Research > Design Processes and Products
Design Processes and Products
Design Thinking
Researchers include
Recent projects
Design Thinking Research Symposium 7 (DTRS7): Design Meeting Protocols. Peter Lloyd was involved in organising this conference based around the common analysis of data obtained from real-world design activity. There is a blog discussing issues arising. The conference received £25,000 funding from an AHRC Network grant. The case made for this support is available [pdf].
Design Knowledge and Management
Researchers include:
Recent projects
Supply chain analysis within the transport sector (James Warren)
Knowledge representation of sustainability issues in local and regional planning (Adrian Demaid)
Design Representation
Researchers include:
Chris Earl
Steve Garner
Miquel Prats
Recent projects
Steve Garner is the PI on a two-year project funded by The Leverhume Trust which began in May 2009. ‘Designing with Vision’ is worth £196k and employs post-docs Miquel Prats and Iestyn Jowers. Alison McKay, Professor of Design Systems at Leeds University is the co-investigator.
The project exploits eye tracking technology to identify participant interest in emerging sketch designs. Using a design shape computation tool (developed in the DSSG project outlined below) in conjunction with eye tracking the system is intended to apply data on points of interest to offer designers variations on their preferred images as an aid to shape creation.
Given that much current commercial design concerns the definitions of product variations, knowledge from this project seeks to enable the automation of the process of generating product ‘families’ through shape conjecture.
Design Synthesis and Shape Generation (DSSG)
Steve Garner and Chris Earl were co-investigators on this AHRC-funded project from April 2007 to July 2008. The DSSG project was led by Leeds University and involved staff from Strathclyde as well from Design at the OU. It was worth £319k and was funded under the 'Designing for the 21st Century' programme. Amongst other things, it funded a full-time RA at each institution. The project explored how designers generate shapes and how shape computation systems might augment designers without impinging upon their creativity. The project built an experimental prototype shape computation system that can compute shapes given an initial shape and a set of shape grammar rules.
e-Learning in Design
Researchers include
Recent projects
This JISC-funded project, value £180k, runs from November 2008 to October 2010. It will construct and trial a virtual atelier that combines well established practice in design education with new opportunities presented by ICT to create a powerful new approach to learning and teaching design based on communities of practice. It is founded on the delivery of three core OU design courses Design Thinking (Level 1), Design and Designing (Level 2) and Innovation (Level 3) and their integration in a design programme. The project involves Steve Garner, Georgy Holden, Peter Lloyd, Emma Dewberry, Nicole Schadewitz, Giselle Ferrieira and Theo Zamenopoulos.
Comparative Design
Researchers include:
Recent projects
Comparative Design - Cambridge MIT Institute (CMI) project "Across Design".
Design for Usability
Researchers include:
Peter Lloyd
Robin Roy
Steve Garner
Recent projects
People-centred eco-design: consumer adoption and use of low and zero carbon (LZC) products and systems. (Robin Roy)
Designing for People. Resources on 'OpenLearn'.
Digital Media
Researchers include
Engineering Design
Researchers include:
The mechanics of sports mouthguards (Ray Matela)
Page Last Updated: 3 February, 2011