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CHAPTER
4
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PROCEDUREDuring this task the subjects could draw reference to a collection of product examples. For half of the subjects these examples were organized into five product types, while the other half was given the same examples as an unorganized collection. Before the start of the actual design task, all subjects were asked to draw from memory their concept of a mobile telephone. This drawing was then labelled as the subject's pre-concept. Next the subjects were given the design brief, together with the product examples. At the end of the session, which lasted 90 minutes, they were asked to produce a drawing of their final concept, which was labelled as their post-concept. Pre-concepts and post-concepts were then assessed in a paired-comparison to compare the performances of both groups. |
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RESULTSIt was hypothesized that providing subjects with product examples which were organized in product types would results in design concepts, that in their appearance reflected, to a greater extent, the features of the provided types. This turned out to be true for those types that were in line with the given design brief. In these cases the products that make up for the type were used as confirming examples, forming a positive frame of reference. When a product type was not in line with the brief, it seemed to function in just the opposite way, with the products in them acting as contrasting examples, resulting in design concepts in which the features of the type were much less present. It was also expected that through their problem-independent nature the product types would reduce the effect of fixation, being a designer’s adherence to his preconceived ideas regarding the product form as represented by his pre-concept. The subjects who received the product types showed much more development in their design process, in a direction that was expected considering the design brief, than the subjects who were provided with the unorganized product examples.IMPLICATIONSIn all, the results of the experiment showed that providing designers with typologically organized design knowledge in the form of product types has a beneficial effect on the results of their design process. Extending these results to the development of computer support tools led to the concept of a visual database of design precedents that are organized into types according to the three product typologies. Such a database would provide the designer with a valuable body of design knowledge to consult during the design process. However, rather than developing a database that is presented to designers as a complete collection of pre-organized product types, it was argued that a database that is essentially organized, maintained and extended by designers themselves, would have an important additional value. Further, it would force designers to attentively observe and compare products on different levels of detail and abstraction, thus enhancing their sensitivity for design details and nuances. |
"Typological"
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