Planned obsolescence can artificially increase sales by stimulating desire or perceived need. This can be done in many ways and some companies are releasing newer models sooner than necessary or engineering the product to fail after a certain amount of use. In recent years, we have observed a change in the pattern of planned obsolescence strategies employed by technological companies, shifting from aesthetic to technological obsolescence. The reaction to this model comes from social enterprises and grassroots movements addressing the circular economy and repairability. This paper illustrates these relationships in context, taking the mobile phone industry as a case study. We focus on product architecture and product features, as a reference point to discuss the embodiment of strategies, and the degree of control the consumer is given for repairing the product. Using netnography as a method to collect data in a digital-mediated environment, this paper highlights how planned obsolescence strategies are embedded in product characteristics and summarises their evolution. It concludes by opposing planned obsolescence strategies to circular economy principles to discuss more sustainable pathways for the smartphone industry.

Industrial digital transformation is bringing a need for new tools and concepts. However, designing such complex tools and concept requires methods to be correctly implemented. These methods are studied as part of system engineering to satisfy various identified goals, and more specifically human-system integration, which is the topic of this paper. This article introduces the method used to define key elements of human perception of reality called reality anchors to design scenarios to be tested in a digital twin prototype. This method goes from regulation study to user cognitive function analysis on the specific case of digital twin designing in oil-and-gas industry. This method highlighted the differences between theoretical process and the followed process as well as tools and competencies used to identify reality anchors. This knowledge will then be used to implement a new process to be implemented with a digital twin and scenarios to test the prototype using realistic simulation.

The concept of User Experience (UX) dates back to the 1990s, but a shared definition of UX is not available. As design integrates UX, different interpretations thereof can complicate the possibility to build upon previous literature and develop the field autonomously. Indeed, by analysing the literature, UX emerges as a cauldron of related and closely linked concepts. However, it is possible to find recurring attributes that emerge from those definitions, which are ascribable to two foci: the fundamental elements of the interaction (user, system, context) and typologies of experience (ergonomic, cognitive, and emotional). Those are used to build a framework. We have preliminarily investigated how UX is dealt with in design by mapping a sample of UX-related experimental articles published in design journals. We classified UX case studies based on the framework to individuate the UXs that emerge most frequently and the most studied ones in the design field. The two-focus framework allows the mapping of experiments involving UX in design, without highlighting specific favorable combinations. However, comprehensive studies dealing with all elements and UX typologies have not been found.

One of the biggest challenges of companies developing new solutions is how to properly manage the different relationships with external partners, especially in the case of Product-Service Systems (PSS). Developing a PSS requires for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) to rethink the organization and roles of the different stakeholders regarding the characteristics of such environments. This paper aims to introduce a methodology to build a framework for inter-enterprise collaboration performance assessment and its corresponding Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). An extensive list of KPIs is established from key factors of collaboration performance and organizational characteristics in PSS context. Finally, further steps of the methodology are discussed where fuzzy techniques are used.

In the last decades, mental health disorders have been a growing source of the global burden of disease. Thousands of mental health apps are available nowadays addressing this problem, but studies show that the effectiveness of these apps is jeopardized by the low user engagement.

This study investigates the most potentially effective gamification and nudging techniques in design for improving engagement in mental health apps for young people, by carrying out app-reviews for top installed mental health apps on Google play store and connecting it with engagement data, in addition to conducting expert-interviews with professionals from gamification and design background.

From the findings, techniques that participated in improving retention rates included using app character for creating app narrative and user interaction, in addition to adopting a non-forcible language. While to improve app daily duration of use, simplification nudge, and stating the recommended minutes of use found to be useful. Personalization and social interaction techniques were potentially effective for improving the frequency of app daily use. For the young age group, using juicy feedback and high-quality gamification were recommended

Commercially available metal Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF) systems are steadily evolving. Thus, design limitations narrow and the diversity of achievable geometries widens. This progress leads researchers to create innovative benchmarks to understand the new system capabilities. Thereby, designers can update their knowledge base in design for additive manufacturing (DfAM). To date, there are plenty of geometrical benchmarks that seek to develop generic test artefacts. Still, they are often complex to measure, and the information they deliver may not be relevant to some designers. This article proposes a geometrical benchmarking approach for metal L-PBF systems based on the designer needs. Furthermore, Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T) characteristics enhance the approach. A practical use-case is presented, consisting of developing, manufacturing, and measuring a meaningful and straightforward geometric test artefact. Moreover, optical measuring systems are used to create a tailored uncertainty map for benchmarking two different L-PBF systems.

