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Appreciative inquiry (AI) is an inquiry into the “best of” what already exists in a system. Applying AI at the start of a design process gives a process that is very different from traditional design approaches, in other words “appreciative design” is achieved. The overall purpose of this paper is to explore and contribute to a process of putting appreciative design into practice.

The researchers have, in their role as educational leaders, developed and applied a process for appreciative design within the context of the entrepreneurial educational program “Skarp Åre, Business and product development” at Mid Sweden University.

The process introduced is referred to as Appreciative Course Evaluation and Design (ACED). The benefits of ACED, found in comparison to conventional practice, include higher commitment by the course participants, lower risk in the design process, and increased student involvement in the evaluation and design process.

The paper contributes in general to increasing the understanding of how the strengths and principles of appreciative inquiry can be incorporated into design processes. It is hoped that the insights presented will inspire future research and application of appreciative design, not only to the evaluation and design of higher education, but also to the evaluation and design of products, services, organizations and society.

The purpose of this research is to aim to improve the cognitive understanding of knowledge processing and provide a cognitive knowledge modeling method in product design.

In this paper, a cognitive model of knowledge processing is described. A cognitive knowledge modeling method is presented. Suggestions on cognitive support for knowledge based systems are provided.

There is often a fundamental mismatch between the way human process knowledge and the way it is processed by technology for supporting product design. It is necessary to develop tools, methods and technology which integrate seamlessly with the design process. This study focuses on the internal human activities and explores knowledge management research from a human factors perspective. Cognitive knowledge modeling will result in a natural integration of knowledge‐based systems into the design process.

This study uses an experimental approach and hopefully the research can therefore be generalized to other situations.

This study provides guidelines for cognitive support for knowledge‐based systems.

Cognitive knowledge processing is described and a cognitive knowledge modeling method is presented. The paper explores knowledge management research by analyzing human activities, in combination with the study of management and engineering technologies.

This paper presents a research study conducted for evaluating the effectiveness of a conceptual model of a distributed process management environment in the establishment of a collaborative building design. At the highest level, the conceptual model of the distributed process management environment have the following features: (a) enables description of a plan of a design process, (b) enables enactment of a process according to its plan, and (c) enables control and management of the enactment of a design process. The paper also presents the findings of a verification and validation (V & V) study conducted for evaluating the fit between the needs and expectations of collaborating design groups and the solution provided by the conceptual model of the distributed process management environment.

Examines the conceptual design of robotic assembly systems in conjunction with the analysis and optimization of the product and process design. Explains how an integral assembly model is utilised to study the relationships between assembly variables which play a role in each stage of the design process. Outlines the characteristics and benefits of the concentric design process and explains the total productivity concept. Concludes that the integral assembly model, which underlies the concentric design process, provides the opportunity to store product, process and system data and can therefore be considered as a reference model for product development and process planning as well as for the design and analysis of assembly systems.

The development of reconfigurable modular production systems is one of the crucial factors for manufacturers to sustain their competitive advantage in areas such as precision assembly. To ensure the effective and cost efficient configuration and successive reconfigurations it is of critical importance to involve all stakeholders in the decision‐making process. The reported research is targeting the development of an integrated Web‐enabled decision‐making environment that supports some of the key assembly system engineering stages from user requirement specification to system implementation. The focus is on the design of assembly workstations based on detailed process requirements with a target of developing highly efficient and cost‐effective solutions. The paper presents an application framework for collaborative distributed design supported by domain ontologies and is illustrated using an industrial case study.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the successful design and management of high performance work‐based lifelong learning processes.

The paper summarises the process management practices and contextual parameters that are being applied in the successful design and management of high performance work based lifelong learning processes.

The paper finds that innovations in lifelong learning process design and development are restricted by traditional pedagogical thinking and administrative practices, an over emphasis on e‐learning and insufficient consideration of the holistic contextual factors. Design solutions are dynamically based on the idea of a timeless organic order or meta‐planning.

