Visual representations are essential to design. Data-rich representations such as systems visualisations are gaining prominence in engineering practice. However, as such visualisations are often developed ad-hoc, we propose more systematically to link visual tasks with design-specific tasks for which the visualisations are used. Whereas research on such linking focuses mostly on CAD models and sketches, no such studies are yet available for systems visualisations. Thus, this paper introduces a typology of visual tasks from the Information Visualisation field to aid the development of systems visualisations in design. To build a visualisation using the typology, a case study with engineering students developing an autonomous robot was conducted. Through interviews and analysis of product representations used, design-specific tasks were identified and decomposed into visual tasks. Then, a visualisation that assisted the team in performing their design activities was created. Results illustrate the benefits of using such a typology to describe visual tasks and generate systems visualisations. The study suggests implications for researchers studying visual representations in design as well as for developers of systems visualisations.

Within the circular economy, the Product-Service System (PSS) is a key business model to slow down and dematerialise resource consumption between manufacturers or service providers and customers. Material-Service Systems (MSSs) have been proposed as a business model to develop the performance economy focusing on the relationship between material suppliers and manufacturers. The aim of this research is to introduce and develop the MSS concept and to apply it to a real-world case study. The research involved two stages. First, a modelling method is proposed to represent the flow, transformation and ownership of resources by the stakeholders in a supply chain. Second, the method is tested using steel industrial drums as a case. The results indicate that the MSS has the potential to radically transform the steel drums industry and it could work effectively with a PSS within a reuse system to recondition and reintroduce obsolete drums into the market.

In addition to the development and research of battery-driven vehicles, a high research effort in the field of hydrogen technology can currently be observed. Various research and strategy initiatives relating to hydrogen are being initiated and pursued with considerable commitment worldwide. A significant expansion of the hydrogen filling station network is also being sought in Germany. In the course of designing a hydrogen refuelling station, the paradigms of thermal management must be taken into account in addition to a large number of different environmental and life phase-induced influencing factors. The interactions between influencing factors, requirements and the system architecture result in a multitude of possible refuelling station concepts, which can hardly be surveyed or managed from an organisational point of view. This publication introduces a method for the development of descriptive requirement collectives, which is applied to hydrogen refuelling stations in the framework of THEWA, but can also be adapted for other technical systems. The requirement collective is the first core element of the THEWA tool chain that enables a requirement-oriented and fast design of hydrogen refuelling stations.

Sensor integration as close to the process as possible provides advantages in the quality of the measurement results as well as the possibility to implement completely new sensor principles and to measure novel quantities of interest. Sensor integration at positions close to the process can be made possible, for example, through the development and application of Sensing Machine Elements (SME). In the first part of this contribution, a general sensor system model is proposed. It is based on the concept of measuring chains and allows the uniform description of functions and uncertainties within a conventional sensor or SME application. For this purpose, essential quantities are defined, which are required for a uniform understanding. In the second part, the presented sensor system model is applied to a load measuring strain gauge on a drive shaft. This enables the condition monitoring of the shaft and drive train by measuring the electrical resistance of the strain gauge and thus allowing conclusions about the acting drive torque. The individual functions and uncertainties of the strain gauge integration are presented in the system model. This example shows the applicability of the presented system model for sensors and SME.

Open Abdomen (OA) therapy, is purposely leaving the fascial edges of the abdomen un-approximated after a laparotomy. During the OA therapy, there must be a temporary abdominal closure (TAC) device installed in the patient to achieve abdominal closure gradually without affecting its safety. However, the actual TAC devices have some gaps in terms of functionality or usability, therefore a new device is proposed. Intending to design a usable and functional technique for patients all over the world, the BioDesign Innovation Process was used. This iterative methodology focuses on healthcare needs, invention, and concept development with three main phases: Identify, Invent and Implement. At the end of these phases, the team successfully developed two new abdominal closure techniques that fill in the gaps of functionality and usability, using a simulator that realistically mimicked the physical and mechanical properties of an open abdomen. In terms of functionality, the novel techniques showed safe installation, operational security, secure grip, low invasiveness and control of intra-abdominal pressure. In terms of usability, the devices showed better results in efficiency, effectiveness and easy re-exploration than the control group.