Digitalisation is making significant inroads into society at the same time as the general commercial trend is to able to personalise the product one acquires. The field of digital product representation, and the techniques for adopting a particular product in accordance with the customer's expectations, have become very important corporate assets. From a company's perspective these assets can be leveraged both for internal efficiency and also for different types of external customer interactions. In this article, the standpoint is that product geometry forms the foundation for digital product representation. It is from this perspective that the geometrical ecosystem comes into focus. Geometry creation and geometry consumption, in combination with geometrical configuration management, are high-value areas that must be mastered. A research-based 20-year industrial perspective building up such capabilities serves as an example. The article concludes with a forward-looking perspective on potential areas for continued exploration on this journey.

The aim of this research is to report the finding from the perspective of the Healthcare Professionals and the adolescents and young adults (AYA's) to identify issues and barriers to a successful transition for adolescents with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) as they move from Paediatric Healthcare setting to Adult Healthcare.

Healthcare services that fail to adequately meet the needs of young people and their families at this time of considerable change may result in a decline in their health status that can have a negative long-term impact. Through a user-centered research design (UCD) and Universal Design, the needs of all participants and stakeholders will be assessed. This paper applies the most appropriate proposed methods for the development of a solution to mitigate against some of the issues in tangent with the needs and feedback identified during the research process.

Innovation projects are characterized by numerous uncertainties. Typical concepts in development management like the application of safety coefficients imply limitations of the solution space. In contrast, explicit handling of uncertainties can support engineers in understanding the problem space and in utilising the full potential of the design space along iterative product development steps. As a result from literature analysis, there is a lack of a support for product development that addresses the specific problem of uncertainty and risk in the context of requirement changes. The aim of the contribution at hand is to enhance the efficient development of complex interdisciplinary systems by enabling uncertainty handling in requirements change management. Based on a classification of uncertainty types resulting in a descriptive model, risk management measures are identified to support requirements engineers. The proposed method includes identification & modelling, analysis, treatment and monitoring of risks and counter-measures. By applying this method, engineers are supported in adopting agile approaches and enabling flexible Requirements Engineering.

Both industry and science point out the need to integrate PLM and ALM since products evolve from mechatronic to smart products. This paper investigates data management tasks fulfilled when creating or improving design. Particularly, the differences and commonalities in design evolution management of the software and hardware disciplines are considered.

This paper introduces a beta version of a hash function based tool, applying the software management mechanism on mechanical revision management.

This is a qualitative single case study of a geographically distributed student team that experienced a quite different graduate course, compared to previous year's. This was due to the restrictions placed upon them following coronavirus lockdowns. With already ongoing research, and continuous development of the course, the authors had documented individual reflections and identified patterns and behaviours that seemingly determined the quality of the end result, as well as the students expectations and experiences. Semi-structured interviews, surveys and the author's individual reflection notes were already in place as part of the larger research scope and when the student team during the covid-19 year showed unexpected performance and results, the authors decided to pause the larger research scope and focus on this unique single case and capture those learnings. Not knowing how the Covid-19 situation evolves and leaning on insights from previous years, as well as this unique year, the aim with this paper is to describe the unique Covid-19 year amd share knowledge that can help improve and evolve the development of this longlived collaborative graduate student course, and other similar distributed team contexts.

In addition to being functional and well-engineered, successful products in today's market are also desirable and appealing to customers. A decision to purchase a product or not is often influenced not only by facts, but also by emotions. Qualities like desirability and appeal that trigger an emotional response can be challenging to satisfy. These qualities can be difficult to quantify and measure and do not easily translate into requirements and specifications. Therefore, understanding the emotional responses of potential customers to product proposals would allow designers to adapt their design strategies. In this study, participants were invited to review a range of design proposals and asked to rank order them relative to one another. The participants were asked to record their comments while discussing their ranking. The findings show that study participants often made decisions about how good or bad they thought a design proposal was without providing rationale to support their rankings. In some cases the rankings were aligned with the comments, but sometimes they were in conflict. More work is needed to further explore the decision-making process and the criteria used when reviewing design proposals.

The continuous management of a manufacturing company's product portfolio is a key aspect of successful product development. Managers determine when and which products should be updated or terminated. This process influences inhouse Industrial design teams, thus prompting a range of development strategies they might deploy. In product portfolio management there is a tension between standardisation and customisation. From a marketing perspective this is may be addressed through brand DNA, from engineering through modularization. The design perspective (merging those two) has been ill-explored, particularly from professional designers. Previously we proposed a theoretical model describing different industrial design projects and how they influence industrial designers strategic thinking. It was developed through literature reviews and examples found in manufacturing industry. Through a multi-case interview study with 16 participants from five manufacturing companies with strong brands, this article aims to empirically evaluate the proposed model. The results show that the respondents could describe all but one industrial design projects, the cause maybe that they had not been exposed to saving a company by doing a total makeover.

