The system around the product: methodologies and experiences focusing on material and immaterial aspects in design solutions

Transcription

1 The system around the product: methodologies and experiences focusing on material and immaterial aspects in design solutions Nicola Morelli, PhD School of Architecture and Design Aalborg University, Aalborg Denmark This paper has been published with the following title The system around the product : Definition of an operative paradigm for industrial design in a systemic context in Drawing New Territories Best of Design Research R. Michael, Editor. 2006: Geneva, Switzerland Abstract The design discipline has traditionally focused on products physical aspects, giving for granted that the context of services, infrastructures and technology will support the product life. A systemic perspective would revise such a focus, in order to project design competences over systemic aspects usually neglected by designers. This perspective shift is a challenge for designers, who have very efficient methods and tools to handle physical aspects of product design, but need to define an operative paradigm to operate in a systemic context. An operative paradigm consists of a set of tools and methods to handle immaterial aspects such as time sequences, actors role and logical links in a product service system (PSS). Tools and methods can be borrowed from other disciplinary contexts, their relevance, though, derives from their adaptation to this specific study area: designing in a systemic context. This paper describes a curricular activity focused on the definition of methodologies for designing in a systemic context. using examples from students projects. For a semester students had to focus on a project of a PSS, borrowing and re-adapting methods from other disciplines with the purpose of developing their own project. By freely choosing and adapting such methods students defined their own operative paradigm for designing in a systemic context.

2 The system around the product: shifting the focus from material to immaterial aspects of design solutions Nicola Morelli, PhD School of Architecture and Design Aalborg University, Aalborg Denmark The logical context Traditionally, industrial designers have focused their interest and operational activities on the design of material goods although they are well aware that industrial activities are more and more shifting the focus from products to knowledge intensive systemic solutions (Rullani 2004b; Rullani 2004a) consisting of systems of products and services (or product-service systems, PSS). Accordingly, designers activities should pay more attention to immaterial (cultural, social, economic) aspects in the production and consumption system. This is, in fact a platform for companies and designers to gain competitive advantage and to deliver highly personalised solutions.(manzini, Collina et al. 2004; Morelli 2005; Morelli 2006) The extension of the design activity to the systemic components supporting production and consumption has rarely been considered. Designers, for instance, have rarely contributed to the development of new services, because this was considered as the domain of other disciplines 1, which focus on operations, rules and time sequences of new services. This new perspective calls for a substantial improvement of designers capability to analyse, represent, understand and modify systemic components that are not necessarily related to material products. When refocusing on their study area, Designers need to define a new methodological approach, based on a systemic perspective. Designers are more and more challenged to represent their solutions specifying the relationship with the context, the network of actors shaping the solution and the areas of intersection of actors interests in which the solution have more chance to succeed. Such challenge requires an appropriate toolbox containing new and existing techniques to be appropriately used in relation to a methodological approach that takes into account systemic thinking and the specific study area focusing on design in a systemic context Borrowing Arbnor and Bjerke s terminology (Arbnor and Bjerke 1997) it could be said that designers need to generate their own operative paradigm to deal with PSS in a systemic perspective. (Figure 1). Focusing on Systems in the Academic Context This paper refers to the activities for seventh semester of the Industrial design program at the School of Architecture and Design at Aalborg University. 1 The main contributions available on service design have been developed in marketing and management disciplines. Shostack, for instance(shostack 1982), provides insights for the generation of a blueprint for a service. Such insights are further developed by Ramaswamy (Ramaswamy 1996) in a more comprehensive contribution on service design and management. Interesting considerations about the nature and classification of services have been proposed by Norman (Normann 2000), Norman and Ramirez (Normann 1994), Eiglier and Langeard (Eiglier 1977).