This paper is an outline summary of extensive lifelong learning process design best practice work with client organisations. As with many innovations taking place at the leading edge of work‐based learning management there is a limited supply of reliable published information.

Satisfying the important questions relating to the achievement of more substantial learning relevance in programme curriculum, the coherence of processes for validating non‐formal and informal learning and the effective value of e‐learning systems, are currently key areas of debate and policy making in Europe in particular. Where public and private sector companies are finding local global solutions these results are of considerable value in informing quality design and the way forward.

Designing with a positive lens is inspired by positive psychology, which turns attention away from the treatment of dysfunctions and toward the encouragement of human strengths. I present a positive design method that is inspired by Appreciative Inquiry and draws on a comprehensive theory of design from sculpture. By incorporating a comprehensive theory of sculpture as a guide for designing with a positive lens, we can take advantage of design lessons from the arts, and strengthen the positive design movement in all stages of the design development process. From a theory of sculpture we see that designing includes forming. Forming, in turn, always involves two opposed energies, which can be thought of as a warm and a cold, or an inside and an outside, force. By using a theory of sculpture to guide designing with a positive lens, we reframe our attempts to create new information and organization designs so as to make them achievable even though the positive designer is not an artist. Design thinking and design processes based on a theory of sculpture can ease our dependence on artistic creativity and expand the organizational impact of a positive lens.

Design for Assembly (DFA) is now a well established technique for cost reduction at the design‐manufacture interface. The method described here is simple, highly visual and team based and can be learned in a single day of training and experience has shown that a design team can achieve significant savings even during the training process. The method starts with the analysis of an existing product, prototype, or preliminary design by describing the product and assembly process in the form of rows in a design matrix. The row‐based description is then progressively modified by cascading down the matrix through considerations of part count, ease of handling and ease of assembly insertion. The final rows of the matrix represent the improved assembly design and its assembly process, and the body of the matrix contains cells that describe design and process changes in an order that records the evolution of the design process.

Companies are increasingly adopting design processes as a key driver for their innovation practice. Design processes help companies develop innovations that produce high user value as well as economic value and business value. The purpose of this paper is to describe how design processes can be effectively used in innovation projects through a good understanding design principles, tools, and frameworks.

The frameworks in this paper are based on our direct experience with several innovation projects within leading companies. The processes adopted by many other companies and innovation projects, both academic and professional from around the world, were also studied as drawn from various sources. The goal was to uncover insights about the types of processes adopted by successful innovators.

These analyses reveal that there is a new focus on “design innovation” that produces offerings with a better fit with users and results in higher rates of adoption. It is found that these design processes are transforming the innovation practice of companies. The paper has identified four key principles that innovators use to ensure the success of their innovation practice. Further, it has developed a generic design process model that can be used as a guide for innovation projects, and identified a set of specific tools and frameworks that support the various stages of this generic process.

As design innovation processes are increasingly becoming a core part of the innovation practice in companies, there is a growing need to understand how companies can gain competence in this area. The generic design process model discussed in this paper, and a good understanding of the associated tools and frameworks, is a valuable resource for successful innovation practice.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate possibilities for a more intersubjective digital design process that amplifies the potential for novelty to arise.

First the author will explore the metaphorical concept of the house as a machine in two different contexts, the industrial age, and conversational age, discussing how each concept can generate variety in the built environment. Second, the author presents some examples of conversational customization in architecture along with the Woka, an ongoing research project that attempts to create a more conversational design process. Finally, the author will discuss the possibility of conversational customization in design as a possible solution to a more open and intersubjective process in design.

The author finds that a possible way to reach a true paradigm shift in the process of production of architectural space is to use conversation as a design approach, from design to use, shifting the focus from the object to the process, amplifying variety and the potential for novelty to arise.

The objective is to offer designers a new way of thinking about design that focusses on conversation and intersubjective processes.

The notion of conversational customization may offer a conceptual base for architects to explore conversation in design.