A refrigerant system (like that of a supermarket) is a complex system if we consider all the stakeholders throughout its lifecycle phases (use, maintenance, technological update, end of life). The lack of stakeholders' interaction during the design and other lifecycle stages of such a system generates issues and leads to sub-optimal system performances. We used the RID methodology to identify the main areas for improvement for these activities related to the refrigerant system. It is precisely designed to analyze, within the scope of activity, the major stakeholders' problems (user profiles) during lifecycle phases (use situations) to deduce areas for improvement (value buckets). Therefore, we built a process of interviews and data collection on existing practices to feed into a RID model. The first results are an archetypal description of the actors and problems encountered according to the lifecycle phases. The second part is a prioritized mapping of the areas to improve despite a certain number of known available solutions but proven insufficient.

Studies reported the effects of different types and different levels of abstraction of analogical stimuli on designers. However, specific, single visual analogical stimuli on the effects of designers have not been reported. We define this type of stimuli as specific analogical stimuli. We used the extended linkography method to analyze the facilitating and limiting effects of specific analogical stimuli and free association analogical stimuli (nonspecific analogical stimuli) on the students' creativity at different design levels. The results showed that: (1) Advanced students focused on exploring the depth of the design problem while beginning students tended to explore the breadth of the design problem. (2) Nonspecific analogical stimuli enhanced the creativity of beginning students. However, its impact on advanced students is less pronounced. (3) The specific analogical stimuli attract the students into design fixation. Furthermore, it has a more pronounced effect on advanced students. These results illustrate the differences in the effects of specific analogy stimuli on the students at different design levels. It clarifies the use of analogical stimuli in design and the teaching of analogical design methods in design education.

Digital transformation has become a mega trend topic for many enterprises globally. For some companies, customer interactions have been digitalized. But many companies still rely on physical interactions of customers with their products in the core value creation processes. Thus the key challenges for digital transformation efforts would be associating product-centered value propositions with digitalized services. In other words, the transformation of product-centered values into experience values co-created by customers with services supporting customers. The research goal of this paper is to identify different strategies for digital transformation in product-service systems (PSS) design so that diverse paths for digital transformation can be considered in designing PSSs. Three types for digital transformation strategies have been identified from PSS design cases conducted in a manufacturing servitization support framework project where PSSs have been designed for 15 manufacturing companies including SMEs and large companies with varying levels of digital technology. A classification for digital transformation strategies could be postulated with three primary dimensions and two supplementary dimensions.

Over the recent years, several attempts were made to define the concept of the Digital Twin and to create a generic view for utilizing it within the industry. Still, many industry sectors are not able to transfer a generic definition into their product portfolio, as Digital Twins differ from each other to the same degree as physical products differ from each other. Hence, it is crucial to enlarge the definition towards a classification and business scenarios which enable sector specific views on the concept of the Digital Twin and help SME to utilize the concept towards their products. Future engineers will have to design physical products besides a digital counterpart and therefore have to identify interdependencies between these two products during the development. This paper discusses a generic definition of a Digital Twin that can be applied throughout different sectors as well as a classification for Digital Twins to enable the implementation of the concept on several maturity levels regarding the constraints of the product portfolio. In addition, these classes are viewed in different business scenarios and an outlook is given to further increase the usability of Digital Twins within new industry sectors.

Whilst prior works have characterised the affordances of prototyping methods in terms of generating knowledge about a product or process, the types, or ‘dimensions’ of knowledge towards which they contribute are not fully understood. In this paper we adapt the concept of ‘design domains’ as a method to interpret, and better understand the contributions of different prototyping methods to design knowledge in new product development. We first synthesise a set of ten dimensions for design knowledge from a review of literature in design-related fields. A study was then conducted in which participants from engineering backgrounds completed a Likert-type questionnaire to quantify the perceived contributions to design knowledge of 90 common prototyping methods against each dimension. We statistically analyse results to identify patterns in the knowledge contribution of different methods. Results reveal that methods exhibit significantly different contribution profiles, suggesting different methods to be suited to different knowledge. Thus, this paper indicates potential for new methods, methodology and processes to leverage such characterisations for better selection and sequencing of methods in the prototyping process.

