Hackathons are short design events at which participants collaboratively progress through the entire design process. They pose opportunities for design research, but the existing research is limited, as is the understanding of design activity at hackathons. In our study, we summarize the hackathon design process of 10 interview participants from varying disciplines, levels of experience, and hackathon events. The summarized account reveals a decreased emphasis on the beginning phases of the design process, mainly problem definition, but an increased emphasis on the end, specifically the pitch portion of the event. These differences are mainly due to the limited time frame. We further assess the effect of time limitations at hackathons by comparing hackathons to other instances of design, emphasizing the impact of time constraints on iteration. We conclude our discussion with an exploration of the role expertise has on the design process by comparing the accounts of designers and developers.

Computer-Aided Design (CAD) constitutes an important tool for industrial designers. Similarly, Virtual Reality (VR) has the capability to revolutionize how designers work with its increased sense of scale and perspective. However, existing VR CAD applications are limited in terms of functionality and intuitive control. Based on a comparison of VR CAD applications, ImPro, a new application for immersive prototyping for industrial designers was developed. The user evaluations and comparisons show that ImPro offers increased usability, functionality, and suitability for industrial designers.

In “Grande cuisine” creation and tradition co-evolve in a rich number of ways. Great chefs still use recipes from the 19th century and may also reinvent gastronomy itself. The creation heritage of culinary Art is the paradoxical capacity to both “respect” tradition and “break” its rules. Building on C-K theory, we show that such creative heritage needs multiple and independent layers of knowledge that “speak” of basic fixed objects. These properties correspond to general mathematical structures that we find in Topos theory. Thus, C-K/Topos predicts creative design strategies that can respect tradition in different ways. It also proves a form of “innovation within tradition” - “sheafification” in Topos words- that is not a compromise and builds on tradition itself. These findings fit with the lessons of great books of gastronomy. C-K/Topos has a wide scope of validity: it applies to any innovative design that needs preserving systemic structures, like engineering systems or social and environmental systems. C- K/Topos models with a high generality how local and radical innovation can warrant systems incremental change. C-K/Topos will have implications for teaching and research.

Requirements engineering and requirements management are essential sub-processes of product development and are an integrated part of virtually all product development models and industrial process descriptions. Proprietary and context specific processes for working with requirements are used in industrial design practice. However, these are not appropriately reflected in existing process models for product development. Existing standards describe the content and generation of requirements documents but not their integration in the product development process.

The study is based on a retrospective analysis of a set of representative real-world product development projects from automotive industry and rail industry. Comparing the processes downstream the milestone “release of PRD”, it was found that subsequent processes to manage requirements and specifications do not differ much with regard to industrial context. Based on this, a model for the product requirements specification (PRS) process is proposed which addresses the gap.

The increasingly intelligent, highly complex, technical systems of tomorrow - for instance autonomous vehicles - result in the necessity for a systematic security- and safety-oriented development process that starts in the early phases of system design. Automotive Systems Engineering (ASE) as one approach is increasingly gaining ground in the automotive industry. However, this approach is still in a prototype stage. The consideration of security and safety within the early stages of systems design leads to so- called ill-defined problems. Such are not covered by ASE, but can be addressed by means of Design Thinking. Therefore we introduce an approach to combine both approaches. Based on this combination, we derive potentials in the context of the consideration of security and safety. Essential advantages are the possibility to think ahead of threat scenarios at an early stage in system design. Due to an incomplete database, this is not supported or only partially supported by conventional approaches. The resulting potentials are derived based upon a practical example.

The paper describes the rigorous implementation of a validated methodological experimental protocol to divergent and convergent thinking tasks occurring in Design by neurophysiological means (EEG and eye-tracking). EEG evidence confirms the findings coherently to the literature. Interesting is the confirmation of such results through eye-tracking ones, and further evidence emerged. In particular, neurophysiological results in idea generation differ between designers and engineers. This study was supported by a multidisciplinary team, both for the neuropsychological and data analysis aspects.

Adaptive façades (AF), unlike conventional façades, respond to their environment to reduce energy consumption while increasing comfort. The planning of AF presents architects and engineers with a variety of challenges. One central challenge is the specification of the right planning goals in the early phases. This paper identifies in a systematic literature review the main characteristics which were crucial in previous realizations of AF. Due to the comprehensive approach it provides a reference for the goal definition of subsequent projects and the development of further methodical support.

The amount of new virtual reality input and output devices being developed is enormous. Those peripherals offer novel opportunities and possibilities in the industrial context, especially in the product development process. Nevertheless, virtual reality has to face several problems, counteracting reliable use of the technology, especially in ergonomic and aesthetic assessments. In particular, the discrepancies in perception between the real world and virtual reality are of great importance.

Therefore, we discuss these most important issues of current virtual reality technology and highlight approaches to solve them. First, we illustrate the use cases of VR in the product development process. In addition, we show which hardware is currently available for professional use and which issues exist with regard to visual perception and interaction. Derived from the depiction of a perfect virtual reality, we define the requirements to address visual perception and interaction. Subsequently we discuss approaches to solve the issues regarding visual perception and evaluate their suitability to enhance the use of virtual reality technology in engineering design.

Aluminum foam sandwich (AFS) is an innovative material combination for designing lighter products and has many advantages such as a high bending stiffness at a low density and good energy absorption properties. Although the material is ready for series production, the number of industrial applications is low because of the high costs of the material, a lack of design knowledge and missing reference applications. This paper focuses on the aspect of missing reference applications and how to improve this situation in order to give designers an idea of where the material could be used profitably and to provide the basis for a selection method. Therefore, a systematic literature review is carried out to identify profitable applications with their respective advantages. As a main result, a set of motivators for the use of aluminum foam sandwich is developed, which will support the designer in evaluating the potential use of aluminum foam sandwich.

