Design Tools

It is now common practice to conclude the research or analysis phase of a design project with a " framework " to capture and describe the stable, structural aspects of the research findings. By definition, frameworks tend towards abstraction and simplification, thereby helping the core design team distill their insights. The downside of a framework is that abstraction and simplification make the work less useful and communicative to anyone who has not experienced the richness and full context of the data. In the conventional design process, this poses little problem, as the people who develop the tools also use the tools. In today's more open design and innovation processes that engage multiple stakeholders, the framework's abstraction is often confusing and can create a barrier to diffusion and implementation of ideas. This paper explores an alternative approach to qualitative synthesis that uses the structural and cognitive affor-dances of maps to organize and di...

New research into design tools, published since the first edition (2007), is included, and 100 new illustrations. A third part, dedicated to the topic of design practice, focuses on three areas that have gained increasing importance in recent years, and have the potential to become seminal influences on 21st century architecture: digital, research-based and social design. Each of these design practices differs markedly from the conventional concept of architectural design practice, but in very different ways. All three are essential to achieving more ecologically, economically and socially sustainable architecture.

Aydın Türk, Y. (2007). "A Method in The Context of Urban Planning and Urban Design", LIVENARCH III Livable Environments & Architecture 3rd International Congress - Contextualism in Architecture, Trabzon, Türkiye, 5-7 Temmuz 2007 (vol. 2, pp.569-580), Karadeniz Teknik Üniversitesi.

ABSTRACT:
Creating livable urban environments with identity becomes possible as long as the combination of urban planning and urban design are provided. For this reason, it is important that planning from high level planning to design to be applied should overlap with urban design. However, this fact has not been able to be realized in such countries as Turkey. In the west on the other hand, the role of design and planning system in the planning process is well described and they are both taken as a whole mechanism and successful examples are given. Within this mechanism design is a part of the planning on every scale and is accepted as an inseparable part of planning. It is seen that in Turkey, urban planning and urban design was not combined, nor was effective regulations to do this established. For this reason, in the planning process how urban design as an effective mechanism should be places must be questioned.
In this context there is a need for a complete planning-design guide to be prepared through detailed studies in our country. In this study, a method that will foster the preparation of the above-mentioned guide by means of a research model, and its operation, evaluation and the results. Through the method introduced it is aimed to;
bring urban design dimension into planning in macro level ana in the light of the principles and policies to prepare a control list/checklist that will act as a guide for the designer,
to prepare a method for the compilation of the design data, effective evaluation and the transfer of this method into plan,
to develop a strategic evaluation approach that considers different dimensions and properties of the city (such as strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats).

CONCLUSION:
Having a check questions list which leads planner step by step so as to strengthen the dimesion of the design will exhibit a requirement that the planner has to take into consideration during the planning. Because, collecting and evaluating all kinds of data about city (or a part of the city) will be mora systematic.
All characteristics of the city, potentials and weaknesses of it will be described locally. Thus the process of the planner and the designer’s evaluating/ examining the city (or the part of the city) during the planning will be clear.
The strategies will be put forward which turns the data found into a plan and makes it concrete.
While developing strategies in the process of planning and designing of the newly developing places except settled areas, in the attempt to renew/ enliven a problematic area in the city check questions will be beneficial. Taking local characteristics in the foreground, highlighting some historical elements as a reference may lead the design during problem definition and analyze. In addition, as the check list has the potential to serve for both the whole area and the part of it, it will control the planned/desined area.
The checklist is thought to be a guide for the planner in the process of problem solving. During the planning, consulting different disciplines such as architecture, landscape architecture will be helpful. The list’s benefits will be completely seen when directors and guiders (planners, designers and local managers) start to use this means actively which has not been used in urban planning and design.
Such kind of a study, when evaluated from the perspective of legacy, serves as an input focused survey. The process put forward in the study can be defined as output focused. Since the findings/ evaluations have equivalent on the field, they will be reflected on the plan easily. Therefore, there will be no need to make any reforms in the discussion of plan-design relationship or using design in public improvement plans. The process that is put forward in the study can be applied to a city (or a part of the city). Execution tools of the reforms (18th subject application, nationalization and taxation) should be applied actively. Different execution tools should be produced. Technical and administrative substructure should be constructed.
When it is evaluated from the perspective of the strategy, time, and the effort, the procedure of acquiring data, evaluation of the data and production take part in the current planning.

