In recent years, co-creation and collaboration platforms to create and deliver new products and services have taken a step forward; this has led to the development of a new active involvement of users, who from co-designers have become independent designers, even if not experts. Co-design is dynamic and provides the tools to generate democratic design processes guided by the users themselves. The democratization of design tools is the premise for a new paradigm defined ‘Diffuse Design’ by Manzini (2015). This contribution explores the approaches of open design and open production with particular attention to the field of visual communication and the production of motion design artifacts. After an introduction to the co-design framework, the main open-production visual communication platforms are presented to offer an overview of the topic. Next, the potential of online platforms to enable non-designers to produce animated artifacts is explored by examining student projects in a motion design University course. The most significant outputs of the student experience are then described and critically analyzed. Finally, the conclusions investigate the different perspectives for reading the democratization of tools for creating visual artifacts and lay the foundations for future lines of research.

Customer preference modelling has been widely used to aid engineering design decisions on the selection and configuration of design attributes. Recently, network analysis approaches, such as the exponential random graph model (ERGM), have been increasingly used in this field. While the ERGM-based approach has the new capability of modelling the effects of interactions and interdependencies (e.g., social relationships among customers) on customers’ decisions via network structures (e.g., using triangles to model peer influence), existing research can only model customers’ consideration decisions, and it cannot predict individual customer’s choices, as what the traditional utility-based discrete choice models (DCMs) do. However, the ability to make choice predictions is essential to predicting market demand, which forms the basis of decision-based design (DBD). This paper fills this gap by developing a novel ERGM-based approach for choice prediction. This is the first time that a network-based model can explicitly compute the probability of an alternative being chosen from a choice set. Using a large-scale customer-revealed choice database, this research studies the customer preferences estimated from the ERGM-based choice models with and without network structures and evaluates their predictive performance of market demand, benchmarking the multinomial logit (MNL) model, a traditional DCM. The results show that the proposed ERGM-based choice modelling achieves higher accuracy in predicting both individual choice behaviours and market share ranking than the MNL model, which is mathematically equivalent to ERGM when no network structures are included. The insights obtained from this study further extend the DBD framework by allowing explicit modelling of interactions among entities (i.e., customers and products) using network representations.

Previous research on design thinking (DT) has focused mainly on describing and explaining observed phenomena rather than manipulating variables within the boundaries of its principles to assess the impact of these changes. DT, as a human-centric problem-solving and innovation method, has varying baseline exposure levels of nondesigners and novices when codesigning. This qualitative research shows how DT can be redesigned to accommodate the inclusion and engagement of novices and nondesigners in the codesign process with enhanced DT method applicability. DT novices and nondesigners are challenged in codesign engagements with others and need an intuitive method that leads them to the same or better design results as a classic DT method. A redesign towards an intuitive DT method for nondesigners puts special consideration on method language, efficiency and cycle time. A case study validates its qualification under real-life circumstances when codesigning with DT novices and nondesigners. Overall, the research demonstrates that DT with regard to nondesigners can be simplified and redesigned for efficiency and effectiveness.

Facilitation style appears to be an important determinant of design team effectiveness. The neutrality of the group facilitator may be a key factor; however, the characteristics and impact of neutrality are relatively understudied. In a designed classroom setting, we examine the impact of two different approaches to group facilitation: (i) facilitator’s neutrality expressed as low equidistance and high impartiality and (ii) facilitator’s neutrality expressed as high equidistance and low impartiality, on team trust, trust to the facilitator and team potency. To do this, we conducted a repeated-measures experiment with a student sample. Our results indicate that facilitators expressing neutrality through low equidistance and high impartiality had a greater positive impact on team trust. The two approaches did not differ on team potency and facilitator trust. These results contribute to developing theories of design facilitation and team effectiveness by suggesting how facilitation may shape team trust and potency in group design. Based on our findings, we point to the need for future work to further examine the impact of facilitator’s process awareness and neutrality, and show how facilitation methods may benefit teams during creative design teamwork.

We developed a method to generate omnidirectional depth maps from corresponding omnidirectional images of cityscapes by learning each pair of an omnidirectional and a depth map, created by computer graphics, using pix2pix. Models trained with different series of images, shot under different site and sky conditions, were applied to street view images to generate depth maps. The validity of the generated depth maps was then evaluated quantitatively and visually. In addition, we conducted experiments to evaluate Google Street View images using multiple participants. We constructed a model that predicts the preference label of these images with and without the generated depth maps using the classification method with deep convolutional neural networks for general rectangular images and omnidirectional images. The results demonstrate the extent to which the generalization performance of the cityscape preference prediction model changes depending on the type of convolutional models and the presence or absence of generated depth maps.

Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) for engineering design are promising for their stress management, cognition and well-being benefits. Prior work concluded that engineering design is stressful and that each engineering design stage has unique stressors. This non-randomized study investigated the effect of an MBI on students’ cognitive stress and final design creativity during a multistage, hands-on design assessment. Data were collected using surveys, project deliverables and follow-up interviews. While no significant increase was found in students’ measured state mindfulness due to the intervention, students in the MBI condition were more likely to perceive the intervention positively compared to students in the control condition (alternative use tasks). Students in both conditions were found to have similar levels of state stress, which indicates that the MBI had no observable effect on students’ measured stress during design. Although students in the MBI condition were found to produce higher-quality final designs, there were no differences in design creativity or novelty. When data were clustered to identify types of student experiences, state mindfulness was found to meaningfully contribute, but state stress was not. Future research should continue to investigate MBIs in engineering design as a potential approach to improve design education and outcomes.

Effective stakeholder interviewing is a critical component of a design process. However, interviewing is a complex skill that is difficult for novice designers to learn and incorporate into their design practices. Few studies have investigated how novice designers apply recommended practices for interviewing stakeholders during the development of product requirements. In this research, we studied how novice designers elicited information to inform the development of product requirements during stakeholder interviews. Results included the establishment of a coding methodology developed from a systematic literature review of recommended interviewing practices that was used to reliably evaluate the use of recommended practices in novice designers’ interviews. A correlation existed between the use of recommended practices and the extent to which information gathered from interviews was incorporated into the requirements. Additionally, specific recommended practices, such as encouraging deep thinking and being flexible and opportunistic, differentiated performance among novice designers. The coding methodology could be adapted to guide the development of stakeholder interview protocols and assessment of design interview skills.

Recent years have seen the rise of citizens as contributors to hardware product creation. This trend has increased attention to open source hardware (OSH): a phenomenon that extends the intellectual property management and development practices in open source software (OSS) into the design of physical objects. OSH projects are different from OSS projects due to product type, and distinct from traditional closed source new product development (NPD) ones due to their openness. These differences challenge the degree of applicability of existing project success definitions in the OSH context. To investigate project success in OSH, we conducted a qualitative survey with practitioners. We report characteristics of successful OSH projects through three identified themes: (a) value creation – the big-picture impact, (b) quality of output – the quality of the hardware and accompanying documentation and (c) project process – activities that contribute to success. We contextualise by comparing OSH with selected literature on the success of OSS and NPD project management. While our study confirms a similarity between OSS and OSH in defining project success, it also highlights themes that are uniquely important to the latter. These findings are helpful for OSH development practice and could provide lessons for OSS development and closed source NPD.

Virtual reality (VR) sketching has many advantages for product design and tends to be more and more used among designers and non-designers (end-users). Nevertheless, few studies have focused on the skills needed to use VR sketching for non-designers especially VR novices in VR software. This study focuses on identifying the cognitive impact of VR sketching compared to traditional sketching on VR expert and VR novice in an experimental setting. Thirty-one participants composed of VR experts (N = 15) and VR novices (N = 16) completed a mental rotation test and then performed one traditional paper and pencil sketching task and two VR sketching tasks. We also measured the participants’ movements when using the VR sketching. Results show that VR experts perform better than VR novices in VR sketching because training is an essential element for the quality of traditional and VR sketching. Nevertheless, VR novices with previous training in traditional drawing and/or high mental rotation skills will be able to produce good-quality sketches. In addition, the results show that users moving more in the immersive environment performed better quality sketches if the drawing requires more complex shapes. Our results suggest that VR sketching can be complex to use for a part of the population that may be end-users, especially for those with little experience in traditional and VR sketching and with poor visuospatial abilities. We, therefore, advise to check the non-designers’ prior skills, otherwise, it will be necessary to train these users in VR sketching.

A multitude of design guidelines that are intended to support design engineers with knowledge and information during the embodiment design of physical products have been developed back in the 1980s and 1990s. However, since then, the setting in which products are developed and designed has changed and associated tasks and activities are carried out globally rather than locally. Yet, knowledge on the benefit of such design guidelines and their impact on the performance of multinational design engineers from different regions and with different levels of experience is still lacking. To address this, a mobile eye tracking study has been developed and carried out with 47 differently experienced practitioners from Germany, Eastern Europe and Asia. The results show differences in how design engineers from different regions with different levels of experience may benefit from design guidelines and how design guidelines may impact experts’ and novices’ performance, indicate beneficial ways of using them and point out the kind of information and the way of representation that attracts the most attention within a design guideline. The paper concludes that the improvement and development of design guidelines that are intended to support the embodiment design of physical products is needed and proposes to rethink current engineering design guidelines both content-wise and representation-wise.