Customer survey data is critical to supporting customer preference modeling in engineering design. We present a framework of information retrieval and survey design to ensure the collection of quality customer survey data for analyzing customers’ preferences in their consideration-then-choice decision-making and the related social impact. The utility of our approach is demonstrated through the survey design for customers in the vacuum cleaner market. Based on the data, we performed descriptive analysis and network-based modeling to understand customers’ preferences in consideration and choice.

Purposeful qualitative modelling of embodiment function relations is a challenge in embodiment design. This contribution investigates the applicability and usefulness of the Contact and Channel Approach as a qualitative modelling approach in a survey study. From 23 development and research projects, advantages and challenges regarding applicability and usefulness are identified. A further result is that many different models are used additionally to the Contact and Channel Approach. Based on the findings, research potential for optimization and development of links to other models emerges.

This study user-tested different data visualizations for highly uncertain life cycle assessments (LCAs) to determine what best supported decision-making. Precise LCAs can only be performed once designs are finalized, due to the information necessary to complete them, but design changes in such late stages are costly. If designers could have environmental impact data earlier in the process, sustainable design choices could instead be built into the initial designs. We compiled LCAs for various product categories, finding the best means of visualizing the data for online and printable dissemination. Because this LCA data varied widely within each product category, it was necessary to display uncertainty and require users to acknowledge the uncertainty. Here, four different data visualizations were tested with engineering, design, and STEM students and professionals; both quantitative and qualitative analysis determined what visualizations were most favored and forced users to consider uncertainty. We hope that this research helps LCA data be more accessible to designers and engineers in the early phases of design, allowing those without the resources or ability to perform LCA to benefit from it and design more sustainably.

In the product development process, digital support continues to advance. Some work steps during product development are still carried out without assistance. Sketch creation is one of these. Therefore, the content created here is rarely documented due to the effort required for digital transformation. An alternative can be sketching in virtual reality. This article explores whether 3D sketching in VR enables faster sketching and can offer the basic features of hand-drawn sketches. To verify this, a tool for 3D sketching was developed. 27 test subjects were asked to solve one out of two different design tasks using this tool. The experiments were evaluated using video coding to identify the subjects actions. The created solutions have been analyzed about quality. The study showed initial indications that sketching in VR generally enables faster processing while maintaining the same solution quality.

In methodical product development, numerous data are used and linked with each other, especially variant-related data. This paper presents a model-based solution for avoiding inconsistencies in the development of product families with many variants and extends it to modular lightweight design. In addition, the inconsistencies in methodical product development were classified and solution approaches were shown. Thus, inconsistencies can be avoided with the presented elaborated data model for an integrated product and process model based on the presented procedure.

Additive Manufacturing (AM) enables innovative product designs. One promising research field is AM of integrated electrically structures, e.g. heating panels using Joule effect. A mayor challenge in designing heating panels using AM is the dependency of its resultant resistivity from material, process and geometry parameters. The goal-oriented design of heating panels with individual surface temperatures the interactions between these parameters need to be understand. Therefore, a data-driven design approach is developed that facilitates a design of heating panels with specific properties.

A reason for the slow adoption of digital twins in industry is a lack of trust in the concept and between the stakeholders involved. This paper presents a Trust Framework for Digital Twins based on a literature review and an interview study, including seven recommendations: (1) explain your twin, (2) create a common incentive, (3) make only one step at a time, (4) ensure IP protection and IT security, (5) prove your quality, (6) ensure a uniform environment, and (7) document thoroughly. Together with 20 concrete measures it supports practitioners in improving trust in their Digital Twin.

Littering is a highly diffused anti-environmental and anti-social behavior, especially among young people. Furthermore, cigarette butts are one of the most littered items and are responsible for both severe environmental damages and high clean up expenses. The aim of this project is to design an interactive ashtray for the campus environment to limit the cigarette butts littering behavior in an engaging and effective way. Qualitative and quantitative data are collected. Coded observations were implemented through the research process, including the 2 pre (without the prototype) and 2 pros (with the prototype) sessions. Also, user experience test and one to one interview were conducted for deepening the understanding of the littering phenomenon and the reasons behind in the behavior among young people. The prototype indeed reduced the number of cigarette butts littering among observed behaviors of 156 students, especially in male sample. Final results indicate the behavior change of disposers is moderated by other factors, as the environmental cleanliness. Future development is also discussed.

Many research students find challenges when validating their research. Especially when they have expectations to contribute to both practice and the research body of knowledge. This paper argues that a key to successful validation of design research lies in the ability to focus on what to validate in advance of how to validate. The paper provide a set of guidelines to support a discussion on how to converge to a claim that actually can be validated. The paper reports on experiences from PhD level course on validation in design research.

In an era of increased automation in commuters’ everyday life, addressing the disconnect caused by taking the human out of the loop is critical. This paper describes the development of two extreme Companions for a public autonomous bus interface in Singapore. Attributes were identified in a benchmarking study and tested in a survey to investigate local users’ key preferences for must-have and ideal-to-have traits and Companion qualities. Finally, two contrasting Companion concepts are proposed and design strategies considering user expectations of Companions versus humans are discussed.

Combinational creativity can play a significant role in supporting designers to produce creative ideas during the early stages of new product development. This paper explores conceptual distances in combinational creativity from computational perspectives. A study conducted indicates that different computational measurements show different conceptual distance results. However, the study suggests far-related ideas could lead to outcomes that are more creative than closely-related ones. This paper provides useful insights into exploring future computational design support tools.