Purpose: How can people be involved within their geographic location in the new ideas and activities in emerging the circular fashion industry? This paper is written by a systems designer (author1) who worked alongside two textile design researchers. The systems designer found ways to explore, articulate and visualise the range of possibilities for future stakeholders in circular fashion contexts through a framework of practices, places and projects (PPP). Design and methods: Author1 became immersed in the Circular Design Speeds project via an opportunity to relocate to Centre for Circular Design, University of the Arts London. A systemic design approach based on a cross-observation of various practices, places and projects, and the use of visual artefacts, enabled the creation of a rich picture of the convivial complexity within circular design concepts. Author1 used the PPP framework to adapt tools and propose four strategic approaches to support designers in the creation of new c...

The adoption of systems-focused risk assessment techniques has not led to measurable improvement in the rate of patient harm. Why? In part, because these tools focus solely on understanding problems, and provide no direct support for designing and managing solutions (i.e., risk control). This second installment of a 2-part series on rebalancing risk management describes a structured approach to bridging this gap: The Active Risk Control (ARC) Toolkit. A pilot study is presented to show how ARC Toolkit can improve the quality of risk management practice.

This thesis endeavors to map the current levels of automation (LoA) in the creative (design) process of New Media Design by investigating technological automation and the increasing presence of A.I. in new creative support tools, methods, and processes. It also explores how designers manage their skills to stay relevant. Nondesigners can borrow similar skills offered by an automated system or a smart device to reach similar objectives and share their work instantly on new media platforms.

This paper investigates the play potential of an open-ended
and hybrid play concept: Comicubes – a platform for play, playtesting
and simultaneously tool to stimulate (design) creativity. We
propose a hybrid concept that interweaves the ideas of comics and
three-dimensional toys together. The concept challenges the
traditional idea of comics as images that are read one after another
by suggesting a more open reading paralleling the interpretation
and use of and a physically manipulable toy object. The concept
introduced in the paper, combines the two-dimensional serial image
with a three-dimensional and therefore more open-ended toy
medium – the cube. Moreover, the concept invites integration of
digital enhancements in the physical plaything and thus enables
potential AGE (Augmented Game Experience) elements.

It is now common practice to conclude the research
or analysis phase of a design project with a “framework”
to capture and describe the stable, structural aspects
of the research findings. By definition, frameworks tend
towards abstraction and simplification, thereby helping
the core design team distill their insights. The downside of
a framework is that abstraction and simplification make
the work less useful and communicative to anyone who
has not experienced the richness and full context of the
data. In the conventional design process, this poses little
problem, as the people who develop the tools also use the
tools. In today’s more open design and innovation processes
that engage multiple stakeholders, the framework’s
abstraction is often confusing and can create a barrier to
diffusion and implementation of ideas.

This paper explores an alternative approach to qualitative
synthesis that uses the structural and cognitive affordances
of maps to organize and display consumer insights
while preserving critical detail. For convenience we call
these Consumer Maps. By their nature, maps present key
features in context, allowing the reader to orient to the territory,
and deliver enough density to support macro and
micro readings, while permitting the user to be self-directed
in the process. In this paper, we explore Consumer
Maps that share all of these attributes, and evaluate their
potential as a tool for design and communication.

Geographic maps have predictable organizing structures—
latitude, longitude, North, South, East, West—that
create familiarity and allow end users to process the content.
What might be the equivalent for Consumer Maps?
In this paper, we consider four candidate structures—
zones, elevations, topographies, and blueprints—that
design practitioners can use to develop Consumer Maps
as powerful, visual story platforms that speak to diverse
stakeholders.

