Title: Technology to product design process for design education

Abstract

A new product is developed using one of two approaches, either from market and customer needs (market and user-centered innovation) or from technology (technology-driven innovation). Industrial Design (ID) education provides numerous opportunities for students to learn market- and user-centered approaches; however, this discipline appears to lack curriculum in technology-driven approaches. Many companies place a great deal of effort and funding into the technology-driven approach. To improve the contribution of design education to the industry, university students should be taught how to understand a technology and to apply the knowledge that they have acquired. The purpose of this study is to understand which processes and skill sets, including design methods and tools, are necessary to achieve successful technology-driven innovation, and to develop ideas concerning how those processes and skills can be incorporated into a curriculum designed to facilitate a rapid and seamless transition from the classroom to the workplace. In order to gain a better understanding of how design educators and practitioners teach, guide, and mentor ID students and novice industrial designers, a grounded theory approach was used. In order to understand the teaching/mentoring experience of ID educators and practitioners in technology-driven design projects as well as ID students' and recent graduates' experience in technology-driven design projects, primary (syllabi and class activities) and secondary (semi-structured interviews and surveys) data were collected and reviewed. As a result of analyzing and synthesizing both primary and secondary information, a technology-driven process model was developed. This model will provide guidance to ID students and novice designers on how to teach and mentor within a technology-driven environment.