Individual traits strongly impact team composition and the biases arising from them can also impact design activities. One such bias highlighted in the study is the familiarity bias (i.e., a bias that might be present between the two individuals due to their prior acquaintance). In order to detect the familiarity bias, participants from 4 universities who evaluated their peers and rated them for (1) their perceived degree of influence, (2) trust, (3) the amount of agreement they had with the other team member and (4) the amount of agreement the other individual in the team had with them. It was found that familiarity bias exists in collaborative teams. Its impact on the four variables, especially on influence, was discovered. In the end, the study briefly highlighted the importance of studying the factors (like the one revealed in this study) that affect influence in design teams as it eventually impacts design outcome. It was found that the individuals who explore most idea clusters, are less likely to be perceived influential and teams having the most influence produced a smaller number of idea clusters. Overall, the study contributes to understanding the factors affecting human cognition and behaviour in the design teams.

The increasing need to motivate and engage participants in the co-design has led to the trend of employing game elements in the early phase of the design process to facilitate the activities. However, most have described the gamified co-design by its methods, purposes, and functions. How games theoretically contribute to achieving those goals is still uncovered. This research aims to bridge this theoretical-practical gap by first defining the game principles from the literature. Then investigate how those principles manifested in two case studies with detailed game elements. Finally, we present a framework that links the game principles and purposes/functions by reflecting the cases.

Industry 4.0 is a great opportunity and a tremendous challenge for every role of society. Our study combines complex network and qualitative methods to analyze the Industry 4.0 macroeconomic issues and global supply chain, which enriches the qualitative analysis and machine learning in macroscopic and strategic research. Unsupervised complex graph network models are used to explore how industry 4.0 reshapes the world. Based on the in-degree and out-degree of the weighted and unweighted edges of each node, combined with the grouping results based on unsupervised learning, our study shows that the cooperation groups of Industry 4.0 are different from the previous traditional alliances. Macroeconomics issues also are studied. Finally, strong cohesive groups and recommendations for businessmen and policymakers are proposed.

Notwithstanding the positive environmental impact of recycled plastics, they are only scarcely used in new designs due to unfamiliarity and lack of material identities. This research aims to touch upon the sensorial attributes that characterise the sustainable perception of recycled plastics. Understanding this would allow to respond to the new trend of sustainable living by offering recycled materials that are successfully perceived as sustainable, and that could support the identity building of each specific recycled plastic material. Three research activities were executed to explore (i) the designerly understanding of sustainable perceived plastics; (ii) the consumer understanding of sensorial material attributes that influence the sustainable perception; (iii) the understanding of these attributes towards recycled plastic materials. Five variables were found that interfere with the perception of the participants: A weaker colour intensity, the use of colourless colours, a rougher texture, a speckled structure and the usage of a matte gloss can give a sustainable look towards a sustainable plastic material. Further research should detail these variables, its limitations and try to make defined guidelines to avoid greenwashing.

The importance of forming concepts in one's mind has been argued from various perspectives in design studies. This experimental study examines how the co-creative process affects concept formation considering its depth.

The authors conducted a learning experiment applying three processes; non-interactive (NI), interactive but non-co-creative (NC), and interactive and co-creative processes (C). To evaluate whether and how deep the concept is formed in the examinee's mind, mimetic Japanese words, which contain several different explicit concepts underlying a certain integrated implicit concept, were chosen as learning materials. The examinees without any knowledge about mimetic Japanese words were gathered globally and the experiment was conducted fully online using English. Examinees were tested several times to measure how they had formed these concepts for comparing the processes.

The findings suggest that the co-creative process enhances the depth of concept formation: involvement load and willingness to participate in the co-creative process lead to deeper concept formation.

It is of vital importance to explore and understand future users' needs and requirements in the early phases of the product development process. However, in times of social distancing meeting users might not be possible. The project reported on in this paper has investigated the possibilities of conducting advanced user studies online. In total 30 small experimental studies have been conducted. Common digital tools that were used were e.g. Zoom, Teams, Mural, Miro, Snapchat, and Instagram.

The data was analyzed in a thematic content analysis by the authors on Mural. Identified challenges were excluding not tech-savvy user groups, missing out on interpersonal interaction and observations, as well as difficulties creating participant commitment and trust. On the positive side were perceived efficiency, a more levelled power distribution between participants, and ease of engagement and data retrieval for tech-savvy users.

Identified best practices included lowering social barriers through warm up activities and techniques to support open discussion during workshops. Furthermore, engagement could be supported through private social media groups, regular reminders, as well as clear communication of purpose and goal of the activities.

This work aims to test Prosperity Thinking methodology in Action and assess whether this method would respond to the needs of designers, innovators, and change-makers that are willing to change the food system. Starting from the evolution of marketing design to human-centered design, we illustrate the importance of taking into account the planet's means in the design for Sustainability at the system level. We approached the problem starting from practice, with an Action Research Innovation Management Framework (Guertler, Kriz, and Sick, 2020). Results show that designers, innovators, and changemakers have an interest in a methodology that helps them to analyze and solve systemic challenges linking the micro (human) and macro (planet) through a participatory approach to achieve long-term impact of the designed solutions.