Many of the existing tools for design in a sustainable fashion context are too complex, overly conceptual, require experts to apply, have a high cost, were created for large corporations, or fall short in holistically supporting sustainable fashion design entrepreneurial practices. Micro-sized enterprises represent a significant portion of the fashion industry and can meaningfully contribute to the transition to a more sustainable apparel and textile industry. This paper addresses this gap through the development of an original design tool, the reDesign canvas, to support design entrepreneurs in developing sustainable fashion enterprises. Informed by design thinking and systems thinking, the canvas was developed based on an in-depth review of the academic literature and the collection of qualitative data. Qualitative data were gathered through both participatory action research (PAR) and interviews with 38 sustainable fashion design entrepreneurs and experts in sustainable fashion. Both the PAR and the interviews were used to test and refine the reDesign canvas in order to ensure it meets the needs of sustainable design entrepreneurs operating micro-sized companies. The final version of the canvas is based on 12 building blocks that a design entrepreneur would encounter in building a sustainable fashion brand. The reDesign canvas can help advance both the theory and practice of sustainable fashion design.

In architectural design process, designers do sketches to tell what they think about and to improve these ideas. Sketches are important for design process, not for only being a communication tool that tells designers thoughts but also they engage in an interaction by introducing new ideas and developing them. In this context, sketch is not possible to separate from the design process. Designing process continue as long as the act of making sketches which is the visualization tool of continuing ideas. With the advancement of technology it has become part of computer design process and sketches in digital environment work has begun. Today's situation is, programs have been developed that provide the opportunity to sketch using computer and has now become a reality that cannot be ignored from the two different environments for the design process. This study will focus on to sketch in architectural design studio and drawing approaches in digital environment. In this context, this study will examine the design process, the role of the sketches in this process, sketch approaches on computer, and developments in these matters.

This research investigates the role of design as a functional leader in multinational industries, to drive innovation successfully at a strategic level. It involved a detailed case study of the innovation process, and practices within Philips Design based in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, where design is a key decision making function within the company but not yet recognised as a leading discipline at strategic level. Philips Design wanted to use design research to build an integrated map of its actual practices and correlate these with other corporate innovation practices, to help establish strategic recognition for their value. The doctoral challenge was to explicate the process and determine whether the findings have generic capacity to support the role of design as a functional leading discipline.
The investigation integrates an iterative loop of; abductive reasoning of design thinking and inductive reasoning of management thinking in an action research cycle. The case study was part of an empirical enquiry, where the researcher became a participatory observer at Philips Design, conducting one-on-one interviews for data collection and refining their analysis using a Delphi Technique. Three other multinational organisations were explored to take into account how each perceives the contribution of design and the different roles it plays in their organisation. Data triangulation was also used to validate findings with a third party expert.
The research contributes to knowledge by confirming the conditions for design to act as a leading functional discipline. It shows that design cannot be the only functional lead for a multinational organisation. It identifies the major reason for this as the difference between thinkers trying to find viable options for the future and practitioners trying to defend the core business in their organisation, resulting in a gap between strategy and operation. The research further elaborates on the reasons for the gap to exist through qualitative conceptual relationships between designer behaviour and organisational culture in the different innovation cycles that exist in the organisation.

Many of the existing tools for design in a sustainable fashion context are too complex, overly conceptual, require experts to apply, have a high cost, were created for large corporations, or fall short in holistically supporting sustainable fashion design entrepreneurial practices. Micro-sized enterprises represent a significant portion of the fashion industry and can meaningfully contribute to the transition to a more sustainable apparel and textile industry. This paper addresses this gap through the development of an original design tool, the reDesign canvas, to support design entrepreneurs in developing sustainable fashion enterprises. Informed by design thinking and systems thinking, the canvas was developed based on an in-depth review of the academic literature and the collection of qualitative data. Qualitative data were gathered through both participatory action research (PAR) and interviews with 38 sustainable fashion design entrepreneurs and experts in sustainable fashion. ...

Current practice in healthcare risk management is supported by many tools for risk assessment (understanding problems), but none for risk control (solving problems).  The results: a failure to improve safety, and a waste of the investment made in risk assessment.  The Active Risk Control (ARC) Toolkit, available for free, fills this void with a systematic, structured approach to risk control.