3 The theme for this semester, system design, was developed within the Problem Based Learning (PBL) educational model, used at Aalborg University. This model requires that students address the whole semester activity to a main project on a specific theme. The final project should gather the interdisciplinary contributions from teaching activities and supervisions. 2 The nature PBL offered the opportunity to look at system design from an operational perspective (i.e. in relation to a project), rather than from a theoretical one. In previous semester, the students had worked on the definition and the integration of technical and esthetical characteristics of industrial products, therefore focusing on material aspects of design activities. Systemic aspects had emerged in many occasions in relation to the context in which industrial products are used, but those aspects where broadly defined, without further specifications. The seventh semester, instead focused on the systemic aspects related to products, in order to describe them, to represent their main physical, socio-cultural and time-related implications, and to organise sequences of actions, technologies, actors contributions and material products in a consistent way. In other words students were required to design a PSS. The outcome of this exercise was open, it could focus on a product family or series (to be used in a systemic context) or on immaterial components (e.g. a service) of a product/service mix. The assessment criteria for the project referred to the capability to understand and demonstrate the capability to work in a systemic context, linking products, services and their production system. The methodological approach proposed in this semester was based on a paradigmatical assumption: that the production system for PSS can be defined by the network of actors which interact according to organisational, social economic and time related rules. The methodology to be used in the semester was defined by two points suggested by this assumption: The view of the systemic context as a network of actors requires analytical methods for recognising and describing the actors that shapes the systemic context and the influence each actor has on the system configuration. The need to represent new dimension of a PSS requires that operational tools are used to represent the sequence of events and interactions between actors that define the PSS. The design perspective integrates contributions deriving from different disciplinary areas with the specific purpose of designing a PSS. The definition of the methodical procedures to address this purpose defines an operational paradigm for designers working in a systemic context. The following chapters will focus on such procedures. The systemic context as an actors network The development and selection of new solutions is strongly influenced by the actors participating in such process (Bijker, Hughes et al. 1987), (Bijker 1995). Such actors include animated entities (such as companies, designers, users and suppliers) and unanimated factors (such as regulations, technologies and other products and services used in the same production and consumption system). 3 2 For more detailed information on Project Based Learning at Aalborg see (Kjersdam 1994), (Kofoed 2001) and (Kolmos 2004). The contributions of H. Kiib, M. Mullins and M.A. Knustrup in the last reference are specifically related to the experience at the school of Architecture and Design in Aalborg. 3 The perspective including unanimated factors among the factors influencing the social shaping of an artefact has been considered by Law (Law 1987) and Callon (Callon 1987); the author considered this perspective in previous papers (Morelli 2001; Morelli 2002c) referring to human-made artefacts and infrastructure. This is obviously an abstraction based on the

4 In this context, the role of the designer consists of analysing the socio-technical context and propose solutions that interpret and address the different logics converging in the system (Morelli 2002b; Morelli 2002a; Morelli 2003). The identification of relevant actors and social groups is critical to the definition of the PSS. The discipline of design has recently looked at anthropological studies, in order to decipher the complex pattern of rational and emotional choices guiding the behaviour of social actors. The results of this investigation is a wide range of methods, from video ethnographic studies (Buur, Binder et al. 2000; Buur and Soendergaard 2000) to cultural probes (Gaver 1999). Those methods are the result of designerly adaptation of methods coming from other disciplines. While anthropological and ethnographic studies had a pure analytical approach, their adaptation in the design discipline is using the analysis on target users as a quasi-design phase, in which users are often directly or indirectly engaged to provide suggestions and contributions to the design process. In other words a designerly approach is often shifting from the logical space of problem definition to the solution space. Some Examples from Students Work My Way : The actors network shaping a public bicycle trailer service. This project focuses on a service of publicly available bicycle trailers for temporary use. The service could be part of a public policy (e.g. it could be a solution to reduce car traffic in the city centres) or a component of the competitive strategy of a department store (as an additional service offered to its clients) or an additional service offered by a bicycle shop. Students were quite familiar with similar systems 4. They were also users of bicycle trailers. The analysis and identification of possible actors, therefore was based on the existing information, some interviews and personal experience. Students generated maps of the actor network, in which the main actors (e.g. users, shops, pedestrian, motorists), secondary actors (sub-manufacturers, police, thieves, recycling companies) and contextual conditions (infrastructure, public transport, weather conditions) were listed. The actors were then described with a simplified list of criteria, adapted from a broader framework of criteria proposed by Bijker (Bijker 1995). The analytical phase was followed by a phase of definition of possible systemic solutions. Every solution was based on a different configuration of the actors network. The configurations were shaped by the actors and their interactions. Figure 2, Figure 3 and Figure 4 illustrate three different scenarios. Each scenario describes the role of the actors, the contribution to the service and the main advantages for each actor. Delight assist: a service provision system for elderly people This project revisit existing meal delivery service for elderly people in Denmark. Starting from the assumption that many elderly people would be able and willing to prepare their own meal, the students analysed how this possibility could influence the daily life of elderly people and how a new booking service could fit into their daily or weekly routine. The students approached a group of elderly people with a package including a diary, a camera, and some assumption that non-animated products and technologies are, in turn shaped by other actors. Those actors embedded their cultural values, social attitudes and technological knowledge in such products, therefore they indirectly contribute to shape the new PSS. 4 A public citybike service is available in the central areas of Copenhagen and Oslo, other cities in Norway and in Belgium offer the same public service)further information on citybike can be found at the site (last visited )

