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The Effects of Representation Mode on Conceptual Coherence in the Design of Physical Products

Part of: Design Methods and Tools

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2019

Yen Mai Thi Trinh  and
Christer Westum Elverum

Abstract

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Coherence is important in the design of products, because it makes them easier to understand for their users. Designers can use different representation modes to express ideas about coherence. However, perception of a representation can be influenced by its mode. Therefore, designers must be aware of the influences that different representation modes can have on perception of coherence.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of experienced modality on perception of conceptual coherence. In the study, participants were divided into two conditions for two representation modes: written word and physical object, both representing the same concepts. Each participant was presented with the concepts as words or objects and asked to list the properties of each concept. The results showed that between the two conditions, frequencies of responses were similar while frequencies of response contents were dissimilar and sometimes contrary. The main findings suggest that the effects of the modalities, written word and physical object, do not differ significantly for mental activity, but do differ considerably for semantic processing in ways that has implications for design.

Keywords

Design engineeringm Design practiceDesign methodsDesign representation
Type
Article
Information
Proceedings of the Design Society: International Conference on Engineering Design , Volume 1 , Issue 1 , July 2019 , pp. 1663 - 1672
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2019

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