At present the fashion and textile industries are under political and environmental pressure to make their business models more sustainable. In response, transformative thinking within the industry is pushing forward a sustainable paradigm shift. One consequence is that traditional design tools are challenged to incorporate and contribute to the solutions. In this paper, we focus on the fashion collection, which is traditionally understood as a range of garment designs, that are seasonally determined. As the notion of the fashion collection is under-researched, the aim of the paper is to investigate ways in which the fashion collection may be recalibrated as a design tool furthering sustainable strategies. Therefore, we studied collection building practices at three companies, representing different sustainable business and design strategies. The main contribution of the study is insights on how the collection as a design framework is applied by the companies. The collection transpires as a transformative design tool that aids designers and companies in different ways to fulfil their strategy and maintain their business.

ABSTRACT & KEY WORDS
The scope of this research is delimited by the intersection of design with sustainability, particularly in relation with the two pillars of sustainability that need further attention: ecology and social equity. Following recommendations of previous investigations and in order to enhance the selection of relevant aspects between design and sustainability, this work was developed through an approach focused on a specific industrial sector: the sector of home furniture that uses wood as its main raw material.
This research aims to contribute to the paradigm shift to a system of sustainable production and consumption through the activity of design, namely creating tools and information which allows equipping the design process used in the development of furniture with ways to integrate social and environmental criteria. With the pursuit of this objective it is also expected to be able to contribute to the development of a practical body for sustainable design based on the information and tools of ecodesign.
In methodological terms this is a mixed research, using mainly qualitative methods. The research process was designed in three major phases: a first theoretical phase where it is made a book review about sustainability, its environmental and social responsibility aspects, about sustainable design, what are its main characteristics and changing needs from ecodesign, and on the furniture industry, its products, impacts and strategies. Literary criticism has been supplemented with the analysis of case studies of the ecodesign furniture sector projects where there has been observed the application of strategies and tools. The second phase is empirical and covers the three methods used for collecting and creating new data on the relationship between this business sector and design, on the main problems of the sector's products and their needs and on the criteria that we need to include, in particular social criteria that are still very vague, in order to have a relevant approach for this sector and in reach of the design activity. The third phase encompasses the development process of a range of tools called SDF Toolkit and the testing process of the referred toolkit by professional designers and product design students.
The main conclusion is related to the fact that it is possible to develop useful and pedagogical tools that address the most relevant aspects of sustainability without holding such a complexity that is an inhibitor factor for their use by designers. The explicitness and ease of integration in the design process are essential to the effectiveness of the toolkit as potential agent of integration of environmental and social criteria in the product development process.
The second most important conclusion is that the use of an approach focused in a sector with specific characteristics, by allowing a greater focus and efficiency and being complemented with the use of the knowledge of ecodesign and the development of appropriate social criteria in reach of design, is an appropriate contribution to the practical development of sustainable design in order to give it operational capacity.

KEYWORDS
Sustainable Design;
Design Tools;
Wood Furniture;
Environmental and Social Criteria;
Life Cycle Approach;

Purpose: How can people be involved within their geographic location in the new ideas and activities in emerging the circular fashion industry? This paper is written by a systems designer (author1) who worked alongside two textile design researchers. The systems designer found ways to explore, articulate and visualise the range of possibilities for future stakeholders in circular fashion contexts through a framework of practices, places and projects (PPP).
Design and methods: Author1 became immersed in the Circular Design Speeds project via an opportunity to relocate to Centre for Circular Design, University of the Arts London. A systemic design approach based on a cross-observation of various practices, places and projects, and the use of visual artefacts, enabled the creation of a rich picture of the convivial complexity within circular design concepts. Author1 used the PPP framework to adapt tools and propose four strategic approaches to support designers in the creation of new circular fashion narratives, integrating local communities through (Re)-Distributed manufacturing (RDM).
Findings: The framework can be used by practitioners when designing places or projects, to raise a more systemic perspective on the local narrative. The resulting visual pictures support designers in understanding WHERE to look for capturing and situating the practice, siting futures practices within local community-based initiatives in new local places; and to systematically assess the trade-offs and tensions behind each concept. For the use of tools, the presence of intermediaries could facilitate the
 
appropriation and the interaction between the project stakeholders. The paper makes a methodological contribution to design for conviviality in the fashion and textile sector.
Keywords: conviviality, participation, stakeholder mapping, circular fashion, grassroots, business models, redistributed manufacturing, circular speeds, design frameworks, design tools

