The Role of Prototypes in Design Research


Book Description

This book provides a theoretical framework for design researchers interested in developing their research work about and with prototypes. It describes prototypes' multiple definitions and possible functions in the multifaceted landscape of today's design research. Indeed, while the manufacturing and digital evolutions enable and require new types of advanced prototypes, the design evolution as an academic discipline continuously widens its perspectives, fields, and research methods, among which are the prototypes' applications, features, and purposes. The framework originates from an interpretation of these interrelated phenomena and a collection of case studies. Additionally, it defines those criteria that characterize the relation between the research (context, discipline, and general scope) and the prototype (nature and specific aims) and, altogether, it presents an overview of prototypes' roles in design research.




The Routledge Companion to Design Research


Book Description

The Routledge Companion to Design Research offers a comprehensive examination of design research, celebrating the plurality of design research and the wide range of conceptual, methodological, technological and theoretical approaches evident in contemporary design research. This volume comprises 39 original and high quality design research chapters from contributors around the world, with offerings from the vast array of disciplines in and around modern design praxis, including areas such as industrial and product design, visual communication, interaction design, fashion design, service design, engineering and architecture. The Companion is divided into five distinct sections with chapters that examine the nature and process of design research, the purpose of design research, and how one might embark on design research. They also explore how leading design researchers conduct their design research through formulating and asking questions in novel ways, and the creative methods and tools they use to collect and analyse data. The Companion also includes a number of case studies that illustrate how one might best communicate and disseminate design research through contributions that offer techniques for writing and publicising research. The Routledge Companion to Design Research will have wide appeal to researchers and educators in design and design-related disciplines such as engineering, business, marketing, computing, and will make an invaluable contribution to state-of-the-art design research at postgraduate, doctoral, and post-doctoral levels and teaching across a wide range of different disciplines.




Encyclopedia of Human Computer Interaction


Book Description

Esta enciclopedia presenta numerosas experiencias y discernimientos de profesionales de todo el mundo sobre discusiones y perspectivas de la la interacción hombre-computadoras




Prototyping for Designers


Book Description

Prototyping and user testing is the best way to create successful products, but many designers skip this important step and use gut instinct instead. By explaining the goals and methodologies behind prototyping—and demonstrating how to prototype for both physical and digital products—this practical guide helps beginning and intermediate designers become more comfortable with creating and testing prototypes early and often in the process. Author Kathryn McElroy explains various prototyping methods, from fast and dirty to high fidelity and refined, and reveals ways to test your prototypes with users. You’ll gain valuable insights for improving your product, whether it’s a smartphone app or a new electronic gadget. Learn similarities and differences between prototyping for physical and digital products Know what fidelity level is needed for different prototypes Get best practices for prototyping in a variety of mediums, and choose which prototyping software or components to use Learn electronics prototyping basics and resources for getting started Write basic pseudocode and translate it into usable code for Arduino Conduct user tests to gain insights from prototypes




Prototyping Across the Disciplines


Book Description

Fields of study progress not by understanding more about what already exists, although that is a useful step, but by making guesses about possible better futures. The guesses consist of small forays into those futures, using strategies that are variously called learning through making, research through design, or more simply: prototyping. While traditionally associated primarily with industrial design, and more recently with software development, prototyping is now used as an important tool in areas ranging from materials engineering to landscape architecture to the digital humanities. This book collects current theories and methods of prototyping across a dozen disciplines and illustrates them through case studies of actual projects, whether in industry or the classroom. Prototyping Across the Disciplines provides context, a theoretical framework, and a set of methodologies for interdisciplinary collaboration in design. Each chapter offers a different disciplinary perspective on prototyping and provides a case study as a point of comparison for identifying commonalities and divergences in current practices. In examining the central role of prototyping in design research, this edited collection demonstrates theoretical and methodological transferability across disciplines not typically thought to be related, including post-human design, theatre, tabletop game design, landscape architecture, and arts entrepreneurship.




Storytelling for User Experience


Book Description

We all tell stories. It's one of the most natural ways to share information, as old as the human race. This book is not about a new technique, but how to use something we already know in a new way. Stories help us gather and communicate user research, put a human face on analytic data, communicate design ideas, encourage collaboration and innovation, and create a sense of shared history and purpose. This book looks across the full spectrum of user experience design to discover when and how to use stories to improve our products. Whether you are a researcher, designer, analyst or manager, you will find ideas and techniques you can put to use in your practice.




Design Approaches and Tools in Education and Training


Book Description

In our contemporary learning society, expectations about the contribution of education and training continue to rise. Moreover, the potential of information and communication technology (ICT) creates many challenges. These trends affect not only the aims, content and processes of learning, they also have a strong impact on educational design and development approaches in research and professional practices. Prominent researchers from the Netherlands and the USA present their latest findings on these issues in this volume. The major purpose of this book is to discuss current thinking on promising design approaches and to present innovative (computer-based) tools. The book aims to serve as a resource and reference work that will stimulate advancement in the field of education and training. It is intended to be useful in academic settings as well as for professionals in design and development practices.




Designing Your Life


Book Description

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • At last, a book that shows you how to build—design—a life you can thrive in, at any age or stage • “Life has questions. They have answers.” —The New York Times Designers create worlds and solve problems using design thinking. Look around your office or home—at the tablet or smartphone you may be holding or the chair you are sitting in. Everything in our lives was designed by someone. And every design starts with a problem that a designer or team of designers seeks to solve. In this book, Bill Burnett and Dave Evans show us how design thinking can help us create a life that is both meaningful and fulfilling, regardless of who or where we are, what we do or have done for a living, or how young or old we are. The same design thinking responsible for amazing technology, products, and spaces can be used to design and build your career and your life, a life of fulfillment and joy, constantly creative and productive, one that always holds the possibility of surprise.




Change by Design


Book Description

In Change by Design, Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO, the celebrated innovation and design firm, shows how the techniques and strategies of design belong at every level of business. Change by Design is not a book by designers for designers; this is a book for creative leaders who seek to infuse design thinking into every level of an organization, product, or service to drive new alternatives for business and society.




Sketching User Experiences: Getting the Design Right and the Right Design


Book Description

Sketching User Experiences approaches design and design thinking as something distinct that needs to be better understood—by both designers and the people with whom they need to work— in order to achieve success with new products and systems. So while the focus is on design, the approach is holistic. Hence, the book speaks to designers, usability specialists, the HCI community, product managers, and business executives. There is an emphasis on balancing the back-end concern with usability and engineering excellence (getting the design right) with an up-front investment in sketching and ideation (getting the right design). Overall, the objective is to build the notion of informed design: molding emerging technology into a form that serves our society and reflects its values. Grounded in both practice and scientific research, Bill Buxton's engaging work aims to spark the imagination while encouraging the use of new techniques, breathing new life into user experience design. - Covers sketching and early prototyping design methods suitable for dynamic product capabilities: cell phones that communicate with each other and other embedded systems, "smart" appliances, and things you only imagine in your dreams - Thorough coverage of the design sketching method which helps easily build experience prototypes—without the effort of engineering prototypes which are difficult to abandon - Reaches out to a range of designers, including user interface designers, industrial designers, software engineers, usability engineers, product managers, and others - Full of case studies, examples, exercises, and projects, and access to video clips that demonstrate the principles and methods