Engineering design teams, particularly in academic courses, were no exception to the consequences of the unknown virus and the global pandemic. Forced online teaching has influenced the way of using communication technologies. The information flow architecture of engineering design is also transforming due to the remote activities and the dominancy of web-based technologies. This transformation creates different patterns of distributed cognition within design teams. In the course of full remote teaching, we studied the entire information flow of a small and dispersed engineering team through the early stages of design for one month using the ethnographic method and Distributed Cognition analysis techniques. Our analysis, of the interdisciplinary design team during a rocket engineering project and system engineering teaching, shows the considerable role of different online data sharing and communications technology platforms in distributed cognition and collaborative problem solving within the team. These new trends create new challenges and opportunities, and in order to enhance collaborative design, these emerged out of the box trends require more attention and updating of existing strategies.

With an ever-increasing body of primary school children and the degradation of mental health among young people, the development of a high self-esteem at a primary school level has been recognised as a huge driving force towards the wellbeing of the next generation. Although the poor mental health of young people in their teenage years is widely talked about and addressed, it is often missed that this stems from a much younger age. The people most likely to suffer with a lower self-esteem at a young age are those with a learning differences, weather mild, diagnosed or undiagnosed. This paper will explore how emerging cognitive differences, and positive social interaction can help steer a child’s self-development away from problems later in life such as anxiety and depression. Using these findings, a physical classroom-based game was conceived, designed and tested on the end users in the classroom environment.

Face masks are currently considered essential devices that people must wear today and in the near future, until the COVID-19 pandemic will be completely defeated through specific medicines and vaccines. Such devices are generally made of thermoplastic polymers, as polypropylene and polyethylene and are single use products. Even if in this period the sanitary emergency must have the maximum priority, the world society should not completely forget the environmental problem that are causing more and more obvious climate changes with correlated damages to ecosystems and human health. Despite the well-known correlation among anti-COVID protective equipment (or more generally medical devices) and environmental issues, the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and eco-design-based studies in this field is very scarce. The present study aims to derive the most important environmental criticalities of such products, by using LCA and product circularity indicators of five different common masks. The final aim is to provide eco-design guidelines, useful to design new face masks by preventing negative impact on the environment.

When designing assistive devices for children with disabilities, designers mostly consider technical and functional aspects and overlook factors that affect their usage from children’s perspective. Therefore, in most cases, assistive devices do not fully meet the needs of the children and may create a negative effect on children’s well-being. To explore the opinion’s of children using 3D printed hand prosthetics in Country-Xx, individual generative sessions were conducted with four children with limb deficiency. Generative tools are used to engage children and encourage them to express themselves in relation to prosthesis use. The main aim was to investigate how children provide design relevant information that may help designers to achieve improved assistive devices that support children’s physical, emotional and social wellbeing. Children’s feedback related to prosthetic usage categorized under two topics; expectations of children for prosthesis use and children’s priority expectation for the prosthesis. The findings are argued to be useful and usable by NGOs, product designers and design researchers who work with children with disabilities.

Numerous visualisation tools based on digital and cross-reality (XR) platforms are emerging in industrial design. They offer new possibilities and promising advantages to the designers but also raise challenges for design education. This study investigates the learning experience of emerging tools in education and its influences on tool-use behaviours and attitudes in design practice. Digital sketching is selected for the case study as the emerging tool compared to more established tools (e.g., traditional sketching and CAD). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 practising designers to compare their learning experience of digital sketching versus traditional sketching and CAD modelling in formal education. Results indicate that designers’ learning experience in education can have an influence on not only their skill sets but also attitudes towards engaging with emerging visualisation tools as they progress in their careers. The study suggests that embracing emerging design visualisation tools in education now is essential for helping our future designers be more resilient and flexible with tool selection and use in their future design practice.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has expanded in a diverse context, it infiltrates our social lives and is a critical part of algorithmic decision-making. Adopting AI technology, especially AI-enabled design, by end users who are non-AI experts is still limited. The incomprehensible, untransparent decision-making and difficulty of using AI become obstacles which prevent these end users to adopt AI technology. How to design the user experience (UX) based on AI technologies is an interesting topic to explore.