5 postcards including questions related to their social life, their preferences and sometimes to food 5. Elderly people provided a huge amount of information about their daily routine and their social life, which the students synthesised in time sequences illustrating typical days, weeks, months and year patterns (Figure 5). Such sequences where recording functional routines (e.g eating) as well as physical activities (e.g. Nordic walk) and social interaction (e.g. my daughter birthday ). However this method proved to be a huge source of other kinds of information, which was used and synthesized in other ways. Developing the system, logical dimension, time sequences and systemic components The following step concerns the development from a conceptual dimension to an operational configuration. This implies a reasonably clear definition of the structure of the PSS, the identification of its main components, the definition of the logical interaction between such components and the time sequences of them. This passage may be compared with the product development phase in product design, although the two processes cannot use the same methods. A product development procedure assembles physical components according to functional, mechanical, technological or aesthetic logic. The focus of the process is a material product, immaterial implications (e.g. esthetical, communicational values) are considered, but only in relation to the material components of a product and in relation to its production and consumption system. The development of a PSS, on the other hand, includes the definition of immaterial components (time sequences, organisational and logical structures, service features). Very little knowledge exists in the design discipline on how to control such components. Focusing on the study area: the concept generation workshop A workshop at the beginning of the semester focuses on qualities of the design solution by defining its social and cultural values. In this workshop students explored the links between visions and material elements of the system, as proposed by Lerdahl (Lerdahl 2001) and Tollestrup (Tollestrup 2004). The pyramid in Figure 6 represents four levels of abstractions from production and product details to the overall visions generated at the corporate level. The horizontal and vertical exploration of such a pyramid allows for a contextualisation of the concept solution and a definition of values and visions that will guide the design process. Both visions and values were represented through a keyword and a qualitative description of the vision. Pictures were also used for qualifying the vision. This phase was developed as a five days workshop, at the end of which students had to represent their values and visions, possibly miming them in front of their colleagues. Value statements were further developed in mind maps, which generated more detailed requirements for the PSS. Defining the structure: IDEF The concept generated in the workshop needs to be thoroughly explored, in order to understand all the phases in which the designer s intervention is required. Different tools are proposed to the students, to manage the new dimensions related to the systemic approach. System engineers use Integration Definition for Function Modelling (IDEF) in order to model the functions (activities, actions, processes, operations) required by a system or enterprise, and the functional relationships and data (information or objects) that support the integration of those functions (1993). The model allows for a progressive 5 This is, in fact, a version of the cultural probes package proposed by Gaver (Gaver 1999)

6 detailing of the functions and actions in the system, while keeping the link between each element in the system. A model of a system starts from the functional definition of the system (IDEF0), together with its inputs, outputs, control conditions, actors and post-conditions (Figure 7) A progressive detailing of the functional process is possible by opening the box in Figure 7, in order to specify functional elements that compose it. Figure 8 reports an example of using IDEF0 to detail the project on a bicycle trailer system. The use of IDEF0 in the design of a PSS offers the possibility to analyse the various phases and elements of the system, emphasising its crucial components (products or services). This method, however has been developed to control industrial production; some limitations emerge when arbitrary behaviour of social actors and other social factors are considered, which add complex feedback loops that are hard to control with this method. Detailing the project: scenarios and use cases While IDEF was critical for a broad understanding of the structure of the PSS, the inclusion of other social behavioural factors should be possible by using a faster procedure, which may not be able to offer the full picture of the system, but provides a better understanding of critical paths. A useful procedure consists of the definition of use scenarios and the development of use cases. Scenarios and use cases are used in information technology to develop the architecture of information systems. (Kulak and Guiney 2000; Leffingwell and Widrig 2000). In those disciplines use cases consist of descriptions, in plain language, of a sequence of actions corresponding to a simple functionality. Use cases are sometimes illustrated with basic representation. When working with PSS, instead, much more information is required, in order to describe a series of interactions, circumstances and behaviours of the system in relation to each functionality. Therefore a different kind of representation is required. Examples from students work: Use cases in the Delight Assist project The project on meal service for elderly people was articulated in use cases that described different events in a sequence. Such a sequence included a series of alternative paths. The sequence of events was describing the events in the front office i.e. all those events and behaviours that are visible to the user, including the user behaviour and its variations in relation to the alternative paths. This part has been defined as user case. Parallel to the graphical description of such sequence, the back office, i.e. the different functions activated in each step of the production system were described as subdivided among the various actors interacting in the service and different layers of interaction (service providers, logistic, infrastructure). This part has been defined as the use case. (Figure 9) In some instances the use case representation refers to a well defined logical system (e.g. ordering food) that could be analysed again with an IDEF0 procedure. Conclusive remarks The activity in this semester can be evaluated from two perspectives. The first perspective focuses on the methodology: it concerns the validity of methods and tools used in this semester. According to Arbnor and Bjerke (Arbnor and Bjerke 1997) a method can only be defined on the basis of a methodological approach and a specific study area. The definition of such methods in this context represent the operative paradigm this design exercise aimed at developing. (Figure 1). This perspective implies that there is no such thing as the best method for the design activity. Each project (defining a study area) requires specific investigation and operative

