Abstract
There is a difference in the way designers and engineers usually look and think about designing a prototype. The designers are taught to have more open ended approach, whereas the engineers are more strict about the specifications and syntax. This creates a communication gap in the way the prototyping is approached. In order to improve the communication and to augment joint design capabilities between industrial designers and engineers, a set of cards and a way of using them was developed. It relies on the well explored use of flowcharts, which for some reason have not been used extensively. This paper is about a tool for interaction design, understood by both designers and engineers. Selection of past projects were analysed, ideas from analysis taken into practice, resulting in an idea of a tool in the form of cards. It was further developed during the successive prototyping courses.
Keywords
prototyping, communication tool, flowcards
Citation
Mikkonen, J. (2012) Flowcards - A communication tool, in Israsena, P., Tangsantikul, J. and Durling, D. (eds.), Research: Uncertainty Contradiction Value - DRS International Conference 2012, 1-4 July, Bangkok, Thailand. https://dl.designresearchsociety.org/drs-conference-papers/drs2012/researchpapers/90
Flowcards - A communication tool
There is a difference in the way designers and engineers usually look and think about designing a prototype. The designers are taught to have more open ended approach, whereas the engineers are more strict about the specifications and syntax. This creates a communication gap in the way the prototyping is approached. In order to improve the communication and to augment joint design capabilities between industrial designers and engineers, a set of cards and a way of using them was developed. It relies on the well explored use of flowcharts, which for some reason have not been used extensively. This paper is about a tool for interaction design, understood by both designers and engineers. Selection of past projects were analysed, ideas from analysis taken into practice, resulting in an idea of a tool in the form of cards. It was further developed during the successive prototyping courses.