Education guide 'Eindhoven designs' - Technische Universiteit ...

Eindhoven designs / volume two
59
User Focus and
Perspective
Understand human characteristics,
goals and needs, the context of use, and
create empathy with users throughout
the design process. Design user-system
interaction for user experiences.
Insight into characteristics, goals and needs of
human beings is indispensable for designers
in order to create intelligent systems,
products and related services that improve
the quality of life. The designer needs to have
knowledge about the cognitive limitations and
capabilities of human beings (what they can
learn, remember and how they think, etcetera).
Likewise, the designer needs to know about
human emotions and attitudes, as well as
about human perceptual-motor skills.
Finally, people have different personalities,
are members of age groups, cultural groups,
social groups, all of which influence their
requirements and needs, and the way
they interact with systems and products.
Understanding and mastering methods for user
research and testing will enable you to create
empathy with the users and obtain feedback
about your proposed solutions, so that you can
optimally tune intelligent systems, products
and related services to the characteristics,
goals and needs of human beings. Knowledge
about how to design the user interface and
the skills to do so will enable you to create
engaging user experiences.
Social Cultural
Awareness
The focus of our education at ID is on
designing intelligent systems, products
and related services for social and
societal transformation. Therefore, you
need to learn to drive the design process
from an awareness and understanding
of developments in society, envision
your designs in society, place the
development of systems in a broader
perspective, and take position in and
evaluate the impact and mediating
role of a system, product or service on
society.
Industrial Design is inevitably part of the
larger human society and culture. Global
society is developing at a breathtaking pace.
Mega trends such as ageing, globalisation,
new technology and issues such as scarcity
of resources, political power, economic and
demographic development, play an important
role in what the world will be like in the future,
and inevitably influence each undertaking
in life. A designer needs to develop a keen
bird’s eye view on this continually changing
cultural landscape, turning observations and
knowledge into intelligent systems which
match the needs of societies and cultural
communities, as well as enabling social
transformation. This inevitably incorporates
ethical and philosophical questions related
to taking responsibility for society and the
notion of “good” design. In order to be able
to transform the behaviour and experience
of people, as well as society as a whole, and
create the designs of the future, students need
a clear understanding of the past, including
design history.