Design Process Models_IIM lecture_2000 PDF

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Discussion notes for lecture at the IIMA scheduled on 28th September 2000 Design Methodologies and Issues Prof. M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad 1 The Morphology of Design Training Brief Programming Experience Observation Analytical Measurement Phase Inductive Reasoning Data Colle...

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Discussion notes for lecture at the IIMA scheduled on 28th September 2000

Design Methodologies and Issues

1

Prof. M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad

The Morphology of Design Training Brief

Experience

Programming

Analytical Phase

Observation Measurement Inductive Reasoning

Data Collection Evaluation Judgement Deductive Reasoning Decision

Analysis

Creative Phase

Synthesis Development Executive Phase

Solution

Bruce Archer, 1964

Communication

Description Translation Transmission

M P Ranjan . National Institute of Design . July 1997 Design Concepts & Concerns, PEP Third Semester

This classical model of the design process offered by Prof. Bruce Archer in 1964 influenced the design community deeply and for many decades the linear flow of decision making held sway on the minds of design theorists. However practising designers went about their tasks of design systhesis in a rather intuitive manner leaving the final decisions to the managers and entrepreneurs. However a large number of engineers followed this model as a prescription. This left a large gap in the area of design synthesis without adequate explanation. Many questions of creativity and methods of complexity resolution were left unanswered. It was only when the real complexities of design decision making were realised in the post environmental awareness era of the eighties did the design community take a serious look at alternate models of iterative processes that took the feedback loops seriously enough to invest in detailed user research and life-cycle audits of products and technologies as part of the process of design analysis and synthesis.

MPR - DC&C - IIMA 2000

© 2000 M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design

Discussion notes for lecture at the IIMA scheduled on 28th September 2000

Design Methodologies and Issues

2

Prof. M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad

Entrepreneur Client Industry Society Design Managers Domain The Interface

Front Office & Field Tasks

Business Vision Concern for Stakeholders Domain Knowledge, etc.

Strategic & Tactical Decisions

Emerging Context for Design Practice USER STUDIES (by Clients)

Design Management

Entrepreneurial vision Trade & Service Expertise Marketing Savvy Investment & Risk Feasibility Studies, etc.

The Interface Back Office, Studio & Field Tasks Designer's Domain

Designers & Design Teams with Consultants & User Groups Prepared for Faculty Seminar at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, August 1995

Design Processes Visualisation of Tangible Scenarios

USER STUDIES (by Designers) Understanding Real Needs, Problems & Opportunities Early Prototyping & Testing Modelling & Evaluation

Concern for Users Concern for Environment Concern for Values, etc.

Observations of Users Interactions with Users User Trips & Experiments Protocol Analysis, etc.

© M P Ranjan . National Institute of Design . Aug 1995 - rev Aug 2000

Design Management and Design Processes are concurrent activities that help create new products and services in the corporate sector and in the social sectors. Design management is practised typically by managers, entrepreneurs while the back office tasks carried out by the core design teams are called design processes. Both groups are looking deeply into the needs and expectations of the users using different tools and skills to develop insights that help reduce risks of investments and increase the possibility of the acceptance of the solutions by the user groups in question. While the entrepreneurs define strategy and direction the design teams provide the tangible scenarios through a process of visualisation. The greater the flow of information between the two groups the better the resolution of the complex sets of variables that make up the decision framework leading to design synthesis and the selection of a particular design solution. Designers create scenarios and models that can be tested in the real world and in this way they are able to involve actual users in the design process. This user centered process is being increasingly being adopted by design led companies to create great products that are accepted by users with a high emotional commitment that strengthens the brand.

MPR - DC&C - IIMA 2000

© 2000 M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design

Discussion notes for lecture at the IIMA scheduled on 28th September 2000

Design Methodologies and Issues

3

Prof. M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad

Concepts & Visualisation Word Concepts

Image Concepts An image is worth a thousand words they say .........

A word can conjure a million images

Pine Oak Mango Banyan Palm .... Old Trees Tall Trees Big Trees ...

Tree

Forest Garden ..... Orchard

Image Refinement & Variety Design Concepts & Concerns Foundation Programme, 1997

M P Ranjan . National Institute of Design . Aug. 1997

The myths about the creative process needs to be dispelled through an understanding of the process of visualisation. Designers are trained to express metaphors in visual form and this is a central ability that helps offset the problem of incomplete or inadequate information in a climate of extreme ambiguity in which design decisions and explorations must take place. If everything were known about the problem or opportunity the task is no longer one of design. Design therefore deals with the unknown and gives shape to this unknown future and in this process creates a new vision of the future that can be adopted through a rigorous process of evaluation and testing. The use of metaphors and abstractions to capture the essence of the idea is a common approach to concept generation. The creation of visual representations in response to verbal clues and the image contributing to the discovery of new patterns is a cyclical process of search and discovery.