Design process is an iterative activity that embodies research and planning, idea generation, evaluation and refinement, and finalization phases. Among these, idea generation is evaluated as having the highest impact on the quality of the final design solution since it is the phase that requires the generation of many (quantity), various (variety) and novel (novelty) ideas that will be further developed and resulted as the final product in the following phases of the design process. For the purpose of guiding and supporting designers in the design process and especially idea generation, various design methods and tools have been developed. However, these methods and tools are being criticized for 1) being ineffective in enhancing quantity, variety and novelty of the generated ideas, 2) not being experimentally tested by the researchers and 3) not being supported with illogical thinking, which is one of the essences of creative thinking.
This thesis aims to identify the needs of the idea generation process and offer a strategy for design students in order to foster the outcomes of the idea generation process. For this purpose, a mixed method research was conducted. The needs of the idea generation process were identified through observation and peer debriefing, a design tool (Fictionation) that integrates design fiction into idea generation was created and further developed through a pilot study, and workshops that adopt a quasi-experimental research model was conducted. The findings were evaluated by using the assessment technique that was developed within this thesis and interviews. The results have shown that the Fictionation tool is promising in terms of fostering the outcomes of the idea generation process by increasing quantity, variety and novelty of the generated ideas and achieving an efficient learning and teaching environment within design education.

Digital signal processing functions have traditionally been implemented on programmable platform of DSPs. However, as the needs of many computationally intensive applications are outstripping the processing capabilities of DSPs, the use of FPGAs has become very much prevalent. Moreover, the research is ongoing to develop and employ high level design tools, which help shorten the development time required for implementing signal processing solutions using FPGAs. In this paper, we present our methodology of designing the model for a useful communication technique, namely MIMO, using Xilinx System Generator (XSG) and AccelDSP (for supporting XSG). Our approach shows the distinct advantages such as reusability, shorter design times due to fewer bugs, which such tools offer. We also review the relative merit of FPGA over DSPs as platforms for DSP implementation. We survey state-of-art applications of FPGAs for DSP applications such as MIMO and digital electronics. As a design tool for FP...

Su un tessuto sociale ed urbano in continua trasformazione, le pratiche progettuali dimostrano l’impellente esigenza di adottare la collaborazione come paradigma del cambiamento. Ne derivano forme processuali ampiamente praticabili e fortemente necessarie per produrre innovazione sociale sostenibile, custodendo la complessità del reale.

The intent of this paper is to bring attention to the growing body of tools for design, their presentatIon, and potential development as a shared resource for all disciplines. The paper suggests how design processes might be structured according to the components and framework of A Theory of Design Thinking. Familiar and new tools from different sources are also associated with the modes of thought in the theory for comparison and to facilitate their use when customizing a design process for any kind of project. Greater affordance in the structuring, editing, and application of design processes through flexible tool selection orchestrated through sequenced applications customized for the task at hand through a shared tool set is proposed.

Keywords: design tools, customizing process, design thinking, open source development,

Intensive utilization of computers is especially emphasized in the field of industrial production, where use of computer applications achieves significant savings in regard to the time required for manufacturing of products. Shortening of the production time decreases the production costs and new products are faster introduced to the market, thus making the company more competitive. In addition to the shorter time for production, better precision and accuracy is also accomplished, resulting with better product quality at the end. Due to the fact that, for the reason of cost-effectiveness of manufacturing of tools, processing of sheet metal on presses is primarily performed in the course of serial production, this paper focuses on an analysis of the use of computers in the process of design of tools for punching and cutting of sheet metal on presses. The presented methodology encompasses all phases in the process of design of tools – from planning the work piece until the final design of the tool for punching and cutting, with an emphasis on the activities performed exclusively by computer applications. The result of this research is a 3D geometrical model of a tool for punching and cutting, with an explanation of characteristics of its construction parts, calculation of its executive parts, analysis and simulation of operation of the tool, and finally the conclusion on the representation and importance of the utilization of computer applications in the process of design of such tools.