7 tools. This is obvious for any design activity, but is particularly important in the design of systemic solutions, where the contextual conditions are always unique. The methods and tools illustrated in this paper are supposed to be used in different ways, according to the specific project needs, likewise a plumber uses the tools in his toolbox according to his own knowledge and the results he wants to achieve. Students were free to use (or not use) any of those tools. Furthermore, tools were sometimes adapted to a specific design scope. The second perspective concerns the design outcomes. At the beginning of the project students usually have doubts about the possibility and the opportunity that designers work on immaterial elements. Furthermore, they cannot see the utility of considering the system around the product. The development of each project emphasised that the systemic perspective was in fact critical. The groups who focused on material products had the opportunity to compare their first sketches of the products included in the PSS (focused exclusively on products technical and esthetical requirements) with the final definition of the same products (developed in a systemic perspective). This comparison emphasised the relevance of the systemic perspective, even for the design of material details.(figure 10 and Figure 11). From a research perspective, this work was a good opportunity to define a methodological framework for an extension of the design activity to systemic solutions. The exploration of methods and tools in this paper is not meant to be exhaustive but it is rather aimed at opening the debate about the relationship between the theoretical development of system thinking in the design area and the definition of operational tools to operate in a systemic context. Aknowledgement The author wish to thank Sven Hvid Nielsen and Christian Tollestrup, which provided relevant theoretical contribution to the semester and to this paper and the students of the seventh semester ID at the School of Architecture and Design at Aalborg University for their enthusiasm in receiving and re-elaborating theoretical and methodological concepts they were offered. Bibliographic References (1993). Integration Definition for Function Modelling (IDEF0), National Institute of Standard and Technology: 128. Arbnor, I. and B. Bjerke (1997). Methodology for creating businesss knowledge. Thousand Oaks, Calif. ; London, Sage. Bijker, W. E. (1995). Of bicycles, bakelites, and bulbs : toward a theory of sociotechnical change. Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press. Bijker, W. E., T. P. Hughes, et al. (1987). The Social construction of technological systems : new directions in the sociology and history of technology. Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press. Buur, J., T. Binder, et al. (2000). Taking Video beyond "Hard Data" in User Centred Design. Design. Participatory Design Conference (PDC 2000). Buur, J. and A. Soendergaard (2000). Video Card Game: An augmented environment for User Centred Design discussions. Designing Augmented Reality Environments (DARE 2000), Helsingør. Callon, M. (1987). Society in the Making, the Study of Technology as a Tool for Sociological Analysis. The Social construction of technological systems : new directions in the sociology and history of technology. W. E. Bijker. Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press:

