AN EMPIRICAL EVALUATION OF A FRAMEWORK FOR DESIGN FOR VARIETY AND NOVELTY

DS 68-1: Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED 11), Impacting Society through Engineering Design, Vol. 1: Design Processes, Lyngby/Copenhagen, Denmark, 15.-19.08.2011

Year: 2011
Editor: Culley, S.J.; Hicks, B.J.; McAloone, T.C.; Howard, T.J. & Clarkson, P.J.
Author: Venkataraman, Srinivasan; Chakrabarti, Amaresh
Series: ICED
Section: Design Processes
Page(s): 334-343

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to empirically evaluate a framework for designing – GEMS of SAPPhIRE as req-sol – to check if it supports design for variety and novelty. A set of observational studies is designed where three teams of two designers each, solve three different design problems in the following order: without any support, using the framework, and using a combination of the framework and a catalogue. Results from the studies reveal that both variety and novelty of the concept space increases with the use of the framework or the framework and the catalogue. However, the number of concepts and the time taken by the designers decreases with the use of the framework and, the framework and the catalogue. Based on the results and the interview sessions with the designers, an interactive framework for designing to be supported on a computer is proposed as future work.

Keywords: VARIETY; NOVELTY; GEMS OF SAPPHIRE AS REQ-SOL; FRAMEWORK; EVALUATION

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