Design Methods

Many academic organisations are calling attention to the need for urgent changes in curricula and learning methods demanded by the continual social transformation of an increasingly technological world. Transversal skills such as the ability to think creatively and critically, take initiative, and work collaboratively for common goals, are essential to guarantee a qualified and entrepreneurial workforce in Europe. The D-Think research project emerged in this educational context during September 2014. It is an initiative of 7 partners from 6 different European countries, supported by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Commission. The project aims to promote a wider use of Design Thinking as a transversal learning tool by developing and making available a toolkit and an innovative digital course for educators and professional trainers. The result of the first year of the D-Think project is a Research Report about Design Thinking and its application in Education and Training, providing a spring board for the next stages of the project: the creation of the D-Think toolkit and the D-Think m-learning course, both in development and testing until August 2017. The main objective of the Research Report is the clarification of the role of Design Thinking in HEI (Higher Education Institutions) and VET (Vocational Training) Education, and the identification of new approaches to teaching/learning. The target group of the D-Think project are educators/trainers who want to rethink the education system and the current teaching/learning methodologies. As a result, the partnership expects HEI´s and VET providers to prepare people to respond better to the challenges of the labour market, and so be able to stimulate the growth of flexible and innovative businesses in the future.

This paper reports on a comparative study that evaluates two approaches to support the learning and use of algorithmic design in architecture, and extrapolates from this to consider applications for the algorithmic design of cities. The study explored two methods to reduce the barriers of using programming and potentially improve design performance. The first is the reuse of abstract algorithmic ‘patterns’. The second approach is the reuse of algorithmic solutions from specific design cases (case-based design). Reflecting on this research we outline how our findings discussed in relation to alternate thinking on the use of pattern, might inform a hybrid approach to the algorithmic design of cities.

In the UK, almost 6 million people are unpaid informal carers for an ill, frail or disabled family member or friend who couldn’t manage to live independently or whose health or wellbeing would deteriorate without their help. This saves the UK government over £119 billion a year. In England, around 3 million households contain an unpaid informal carer, which represents huge social care and National Health Service (NHS) cost savings [1]. Although the role and experience of informal carers is unique to their situation, and caring can be rich source of satisfaction, it is also known that their health suffers and that they have an increased rate of physical health problems, thus it is very important that we identify informal carers so that we can provide much needed help and support.
This paper reports on a series of disruptive design workshops, where the emphasis is for informal carers to have fun, relax, and to do things in ways that they wouldn’t normally do them. Each workshop involves creative activities such as drawing from memory, sketching everyday observations, 2D/3D modeling, and problem-solving challenges. The goals of the disruptive design workshops are to introduce the carers to new methods of seeing and doing their day-to-day tasks, to establish trust, decrease anxiety, to promote imagination, and risk-free “failure”. Moreover, the workshops aim to encourage, support and positively reinforce informal carers in respect of engagement and/or re-engagement with their creative capacities and depart from their pre-conceptions and orthodoxies about how things are and/or should be to how things might be.
The paper will present the initial results from a series of disruptive design workshops held within the studios of the School of Design, Northumbria University wherein the disruptive design work has had great success in breaking the cycle of well-formed opinions, strategies, mindsets, and ways-of-doing, that tend to remain unchallenged by the informal carers in their lives thus far.

Simulation-based and game-based technology can be used to drive experiential learning of interactive skills such as cross-cultural interactions. Backstory Elaboration (BE) is a method for creating design prompts, dialogs, and interactions that contain realistic verbal behaviors and variability for multiple avatars or non-player characters (NPCs) in cross-cultural virtual training environment. BE structures and simplifies the creation of believable non-player characters with realistic variability with respect to the social-cultural reference. In addition, it articulates easily and effectively with the design and integration of instruction content to support intelligent adaptive tutoring in the learning process. An example application from a clinical communication domain is presented.

The growing tendency for end users to get involved in the design and manufacturing phase of their own products has led to the proliferation of makers and prosumers. The tools available for this have been adapted to be used by non-specialized users who seek to meet their own needs and wants. Modular design offers a series of advantages directly related to the needs of current users, but which has hardly been used to benefit them. Instead, its development has geared towards aspects that are hidden to the consumer, such as flexible production.
This work presents a survey, part of a wider research, whose objective is to develop a methodological model for the prosumer to benefit from modular design. The survey was open for several months and was only aimed at makers, prosumers and designers. A dissemination plan was drawn up where the current communication channels of these users were taken into account. The results show what the current prosumer is like, what their needs are and how they relate to modular design. Finally, the conclusions provide information on how to develop a model proposal to ensure its correct usability and acceptance.

Due to the inherent complexity of human-centered design—which focuses on diverse stakeholder collaboration and participation within the design process—simply understanding a design process and deploying design research methods is not enough. Rather, the designer of today must now be able to understand the increased value that stakeholders bring to the design process. The designer of today must be able to develop design activities that empower stakeholders to express, make, evaluate and collaborate. And the designer of today must be able to facilitate others, through the design process. These new abilities all point to an emerging design skillset called design facilitation. Embedded within this new skillset is the ability to develop the mindset, skills and characteristics—along with utilizing processes, process tools, methods and planning frameworks—in order to effectively facilitate others through creative, collaborative problem-solving.

Este catálogo de metodologias de design é resultado de um trabalho iniciado em 2008 por Mateus Ximenes sob orientação do professor André Neves, durante um programa de iniciação científica — PIBIC — pela Universidade Federal de Pernambuco. Ainda em 2008, o projeto teve continuidade dada por Luis Arthur Vasconcelos, autor deste catálogo, com a importante colaboração de Vania Teofilo, membros do GDRlab — Laboratório de Pesquisa em Game Design. Após o fim do projeto, em 2009, o autor ampliou a pesquisa e retrabalhou os conceitos anteriormente estabelecidos, dando origem a um documento teórico intitulado de “Uma Investigação em Metodologias de Design” e, por fim, a este catálogo, que registra vinte e seis metodologias de design desenvolvidas desde a década de sessenta.

Over the last two decades, the design practice has been expanding to the public sphere to generate solutions for public challenges. In particular, the reflections on the design practice of public sector innovation (PSI) units, working in or with governments, are increasingly contributing to a growing body of literature attempting to characterise the practice in policy making. Although scholars conclude that design's significant contribution in policy refers to the implementation of public services and programs, there is also an urgent advocacy for a deeper study of the nature of design practices within earlier stages of policy processes addressing more specifically policy proposals and reforms. As part of a broader investigation, this paper seeks to shed light to this matter by identifying design-led activities and methods of PSI units in the policy making process and positioning them in the stages of the policy cycle. This research examines academic, grey literature and web content to uncover and position design activities of 46 PSI units from different continents in a policy cycle model based on Howlett, Ramesh and Perl (2009). Our work confirms that most design activities develop in the implementation stage rather than in early stages of the policy process. While design interventions are growing within policy formulation and agenda-setting stages, few of them were identified in the stage of policy evaluation. Decision-making stage remains purely political. This research may serve to a further understanding of the design practice and its potential contribution to policy making in the future.