Conference Agenda

The overall aim is to assess the superior of human- or design-centric source. This research compares the categories covered in a checklist by pain-points and needs identified individually using human- and design-centric sources. Data from 6 projects of a design course is used. It is found that there is no significant difference in the number of categories covered by pain-points and needs but the categories are not the same. This calls for integrating both sources in comparison to using only one source for designing which can potentially help to identify diverse and relevant outcomes.

This paper describes the creation of a tool named Shame Cues, a card deck consisting of 64 cards describing sociocultural concepts related to shame. The tool arose as an experiment to articulate an entanglement of diverse shame discourses into something relevant for designers. Building on the experience of using Shame Cues, the paper discusses how Shame Cues can support exploring the role of shame as given implicitly, through cultural manifestations, and in a practical sense, and how such an investigative lens can inform designers with more critical perspectives.

This study presents a three-stage framework to translate user scenarios into engineering specifications. We introduced 'Action Steps' as an intermediate tool to help convert user scenarios into functional requirements and engineering specifications. It facilitates aligning specifications with user needs by filling in the essential product information not revealed in user scenarios. Preliminary testing revealed that the proposed framework improved team understanding and reduced information gaps, showcasing its potential to enhance specification development and process efficiency.

Human-centred approaches within the design cycle are crucial to enhance usability and inclusivity of products. However, the qualitative nature of traditional human factors evaluation can create bottle necks, prompting the need for more data driven methods. A framework for data-driven human factors is presented, looking to integrate mixed-method approaches. Case studies illustrate its usage in real-world scenarios and challenges are summarised, calling for robust data collection methods, balancing of mixed methods, a need for explainable systems, and interdisciplinary expertise.

Gibson used "affordance" to describe how animals perceive and interact with their environment. Since the term was coined, many studies, both theoretical as well as empirical, have been done. We conducted a review of the 56 most cited works on physical affordances to answer: (1) What methods have been used to study affordances, and how have they changed with time? (2) How has the definition of affordances evolved over time? We went through papers decade-wise and compare their key contributions. Finally, we discuss how the definition and research on affordances has evolved in the last 40 years.

Scholars in economics, psychology, and business have recently defined narrative as the underlying mechanism by which humans internally process information and drive a decision forward. In this paper, we study narrative’s use in design across Design Society publications. We discuss how narrative’s role as the driver of design decision-making is an important, but missing, element of the design literature. We explain how engineers will be expected to move the design process forward despite facing decisions where the information is simultaneously too much to process, conflicting, and incomplete.