Forming a method mindset: The role of knowledge and preference in facilitating heuristic method usage in design

Both systematic and heuristic methods are common practice when designing. Yet, in teaching students how to design, heuristic methods are typically only granted a secondary role. So, how do designers and students develop a mindset for using heuristic methods? In this paper, we study how prior knowledge (about heuristic methods and their usage)...

The use of systematic and heuristic methods in the basic design cycle: A comparative survey of students' method usage

In the present paper, we study the reported use of systematic and heuristic methods for 304 students enrolled in a master-level course on design theory and methodology. What to teach design and engineering students about methods is an important topic for discussion. One reason for this is that the experiences of design educators when using...

Forming the face of green products: Mood boards and early consumer involvement in ship interior design

In this paper, we study mood boards and the process by which they can be used to understand consumer inferences about environmental sustainability in the early stages of green product development. As a component of a research project on sustainable ship design, we created mood boards showcasing three ship interior concepts. In simulating the...

Drama in design: An open brief to design for wellbeing

This paper presents a design module in which student teams were challenged in an open brief to design for wellbeing. To design for wellbeing is difficult. Wellbeing is ambiguous, hard to define and highly personal. In the process of defining their own briefs, a drama workshop was set up to help the students share their understandings about...

Forming a mindset: Design students' preconceptions about the usefulness of systematic methods

Teaching students to use systematic design methods effectively is not straightforward. While method teaching often focuses on the procedural aspects of method usage (e.g., what steps to take and in what order), effectively using a systematic method entails more than following its ‘instructions’. As noted by Andreasen [1], students need to be...

The ambiguous role of methods in design education: Initial findings from the Delft method study

The strategic relevance of styling and the management of design styles

" It's a Honda! for me...": An exploratory student project on branding and product design for the older adult population