Thirteenth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices

Abstract

Design is recognized as a problem solving activity. Recently investigations of design philosophy, design methods, and design processing graduated as scientific studies in social sciences. All activities associated with design evolved in diversifying ways; among most recent evolution is user-centered design approach which emphasizes that the purpose of any design is to serve user, not to use a specific technology or not to be an elegant piece. User-centered designing involves extensive attention to needs, wants, and limitations expressed by the ultimate end users of product or service throughout the development stage of design process. In contemporary complex socio-technical systems of human society, activities of design have a varied range of applications. Textiles are among basic human needs hence holds a large-scale design implication. This research explores user need assessment as the primary component of textile design process for consumer textiles using collaborative workshop outputs. Moreover, design research focusing on user needs at the initial stage of consumer textile design is currently lacking. User centered designing approach of all kinds pays more attention on re-purposing of existing technologies instead of the invention of new ones without real life applications. Thus it is of much importance to understand the academic conceptualization of consumer textile designing as a user centered design activity. User need assessment as a primary component of the textile design process may provide textile designers with rich skills, knowledge, and experience on material handling thus enhancing the problem-solving component of material design