8 Eiglier, P., Langeard,P (1977). Marketing Consumer Services: New Insights. Cambridge, Mass. Marketing Science Institute, P. Gaver, B., Dunne, Tony and Pacenti, Elena (1999). "Design: Cultural Probes." Interaction 6(1): Kjersdam, F., and Enemark, S, (1994). The Aalborg Experiment project innovation in university education. Aalborg, Aalborg University Press. Kofoed, L. B. a. K., A. (2001). Empowering Transferrable Skills in Problem Based Learning. 3rd Asia Pacific Conference on PBL, Cairns, Australia, Australian Problem Based Learning Network. Kolmos, A., Fink, Flemming K., Krogh, Lone, Ed. (2004). The Aalborg PBL Model. Progress, Diversity and Challenges. Aalborg, Denmark, Aalborg University Press. Kulak, D. and E. Guiney (2000). Use cases : requirements in context. New York Boston, Mass. ; London, ACM Press ; Addison-Wesley. Law, J. (1987). Technlogy and Heterogeneous Engineering: the Case of Portuguese Expansion. The Social Construction of Technological Systems. W. E. e. a. Bijker. Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, England, the MIT Press: Leffingwell, D. and D. Widrig (2000). Managing software requirements : a unified approach. Reading, MA, Addison-Wesley. Lerdahl, E. (2001). Staging for Creative Collaboration in Design Teams. Department of Product Design Engineering. Trondheim, NTNU. Manzini, E., L. Collina, et al. (2004). Solution Oriented Partnership. How to Design Industrialised Sustainable Solutions. Cranfield, Cranfield University. European Commission GROWTH Programme. Morelli, N. (2002a). The design of Product/Service Systems from a designer's perspective. Common Ground, London, Staffordshire University Press. Morelli, N. (2002b). "Designing product/service systems. A methodological exploration." Design Issues: Morelli, N. (2003). "Product-Service Systems: a Perspective Shift for Designers. A Case Study: the Design of a Telecentre." Design Studies. Morelli, N. (2005). Design in new industrial contexts: shifting design paradigms and methodologies. EAD 06. 6th European Academy of Design Conference, Bremen. Morelli, N. (2006). Globalised markets and localised needs - relocating design competence in a new industrial context. Engineering & Product Design Education Conference Salzburg. Morelli, N., and Loi, D. (2001). Designing product/service systems. A Social Construction Activity. Desire Designum Design. 4th Europan Academy of Design conference, Aveiro (Portugal), Universidade de Aveiro. Morelli, N., and Loi, D. (2002c). Design and Heterogeneous Networks. a Case Study Designing a Service for Internet Access. First International Conference on Human Aspects of the Information Society, Newcastle upon Tyne. Nilsen, S., M. Schou Ohana, S.C. Svarrer, N. Gram Thomassen and J. Vestergaard (2006). Delight Assist. Project and process Report 7. Semester ID. Aalborg, School of Architecture and Design, Aalborg University. Normann, R. (2000). Service management : strategy and leadership in service business. Chichester ; New York, Wiley. Normann, R., and Ramirez, Rafael (1994). Desiging Interactive Strategy. From Value Chain to Value Constellation. New York, John Wiley and Sons. Ramaswamy, R. (1996). Design and management of service processes. Reading, Mass., Addison-Wesley Pub. Co. Rullani, E. (2004a). Economia della Conoscenza. Creativitá e Valore nel Capitalismo delle Reti. Roma, Carocci. Rullani, E. (2004b). La Fabbrica dell'immateriale. Roma, Carocci.

9 Shostack, L. G. (1982). "How to Design a Service." European Journal of Marketing 16(1): Tollestrup, C. (2004). Value and VIsion-Based Methodology in Integrated Design. School of Architecture and Design. Aalborg, Aalborg University. Figures

10 Methodology Figure 1 Use of techniques in relation to a methodological approach and a study area (adapted from (Arbnor and Bjerke 1997) Methodological approach: design in a systemic context Operative paradigm: Actor network analysis Concept generation workshop IDEF 0 Scenarios and use cases Study area: design of PSS for transportation Bicycle shops could provide the service by lending out or selling products for simple transportation. The shop would be the centre of exchanging products, and making the necessary up keeping of the products. Profit would be the stimulus of the shop, while the user would pay to rent or buy the product to fulfill needs. This would to some extend call for more cycles in the city centers. All other actors would be passive, and would only be influenced by the new service. Figure 2 My Way : System concept 1: the service is offered by a bicycle shop. Shopping centres could provide the rental service, with the aim of supporting sales. The customers could rent or lend the trailer to carry more goods. Shopping centres in fringe areas would particularly benefit from this service. The service would extend the use of bicycles as transportation mean, thus reducing car traffic. Other actors, passively participating to the system, would benefit by the service. Figure 3 My Way : System concept 2: The service is provided by shopping centres Local authorities could administrate a system much like the city-bicycle services offered in some European cities. This would increase the use of bicycles for transportation and reduce automotive traffic in city centres The authorities set a large amount of money aside for these projects. Therefore this solution will be very realistic, especially in Denmark where the experiences with public founded campaigns have been successful. Figure 4 My Way : System concept 3: the service is promoted by the local government Figure 5 Time sequences describing an elderly person's normal day, according to data collected with cultural probes

11 Figure 6 Lerdhal's pyramid model on vision based methodology (source (Lerdahl 2001) Figure 7 Basic representation of a functional phase in IDEF Figure 8 "My Way" use of IDEF for detailing the system Figure 9 Use case for a food delivery system for elderly people. The step by step description of the events is outlined in the upper part of the graphic. The lower part describes the system behavior for each event (Nilsen 2006) Figure 10 "My Way": Firts sketch of the bicycle trailer (for private use) Figure 11 "My Way": Last definition of the bicycle trailer (as part of a PSS)