There has been increasing interest in the work practices of user experience (UX) designers, particularly in relation to approaches that support adoption of human-centered principles in corporate environments. This paper addresses the ways in which UX designers conceive of methods that support their practice, and the methods they consider necessary as a baseline competency for beginning user experience designers. Interviews were conducted with practitioners in a range of companies, with differing levels of expertise and educational backgrounds represented. Interviewees were asked about their use of design methods in practice, and the methods they considered to be core of their practice; in addition, they were asked what set of methods would be vital for beginning designers joining their company. Based on these interviews, I evaluate practitioner conceptions of design methods, proposing an appropriation-oriented mindset that drives the use of tool knowledge, supporting designers' practice in a variety of corporate contexts. Opportunities are considered for future research in the study of UX practice and training of students in human-computer interaction programs.

I will review some of the best prototype tools.

Hopefully you will be able to prototype like a wizard.

Prototype is a key activity of the Design Research, part of a human-centered design approach, where innovation is inspired by people, and things are designed for purpose.

Before jump in development is fundamental to understand how people are using the product you designed. Does the flow make sense? Are they getting lost? Is the narrative clear?

Thesis for the Degree of Licentiate of Engineering. This thesis discusses the design of interactive entertaining artifacts such as computer games and computer augmented toys, games and objects. The aim has been to find and/or develop design tools – i.e. methods and approaches – that can be used when designing such artifacts in general, and when aiming for an emotional response or tempting challenge in particular. Another aim is to inspire game designers, interaction designers, product designers, artists and everyone else interested by describing actual projects where interactive entertainment artifacts have been created. Five tools are being presented, each with an accompanying case. They are:

Slow technology; an approach to create a challenging object by using ambiguity, thus promoting reflection. This is being exemplified by the Interactive Quilt, which is an enigmatic combination of a jukebox and a quilt.

Animal Expression Transfer; an approach that can be used to create emotional responses to an artifact by transferring animal traits onto an object, as in the case of the Iron Horse, a computer augmented bike making horse-sounds.

Game Mechanics for Computer Augmented Board Games; a set of building stones for computer augmented board games, suitable for increasing, decreasing or regulating the challenge in a game. They widen the design space of the traditional board game by enabling complex functionality that does not burden the user, but enrichens the game experience. The projects MultiMonsterMania, a collectible and interactive card game with the accompanying game The Hatchery exemplify this.

Game Design Patterns; a pattern language for games that can be used to discuss, analyze and design games of any kind, amongst them also computer augmented games. How this can be done is being demonstrated in the description of a workshop.

The Forces-Clashes-Remnants-model; a design model for iterative multidisciplinary game design. It is being exemplified by describing the design process of myTHeme, a computer augmented storytelling game for non-storytellers.”

This paper is in response to two positions relating to the dissemination of academic research that was undertaken in the interest of the visually creative design practitioner (e.g. industrial, graphic, fashion design). The first is that creative practitioners outside of academia do not generally read academic journals where research activity is presented. The second is that, in global design schools, there are educators whose role is to focus on the teaching and learning of professional practice with no remit to undertake academic research and, again, have no need to read academic journals. This paper identifies approaches whereby the outputs from academic research can be made accessible to the practitioner community through the presentation of four case studies. Print production, video, web, app and pdf downloads are identified as resources that have been developed by the Design Practice Research Group at Loughborough University to translate published academic research into formats that facilitate open access. The case studies identify Digital Industrial Design (a web-based resource for entirely digital modelling methods); CoLab (a designer/engineer web-based collaboration tool); iD Cards (a tool to support communication and understanding using a graphic design solution embedded as an iPhone/Android app, pdf download, physical cards, video); and Design Practice Research Case Studies (a web-based/pdf resource to demonstrate the contribution of practice-led PhD research). The paper concludes that whilst considerable effort may be required to translate academic research into resources for the practitioner/educator community, this step performs an essential role in terms of validation and impact.

A new taxonomy for design tools: This paper addresses the question of what design tools are, how they work and how they can be used for architectural design. By surveying the body of research published over the last ten years, we now can formulate new answers regarding the initial questions, and propose a new taxonomy for design tools.
Please note: A further developed version of this text, with an expanded matrix, is included in the new edition of: Gänshirt, Christian (2020): Tools for Ideas - Introduction to Architectural Design. Birkhäuser: Basel, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783035622089