Design Job Research Articles

Manifesto for Design Schools: The Desire to Build a More Sober World

The designer's job is to represent tomorrow, to give it form, meaning, and beauty.Moving further into the twenty‐first century, the focus of design schools will necessarily evolve as they train future designers to adapt to and meet the needs of a world going through drastic changes.

A New Approach to Data Sharing and Distributed Ledger Technology: A Clinical Trial Use Case

Distributed systems have always presented complex challenges, and technology trends are in many ways making the software designer's job more difficult. In particular, today's systems must successfully handle.

Relación entre la convergencia de medios y la experiencia de usuario. Dos iniciativas creativas en Colombia

La convergencia de medios, definida como el flujo de contenidos donde intervienen múltiples plataformas e industrias, es un proceso cada vez más cercano y presente en la sociedad. Allí la participación activa de la audiencia es fundamental, ya que su comportamiento migratorio en búsqueda del entretenimiento es el motor mismo de la convergencia que conecta contenidos aparentemente dispersos. El presente artículo es una reflexión alrededor de la relación entre la convergencia de medios y la experiencia de usuario en dos iniciativas creativas colombianas: “Reportajes 360” del diario El País de Cali y "En Órbita" Magazín Cultural Transmedia de Señal Colombia. Las experiencias de usuario, frente a la información audiovisual interactiva que se ofrece a través de las plataformas estudiadas, se caracterizan por: la inmediatez, como posibilidad de acceso al contenido en cualquier momento, la participación, que le otorga al usuario un rol activo en el acto comunicativo, la profundización, que ofrece mayor información del tema deseado enriqueciendo el consumo de información, la personalización, que permite la selección de contenidos a partir del interés del usuario llegando a niveles de individualización del acto comunicativo, y la narración no lineal, que otorga la capacidad de acceder a los contenidos en el orden que este determine, convirtiéndo al usuario en un constructor del discurso. De las iniciativas analizadas se pudo evidenciar, siendo esta la conclusión principal de este documento, que el proceso de empoderamiento del llamado “prosumidor”, demanda un mayor trabajo por parte del productor/ realizador/diseñador al momento de estructurar relatos que deben ser contados en diferentes medios.

Pleasing the reader by pleasing the eye—Part 2 Page layout and readability

The purpose of page layout is to consciously arrange text and graphics on a page in a way that supports the reading process and allows the reader to effortlessly follow the flow of information. It should blend words and images into an effective whole. Many of the basic principles of page layout in use today date back to the times when book printing was born in the Renaissance. The Industrial Revolution and Gestalt theory likewise have left their distinctive imprints on page design. The page designer's job, then, is to read and digest the text before making specific style choices and creating a layout that supports the writer's message.

Barriers of User's Involvement in the Design Process of Public Parks as Perceived by Landscape Architects

Designer's job is no longer to produce unalterable solutions; the fact that there is a need to consult the end users in the design process has been discussed in various literatures. Previous works on public participation have given the depiction of very low public participation. This study is about establishing the barriers of public involvement in the design process of public parks as perceived by landscape architects. Six main factors that are detrimental to public participation were extracted and assessed by representatives from landscape consulting. Data was descriptively analyzed and the results have shed some light regarding the main barriers

The Use of Task Analysis Procedures by Instructional Designers

The purpose of this study was to learn about the use of task analysis procedures by instructional designers. Task analysis is regarded by many to be the most integral part of the instructional design process and the most technical aspect of the instructional designer's job. It is also thought to be the most ambiguous of the instructional design, processes. A questionnaire was developed that surveyed 164 members of the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) and the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) with instructional design responsibilities. This research learned what instructional design activities designers associate with task analysis and the percentage of time instructional designers devote to task analysis. It also learned what task analysis methods are most and least often used by instructional designers and identified those task analysis methods not known by instructional designers. Finally, this study determined how instructional designers learn to conduct task analyses and the factors that impact task analysis practices.

Design "Feasilization" Using Knowledge-Based Engineering and Optimization Techniques

The multidisciplinary design optimization process can be supported by partial automation of analysis and optimization steps. Design-and-engineering engines are a useful concept to structure this automation. Within the design-and-engineering engines, a product is parametrically defined using knowledge-based engineering. This parametric product model needs to be initiated before global multidisciplinary optimization can be performed. The 'feasilization is done by the initiator component in the design-and-engineering engines that simulates the heuristic methods normally used by designers to estimate the first values for the parameters and variables describing their designs. The initiation of values for structural parameters and variables is elaborated for a sample composite-stiffened panel structure. It is shown that the initiator function of the design-and-engineering-engine concept can be implemented on the basis of optimization techniques using simplification of the design requirements, simplified representations of the design options, and the class of so-called schematic models to mimic the designer's job in the preliminary sizing phase of the design. An implementation of the initiator is used in a sample design-and-engineering engine for aircraft vertical tail design.

Design Reuse and Buffers in High-Tech Infrastructure Development: A Stakeholder Perspective

This study investigates the implementation of design reuse and buffers in developing the infrastructure of high-tech production facilities Design reuse entails using the same systems architecture from one project to the next. Design buffers involve building slack into a proven systems architecture to absorb foreseeable change requests. Choosing the appropriate amounts of reuse and slack is dependent on the uncertainty in the manufacturing technology over the infrastructure life cycle. While proven infrastructure designs can economically accommodate incremental changes in technology, adaptation costs escalate when sufficient buffers are not built-in and changes are radical. We uncover opposing stakeholder interests in determining the extent to which reuse or buffers are used. Design reuse is attractive to the client to reduce the risk that a facility fails to perform, but limits the designer's job to tedious customization work. Design buffers are attractive to the designer to do original problem-solving and limit the risks of being unresponsive to uncertainty, but not to the client who is not guaranteed that the investments will pay off. We find that inequalities between the two stakeholders in the governing power on design decision-making compound the difficulties in assessing and implementing the reuse versus buffers tradeoff.

