Designers’ promises or users’ expectations?

DS 75-1: Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED13), Design for Harmonies, Vol.1: Design Processes, Seoul, Korea, 19-22.08.2013

Year: 2013
Editor: Udo Lindemann, Srinivasan V, Yong Se Kim, Sang Won Lee, John Clarkson, Gaetano Cascini
Author: Gabelloni, Donata; Fantoni, Gualtiero
Series: ICED
Institution: Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering, University of Pisa, Italy
Page(s): 279-288
ISBN: 978-1-904670-44-5
ISSN: 2220-4334

Abstract

Several frameworks describe the design process, such as the FBS model and its extensions. Some of them present a designer-centric view, while the most recent ones are more based on the user’s point of view. This paper investigates and seeks to explain the different perspectives between designer and user after the first interactions with the product. In particular, the paper models how the designer’s promises of functionalities match (or mismatch) the user’s expectations. Thus twenty-four examples, including misuses, unperceived functions, hidden functions, failures etc., are mapped in a table. The paper provides also a formal model based on Function-Behavior-Structure approach to describe the possible cases of misunderstanding between the user and the designer. Such a model formally links the designed product, as it is conceived by the designer, and the perceived product, as it is understood and interpreted by the user. Finally a series of redesigned actions are proposed to try to overcome some of the cases of misunderstanding between the user’s and the designer’s perspectives.

Keywords: Design theory, Functional modelling, Design cognition, FBS model

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