A radical shift in technology is necessary to enable future air transport solutions. Sustainability targets for aeroengine manufacturing mean more than reducing CO2 and NOX. The future will open up possibilities and bring new challenges when introducing hybrid- and electrical propulsion technologies using new materials, technology solutions and new business models. This article reports on findings from a longitudinal study and many years of collaboration between researchers and industry experts, where a first-tier aeroengine manufacturer transforms their product development capabilities to enable sustainable product development. The article highlights some activities undertaken and identifies critical challenges and opportunities remaining for a manufacturer of next-generation aeroengine solutions. It is argued that the challenge for aeroengine manufacturers to develop new-generation propulsive technologies will require a systemic change in the undertaking of design and development. The opportunities of sustainable technologies are evident yet require: (1) means to tighter integrate business and technology development, (2) the ability to quantify and assess sustainability impacts of different concept solutions, and (3) means to utilise natural resources, alloys and materials for a circular and life-cycle optimised solution.

Grammars, with their generic approach and broad application potential in many planning fields, are accepted as adaptable and efficient tools for design and planning applications, bridging design rules and technical planning requirements. This paper provides a formal introduction of grammars for effective consolidation and application, including a rule-based notation and required specification information. Two proposed grammar evaluation methods – based on technical planning knowledge and using recent computational development – foster understanding of a grammar’s effects, often missing in other definitions. Knowledge gained enables efficient grammar rule application, e.g. in burgeoning planning software. This research focuses particularly on urban network design and road intersection grammars to validate proposed grammar evaluation methods. Results are specified in the proposed grammar notation with corresponding application specifications. Results generally show that network topology and intersection type choice both depend on transport mode characteristics and flow. Specifically, medium-dense gridiron networks are car-efficient in terms of travel costs and reliability at urban densities, when combined with high road and intersection capacities. Pedestrian networks ideally have higher intersection and road densities with lower capacities than car networks. Highly meshed networks improve overall travel cost efficiencies for all transport modes at various flow levels.

This paper presents a sub-study on participatory design in visual management (VM), bracketed from a larger case study. In this case, VM refers to the recurrent meetings when managers and co-workers use dashboards (VM boards) to continuously organize work activities and performances and contribute to the ongoing development and improvements within the organization. The study focuses on when the managers and co-workers are participating in the process of designing and visualizing work-related information regarding workload for future VM boards. This paper emphasizes collaborative workshops and the creation of moodboards as participatory methods, and the application of theories of metaphorical thinking and conceptual and visual metaphors. The findings show that participants perceive the visual output they create metaphorically, in this case, the moodboards. Such visual outputs represent conceptual and visual metaphors that evoke the participants’ sharing of core concepts and an establishment of stories related to the information to be designed. In turn, the metaphors and the storytelling stress desires, visions, objectives, and themes, besides workplace atmospheres, norms, and values governing the workplace. This understanding translates to shared work experiences where conceptual and visual thinking impact how work teams develop work-related information on VM boards together.

Developing effective design solutions requires successful idea generation, development and selection. Studies have demonstrated that engineering students face challenges in these idea phases and may struggle to implement recommended practices, hindering the potential for an innovative outcome. The first part of the study investigated student practices in idea generation, development and selection through think-aloud experimental sessions and post-session interviews. Data analysis from mechanical engineering students’ sessions, with think-aloud and interview data, revealed that students focused on existing ideas, assumed requirements that constrained their divergence, limited their development of ideas and did not engage much in idea selection. Then, in the second phase of the study, we implemented a learning intervention that leveraged research-based education practices to examine student adoption of recommended practices. After engaging with the learning blocks, students generated unconventional ideas, abstained from requirement assumptions early in ideation, generated a larger quantity of ideas, developed ideas intentionally and used more rigorous idea selection methods. These outcomes demonstrated that a relatively short and targeted intervention can support students in leveraging recommended approaches to idea generation, development and selection.

Over the past decade, the field of design for sustainable behaviour (DfSB) has gained a growing amount of research interest. However, as the field evolves, new challenges also arise. A suitable unit of analysis is needed to contextualize users’ behaviour issues in a broader socio-cultural and long-term perspective. This paper explores the use of activity theory (AT) as a potential lens for guiding empirical analysis and design exploration in DfSB. By employing a meta-synthesis approach, we systematically search and synthesize existing studies that adopted AT in design for sustainability. Key findings show that AT’s principles and theoretical implications are especially useful for helping design researchers frame and address DfSB challenges. We argue that by taking activity as the unit of analysis, the AT lens can enable researchers to incorporate users’ dynamic, multi-level and complex activity systems into DfSB considerations.

