rituals play a crucial role in enhancing cultural identity and the overall experience of traditional food, there remains limited research on the successful design of these rituals. This study aims to propose a Food Ritual Design Framework that inspires the design of traditional food. The framework was applied in a case study on Sugar Painting, and its applicability and effectiveness were evaluated through a questionnaire survey (n = 133). The survey revealed the successful integration of 47 diverse traditional foods into the framework. Design researchers and practitioners rated the framework highly, giving it an average score of 4.02. This framework provides valuable guidance for designing traditional foods, enabling them to align with their inherent rituals and adapt to the dynamic landscape of future food systems
Is design delightful? An examination of design students\u27 emotions when designing
No full textThis research examines the emotional experiences of design students as they progress through a design project. The study presents how different emotions manifest themselves in the students\u27 design processes, offering insights into whether the students\u27 design experience is ‘pleasurable’ or otherwise, and beyond this, the spectrum of emotions that design students experience overall. Findings reveal a common positive emotional experience amongst students despite their very different backgrounds and cultures. The initial results show that positive emotions can be generated by the design project topic, which in turn has an important impact on the design process and the student’s performance. The research suggests that the emotional aspect should be considered and improved as an influential factor in the design process. Also, exploring various emotions should be investigated in more detail in studies to enhance the design education experiences that support students\u27 emotional well-being while designing
Lost in translation: Decontextualising, decentering and diluting India\u27s jugaad practices
No full textAcademia and corporate capitalism show increasing interest in grassroots practices as useful to product development for low-income markets and relevant to sustainable innovation models. Captured in this interest is jugaad, an Indian problem-solving practice rooted in everyday life, which emphasises practicality, resource efficiency and an elastic approach to rules. Interest from the Global North in grassroots practices risks their decontextualisation, decentering and dilution in a power-knowledge play that principally serves the needs of hegemonic Euro-USA design. Drawing on Arturo Escobar’s idea of pluriversal design, which holds that everyone designs, creating a multiplicity of sociocultural formations, we examine jugaad as a distinct and situated practice counter to the affinity effects necessary for the appropriation of the practices of others. Our paper explores the logic of jugaad through its expression in Delhi’s markets at a time when resource-intensive, socially divisive modern retail formats are threatening India’s culture of markets
An Llm-based Concept Generation Method for Solution-driven Bio-inspired Design
No full textBio-inspired design (BID) is a design methodology that employs biological analogies for engineering design, encompassing problem-driven and solution-driven BID. Solution-driven BID starts with knowledge of a specific biological system for technical design. Despite the proven benefits of solution-driven BID, the gap between biological solutions and engineering problems hinders its effective application, with designers frequently encountering misaligned problem-solution pairs and facing multidisciplinary knowledge gaps in the analogical transfer process. Therefore, this research proposes a large language model (LLM)-based concept generation method, designed to automatically search for problems, transfer biological analogy, and generate solution-driven BID concepts in the form of natural language. A concept generator and two evaluators are identified and fine-tuned from the LLM. The method is evaluated by an ablation study, machine-based quantitative assessments, and human subjective evaluations. The results show our method can generate solution-driven BID concepts with high quality
Transformative sketching: Unveiling character identity in two dimensions
No full textWe understand this world through our sense perceptions and past associations. The main objective of the study was to sketch the face of a character with a specific identity, so that it aligns with its intended description, thus ensuring it is perceived as intended. The use of shapes and features of animals have helped to derive characters that represent an archetype. The digital representations of these characters find their place along two distinct axes: (i) transitioning from elaborate to minimal and (ii) shifting between animalistic and human features. The methodology harmoniously merges diverse character appearances, eliminating fragmentation. We place significant emphasis on symmetry, streamlined line reduction, and the incorporation of compound shapes, facilitating the seamless shift from elaborate portrayals to minimal representations while retaining elements reminiscent of the initial elaborate stage. This study can offer insights into game and character design, cross-disciplinary studies of psychology and perception, anthropology and semiotics