MPR - DC&C - IIMA 2000

© 2000 M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design

Discussion notes for lecture at the IIMA scheduled on 28th September 2000

Design Methodologies and Issues

4

Prof. M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad

Designers offer Tangible Solutions and Alternate Scenarios through Creative Visualisation Processes.

Attitudes

Action

Abilities

Designers build Models and Specifications

Abstract & Intangible

Designers study People

Perception

L R Cognition

Qualities

Concepts

Sensitivity Creativity Flexibility Responsibility Feasibility Accountability Desirability

Designers think with Moving Images and Words : Creatively

Concrete - Real & Tangible

Doodles Sketches Diagrams Image-Concepts Drawings Models Prototypes Formulae Hypotheses Theories Word-Ideas Evocative Descriptions Design Concepts & Concerns, Foundation Programme, 1997

Visualisation in Design

Image Concept Word Concept

‘Tree’

M P Ranjan . National Institute of Design . Jan. 1997

Visualisation is a unique process that is used by designers to create tangible alternatives through cognitive and external modelling activities. Perception as represented by user studies and observation of user behaviour leads to the development of critical insights that guide the concept explorations of the designer. The concept lies in a space that is iteratively explored and articulated by a series of diagrams, models and prototypes till an appropriate solution is found. This is sometimes a meandering process that moves between abstract and the concrete expressions, and this movement from the general to the particular is the hallmark of design thinking. Digital tools have been developed to manage the process of visualisation but these are still very deficient to handle the flexibility needed in the early stages of the process of design visualisation. CAD drafting and modelling tools are no match for the “pencil and paper technology” at this early stage of flux and in the more advanced stages where the tasks and targets are more clearly defined the traditional tools have already yielded to the new and powerful softwares that are the standard today. However there is no replacing the cognitive processes that are used by the designers in discovering and articulating new and interesting relationships that give shape to our future products, services, environments and events that shape our lives.

MPR - DC&C - IIMA 2000

© 2000 M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design

Discussion notes for lecture at the IIMA scheduled on 28th September 2000

Design Methodologies and Issues

5

Prof. M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad

Data: Information: Knowledge: Wisdom: Vision

Design Decisions: Possibilities & Specifications

Why? What? How Much? Better? Worse?............

Infinite Cone of Specifications

Cone of Possibilities

Alternative A Minimum Specifications Maximum Possibilities

Alternative B Alternative C

Str ategic Decisions

Tactical Decisions Decision Time Line M P Ranjan . National Institute of Design Design Concepts & Concerns, Foundation Pro

All new products and services are created and developed through a process of innovation where a goal is achieved through the pursuit of a strategic vision. In this process the search for solutions helps articulate desirable specifications in a progressive manner till a specific concept is embodied in the form of a final solution or a set of alternatives. The relationship between the decisions taken at various stages and the process of embedding the desired specifications into a product as it is being created is illustrated by this model. The decision time line moves from left to right. As the cone of possibilities narrows down to offer a particular embodiment of the new product and feature set the cone of specifications gets expanded in an inverse relationship. The final product embodiment can have infinite levels of specification which makes the task of technology and design transfer a very elaborate task and could run into hundreds of thousands of pages of text and illustrations. The specifications would eventually cover all attributes of the product – its features, the stages of manufacture, its material qualities and its market characteristics and a host of other attributes that can be described. When new products are created the learning process is rich and well endowed with the knowledge of possibilities and failures while the importation of the same product technology leaves the recipient agency impoverished and perennially dependent on the source of the innovation. MPR - DC&C - IIMA 2000

© 2000 M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design

Discussion notes for lecture at the IIMA scheduled on 28th September 2000

Design Methodologies and Issues

6

Prof. M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad

Levels of Design Interventions: The New Industrial Design Every design project addresses all levels in varying degrees...

Strategic Level Systems Thinking Opportunity Mapping Strategic Initiatives

Creates New Industries Creates New Markets Re-engineering strategies Mass Customisation strategies Eco-Friendly strategies Anticipatory strategies....

Vision Led Design

Improves.... Quality Performance Cost Finish Colour Ornament....

Tactical Level

Creative Level

DESIGN

Inventive Innovative Creative

Form Colour Detail Technology Finishes Tools Ornamentation Practical Know How

Skill Led Design Sense Led Design

Breakthrough Products Novel Constructions Innovative Processes...

Patent Led Design

Elaborative Level Variety & Style Differentiation Choice / Fashion

Product Differentiation Product Collections Style and Fashion Market Segmentation..

Market Led Design © M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design

This model is more fully explained in the papers by the author titled “Levels of Design Interventions in a Complex Global Scenario” , Brazil, 1998 and the call for strategic use of design is outlined in the paper titled “Design before Technology: The Emerging Imperative”, Osaka, 1999.

MPR - DC&C - IIMA 2000

© 2000 M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design...