There is a well-developed view of artifacts according to which their nature depends on the intentions of their authors or creators. However, in the modern world of artifact design and creation, typically not one but many agents are involved in the process of making an artifact. In this paper, I show how the intentional view can be maintained even for ‘collective’ artifacts having multiple authors. My approach is to combine some basic concepts that have been proposed in the study of collective intentionality with a suitable model of artifact creation that takes account of the multiple agents and processes that arise in design, engineering and manufacturing a new or existing product. In this way, we can explain how an artifactual kind can be understood via a form of collective intentionality. For the design sciences, notions such as we-intentionality and group agency can help to model different types of cooperation and, in particular, to reconcile individualism with strong forms of collectivity at a group level.

Additive manufacturing offers a high degree of design freedom. When Design for Additive Manufacturing is conducted properly, lightweight potential can be exploited. This contribution introduces a novel design approach for the widespread fused layer modelling (FLM) technology when using orthotropic Fibre Reinforced Polymer filament. Its objective is to obtain stiff and strong load-path optimized FLM structures in a structured and algorithmic way. The approach therefore encompasses (1) build orientation optimization to consider weaker bonding between layers than intralayer; (2) topology optimization with orthotropic material properties to obtain favourable overall geometry and inner structure; (3) direct build path generation from optimized material orientation and alternatives to the direct generation and (4) simulation. The approach is demonstrated using a lift arm under multiple load cases and further demonstrator parts to show its general applicability. Lightweight potential of individual optimization steps and the influence of modifications contrasting general non-FLM-specific optimization are studied and discussed.

Historically, squeak and rattle (S&R) sounds have been among the top quality problems and a major contributor to the warranty costs in passenger cars. Geometric variation is among the main causes of S&R. Though, geometric variation analysis and robust design techniques have been passively involved in the open-loop design activities in the predesign-freeze phases of car development. Despite the successful application of topometry optimisation to enhance attributes such as weight, durability, noise and vibration and crashworthiness in passenger cars, the implementation of closed-loop structural optimisation in the robust design context to reduce the risk for S&R has been limited. In this respect, the main obstacles have been the demanding computational resources and the absence of quantified S&R risk evaluation methods. In this work, a topometry optimisation approach is proposed to involve the geometric variation analysis in an attribute balancing problem together with the dynamic response of the system. The proposed method was used to identify the potential areas of a door component that needed structural reinforcement. The main objective was to enhance the design robustness to minimise the risk for S&R by improving the system response to static geometrical uncertainties and dynamic excitation.

Robust design methods have expanded from experimental techniques to include sampling methods, sensitivity analysis and probabilistic optimisation. Such methods typically require many evaluations. We study design and noise variable cross-term second derivatives of a response to quickly identify design variables that reduce response variability. We first compute the response uncertainty and variance decomposition to determine contributing noise variables of an initial design. Then we compute the Hessian second-derivative matrix cross-terms between the variance-contributing noise variables and proposed design change variables. Design variable with large Hessian terms are those that can reduce response variability. We relate the Hessian coefficients to reduction in Sobol indices and response variance change. Next, the first derivative Jacobian terms indicate which design variable can shift the mean to maintain a desired nominal target value. Thereby, design changes can be proposed to reduce variability while maintaining a targeted nominal value. This workflow finds changes that improve robustness with a minimal four runs per design change. We also explore further computation reductions achieved through compounding variables. An example is shown on a Stirling engine where the top four variance-contributing tolerances and design changes identified through 16 Hessian terms generated a design with 20% less variance.

3D printing technologies, such as material extrusion (MEX), hold the potential to revolutionise manufacturing by providing individuals without traditional manufacturing capabilities with powerful and affordable resources. However, widespread adoption is impeded by the lack of user-friendly design tools due to the necessity of domain-specific expertise in computer-aided design (CAD) software and the overwhelming level of design freedom afforded by the MEX process. To overcome these barriers and facilitate the democratisation of design (DoD), this article introduces an innovative, generative-based design (GBD) methodology aimed at enabling non-technical users to create functional components independently. The novelty of this methodology lies in its capacity to simplify complex design tasks, making them more accessible to non-designers. The proposed methodology was tested in the design of a load-bearing part, yielding a functional component within two design iterations. A comparative analysis with the conventional CAD-based process revealed that the GBD methodology enables the DoD, reflected in a 68% reduction in design activities and a decrease in design difficulty of 62% in requisite know-how and a 55% in understanding. Through the creation and implementation of this methodology, the article demonstrates a pioneering integration of state-of-the-art techniques of generative design with design repositories enabling effective co-design with non-designers.