Conference Agenda

This technical paper discusses a collaborative research project involving three Brazilian universities and a company specializing in the manufacture of lifting and transport equipment. The company, with a long-standing presence in this specific market, was facing durability issues in one of its key products. In response, the company's management sought academic support to address the fatigue durability problem. Under the guidance of four professors from 3 different academic institutions (Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria and Centro Universitário FEI) a Mechanical Engineering student from the latter institution was selected to participate in the research project. In an effort to solve the issue, concepts from Design Methodology, Machine Elements, Solid Mechanics, and the Finite Element Method were applied. These tools provided the foundation for diagnosing and eliminating the root causes of the durability problem. CAD and CAE software were employed for modelling, analysis, and structural optimization, leading to an effective solution that met the company's needs. Once the solution was implemented by the equipment manufacturer, as a secondary effect and a way to reinforce the learning experience for Mechanical Engineering students, the solved problem was integrated into the exercise list of the Machine Elements course. Students were then challenged to solve the problem and encouraged to fabricate scaled prototypes using additive manufacturing techniques, such as 3D printing. This approach enabled a deeper understanding of design concepts, enhancing spatial awareness and comprehension of three-dimensional vector phenomena, while promoting problem-based learning and the practical application of theoretical knowledge.

In an era defined by rapid technological advancement and complex global challenges, design education must evolve to equip students with the critical, creative, and anticipatory skills needed to shape sustainable futures. This paper presents Design Futureverse, an innovative didactic experiment integrating Virtual Reality (VR) and Spatial social platform to enhance design students' creative potential and promote a hybrid learning methodology. Design Futureverse creates interactive virtual environments where students explore speculative futures, collaborate on design projects, and develop future-oriented mindsets. The project operates on three levels: individual, team, and process, offering personalized learning experiences, fostering teamwork, and enhancing storytelling and communication through immersive speculative environments. This study examines the potential of VR to bridge the gap between abstract design concepts and tangible experiences, demonstrating how immersive technologies and hybrid didactics can transform design education. The findings suggest that while VR can significantly enhance engagement and creative thinking, challenges related to workload and balancing physical and virtual components remain. Design Futureverse offers a promising model for the future of educational methodologies, contributing to a deeper understanding of how VR and hybrid learning can prepare the next generation of designers to navigate and shape uncertain futures.

Industry 5.0 is disrupting industrial design and forcing it to rethink its methodologies and workflows from ideation to conceptualisation, design, development and production. Because of this new Industrial Revolution stage, leading thinkers say that designers need once more to adapt or disappear by transitioning from using technology as a tool to collaborating with it since technology has become intelligent. Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) and its applications (e.g., Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, Vizcom) put the role of industrial designers under review, from designer-makers to designer-curators. Today, GenAI can make countless instantaneous images. Before, it took many hours to produce each one. Industrial design fields that rely on freehand representation, such as product and transportation design, stand to be most disrupted. The authors partnered with a leading GenAI company to explore if high proficiency in two-dimensional (2D) sketching and rendering still constitutes an advantage in transportation design. A mini-mobility challenge was proposed. The participants were divided into two groups: untrained students and trained experts with transportation design sketching and rendering skills. Participants used auto-ethnography to record their journey and reflect on their experience and process. An expert panel compared the results and evaluated the proficiency of 2D freehand sketches against alternatives provided by GenAI intervention. The researchers and experts observed tipping points for the changes in roles of designer-makers to designer-curators who also oversee and collaborate with artificial intelligence. Research outcomes offer recommendations of good practices for GenAI use and ways to update design education curricula to equip future professionals in the field.

In this work, we extended the STEAM x D (STEAM = Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics, and D = Design Thinking) framework to international student transdisciplinary product design training (e.g., outside conventional classroom context). The student training was carried out through an international institutional collaboration between universities in Vietnam and Singapore, termed the Freshmore Asean Co-curriculum Trip (FACT) developed for first-year students at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). In the collaboration with Fulbright University Vietnam (FUV), 30 first-year SUTD students and 18 second-, and third-year FUV students participated in a 5-day product design programme with emphasis on sustainability of the textile industry (e.g., clothing re-use and shoe design and fabrication). In the programme, the double diamond design thinking framework (Discovery, Define, Develop, Deliver) was applied while students received “just-in-time” training in various disciplines, such as the socio-cultural-historical context, Micro-design innovation, sight visits, sustainable design, idea generation, prototyping, and communication. At the end of the 5-day programme, student teams of 4-5 students showcased their prototypes/ideas to a panel of expert judges from academia and industry to receive prompt feedback. In general, some prototypes raised the interest of involved and third parties due to their creative solutions, while the programme student survey feedback showed high levels of student engagement, enhanced awareness of Design Thinking, Sustainable Design, Transdisciplinary Design, and the Socio-historical-cultural context when addressing real-life problems. Overall, the participating students found the 5-day international product design programme a useful, enriching, and unique design experience.

Access to clean water has been raised by the UN as one of the greatest challenges of humanity, located in SDG number 4. This situation is a reality in many places, where highly extreme conditions are faced, long drought seasons followed by intense storms that overflow and destroy cities, Monterrey, Mexico, has lived this for decades, however the situation worsened due to factors such as mismanagement by the government, abuse by private companies and lack of water care culture of citizens.

Also, there is a strong need to develop professionals who can address complex projects through design methodologies and who are able to propose and develop innovative solutions, focused on the needs of people and considering the impact of such solutions on biodiversity by creating sustainable projects with high social impact. The students used the human-centered design (HCD) to integrate affected communities in the design process.

This article examines the results of projects carried out between 2021 and 2024, all of which address challenges related to water. The projects were developed by students in their fourth semester of bachelor’s degree in design at Tecnologico de Monterrey.

The main aspects analyzed were water use, management and recycling, prevention of water pollution, rainwater collection, quality monitoring, types of users, as well as commercial feasibility and user experience.

This article discusses key lessons learned and provides a framework for future projects that seek to address water supply issues through a human-centered approach.