This paper investigates how non-AI-expert end users can be engaged in the design process of an AI-enabled application by using a framework called Smart Service Blueprint Scape (SSBS), which aims to establish a bridge between UX and AI systems by mapping and translating AI decisions based on UX. A Dutch mobility service called ‘stUmobiel ’ was taken as a design case study. The goal is to design a reservation platform with stUmobiel end users. Co-creating with case users and assuring them to understand the decision-making and service provisional process of the AI-enabled design is crucial to promote users’ adoption. Furthermore, the concern of AI ethics also arises in the design process and should be discussed in a broader sense.

The paper reports on a study that aims to gain an understanding of how senior engineering design students engage and attain throughout the various stages of the design process during a major design project. Following a literature review it sets out to answer 3 main research questions

Q1. Do students engage more with certain stages of the design process during major project work?;

Q2. Do students attain better during certain phases of the design process during major project ?

Q3. Is there a difference in this attainment between year groups of the same degree programme ?

The methodology adopted employs an analysis of marks and an online questionnaire to collect data. Patterns and trends in how senior BEng and MEng Product Design Engineering students engage and attain within the design process are presented, identified and discussed and in turn used to inform reflection on the research questions set.

This exploratory research paper discusses the importance of experiential qualities in products that have accessible and assistive uses. The focus is on products that may have an ambiguous user experience. Concepts of multisensory user experience and accessibility are presented as an introduction to the topic.

The paper builds on the findings of a preliminary user study that was conducted in a joint multi-national and cross-industrial project that was externally funded. In the study, users’ experiences of an accessible means of transport, an elevator prototype with an interactive media surface, were explored. The study comprised a thinking aloud task and a design game.

The demonstrated colours, lights and their movements created various kinds of associations among the participating users. The participants also ideated about the product’s alternative applications, some of which concerned accessibility, while others extended beyond it.

The findings show that adding experiential product qualities enhances the user experience in terms of various associations and applications that extend beyond accessibility and the original use.

The quick and accurate estimation of design effort can be make or break for all but the largest of product design consultancies. Traditional design project planning see designers being taken away from the metaphorical drawing board to spend time assessing project briefs and estimating workloads. Typically these designers base these estimates on their tacit knowledge and experience, and for the most part, they are accurate. However, this is time-consuming and therefore (indirectly) costly, as time spent planning, is not time spent designing. Many more sophisticated approaches for estimating design effort have been developed, but many require large bodies of past data and sophisticated analysis, such as artificial neural networks; and others have highly-specific use cases.

This paper proposes a new method to develop a design effort estimation tool for product design consultancies. This method captures the tacit knowledge and experience of design team members and the tool replicates it quickly and effectively; graphically modelling factors that influence design effort needs in product design projects.

Polygon meshes and particularly triangulated meshes can be used to describe the shape of different types of geometry such as bicycles, bridges, or runways. In engineering, such polygon meshes can be supplied as finite element meshes, resulting from topology optimization or from laser scanning. Especially from topology optimization, frame-like polygon meshes with slender parts are typical and often have to be converted into a CAD (Computer-Aided Design) format, e.g., for further geometrical detailing or performing additional shape optimization. Especially for such frame-like geometries, CAD designs are constructed as beams with cross-sections and beam-lines, whereby the cross-section is extruded along the beam-lines or beam skeleton. One major task in the recognition of beams is the classification of the cross-section type such as I, U, or T, which is addressed in this article. Therefore, a dataset consisting of different cross-sections represented as binary images is created. Noisy dilatation, the distance transformation, and main axis rotation are applied to these images to increase the robustness and reduce the necessary amount of samples. The resulting images are applied to a convolutional neuronal network.