A Finite State Machine Compiler and Simulator

Finite State Machine (FSM) is an important element in digital systems design and in the design of VLSI systems. In any digital system which is not purely combinational, FSM design is essential. The FSM comprises of combinational logic with both independent and output dependent inputs. Some outputs from the combinational logic are fed back to the input side in order to generate the required number of finite states (there may be outputs which are not fed back). This article describes the FSM compiler implemented at CEERI's VLSI Design Centre and the associated simulator. The input to the FSM compiler is in an easy-to-use FSM description language. The simulator for the FSM is transition-table driven. The novel feature of the simulator is that it allows the user to define an output command dictionary which aids the system designer's job of debugging and testing the command outputs of the FSM.

A survey of computer‐aided design: Implications for creativity, productivity, decision making, and job satisfaction

AbstractA survey of computer‐aided design (CAD) usage was performed to investigate the relationship between CAD tools and four aspects of the designer's job which included productivity, creativity, decision making, and job satisfaction. Several designers (n & 117) representing 19 companies and 3 major universities were administered a CAD questionnaire designed to determine whether CAD utilization improved user performance in the four main job areas. The results indicated that those features which aided the designer in visualizing the structure of the CAD model or allowed the designer to directly manipulate the CAD model, such as rotations, were highly rated tools. Further, those features which resulted in slow system response times, such as engineering analysis, were evaluated as less useful in terms of the four job categories. Implications of the results for the design of CAD systems is discussed.

Preliminary thoughts on an agent description language

As part of our work on agent-oriented programming,1 we are developing an agent description language. We describe an agent's “mental state” in terms of its knowledge, beliefs, desires, commitments, and abilities. Our goal is not to specify human knowledge, beliefs, etc., but rather to devise a more limited, precise language to facilitate programming agents and interagent communication. We believe that borrowing from our intuition about these commonsense terms will simplify the human designer's job. This article describes a preliminary version of our language. We define a temporal language with modal operators representing knowledge, belief, desire, commitment, and ability. This is a propositional language with quantification over time points and agents only.

Engineering constraints and computer-aided optimization of electrostatic lens systems

Abstract An optimization tool for the design of electrostatic lens systems with axial symmetry is presented. This tool is based on the second-order electrode method combined with a multivariable numerical optimization procedure. The second-order electrode method makes a cubic spline approximation to the axial potential for a given electrode shape. With the help of this approximation, a numerical optimization can be done. To demonstrate this optimization tool, a lens system for Auger analyses is optimized. It is shown that variations in the practical constraints imposed on the design, like maximum electrode potential or maximum lens diameter, have strong effects on the obtainable lens quality. It is concluded that a numerical optimization does not take over the lens designer's job, but allows him to thoroughly examine the optical consequences of engineering choices by finding the optimum design for each set of constraints.

Engineering construction specifications: the road to better quality, lower cost, reduced litigation

For the past 25 years, Joe Goldbloom and I have conducted a running debate over whether specifications writers engage in the unlawful practice of law. Joe's position is that lawyers have no business writing specifications, that being the designer's province. Having been given the honor to write this foreword, I have the opportunity for the last word, at least for now. Joe Goldbloom and I first met in 1964, while serving together on the ASCE Committee on Contract Administration. Joe became my teacher, mentor, and friend. Underlying our good natured debate was the serious issue of the technical qualifications required of a specifications writer. As a matter of fact, specifi cations writing traditionally has fallen in a crack between the two professions. Specifications writing typically is neither taught in engineering school nor in law school. Engineers are taught how to design; lawyers are taught how to draft contracts. Specifications writing requires mastery of the technical elements of design as well as the skills of contract drafting. Specifications writing is neither glamorous nor sexy; it is often viewed as a necessary evil of the designer's job.

Design of an aerospace computer for direct HOL execution

This paper presents an overview of a study, performed during 1971 and 1972, to design a computer architecture capable of executing a higher-order aerospace programming language directly—without the aid of a compiler or interpreter. The prime motivation for developing such a machine is to reduce system costs, for while hardware logic is becoming much cheaper, software is consuming a greater proportion of total system costs. A tremendous potential savings can be obtained by designing computer hardware that is oriented to aiding the programmer rather than to simplifying the computer designer's job. In this three-phase study, the first phase, preliminary to the actual design, analyzed direct execution tradeoffs for a number of languages. The languages examined were FORTRAN, ALGOL, PL/I, APL, JOVIAL, and SPL. In the second phase, the functional design was produced for a direct-execution system for a subset of Space Programming Language (SPL)/Mark IV. In the third phase, the performance of that system was evaluated by comparing it to a conventional architecture. The study successfully demonstrated that a higher-order aerospace language computer is feasible and efficient.

The Challenge of Automobile Design for the 1970s

Although we have long been concerned with functional considerations in automobile design, there is an ever-increasing, sometimes conflicting, series of demands upon the automobile designer today. Some of the problems outside aesthetics which face the designer in the 1970s are outlined and the ways in which GM styling plans to adopt advanced technology to make the designer's job more efficient. The final section deals with the designer's role in society. The designer is a true artist who reflects, and even anticipates, the conditions of the society which surrounds him.

Design for Maintenance

There is nothing new in attempting to design an aircraft to give trouble-free service. This has always been one of the major parts of a designer's job. In recent years there has been a lot of talk about improving design from the maintenance point of view and suggestions for “maintenance cells” in drawing offices. I would suggest that if aircraft have become too difficult to maintain, it is not entirely due to lack of appreciation of the problem in the drawing office, but mainly to the great increase in complexity of the modern aircraft, particularly in the past 10 years.