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While it is common practice to highlight the designer's name in marketing communications, there is a lack of research on how these cues influence consumer evaluations. This article examines how the presence of designer cue affects social value perceptions and purchase intentions across two product categories in three experimental studies. The findings suggest that designer cues enhance consumers' perceived social value by evoking feelings of sophistication and privilege. The study further highlights the emotional process involved in creating social value through designer cues and the role of design newness as a regulator. The results indicate that the effect of designer cue on purchase intention depends on the self-expressive value of the product and the consumer's level of involvement in the design process. Consumers are more likely to purchase products with designer cues if they perceive the product as a means of signaling their identity and value design in their daily lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of Prevention through Design (PtD) practises in improving OSH in the construction sector has been recognised by scholars and industry practitioners. Even though there is now a significant body of PtD literature, the context of profiling the designers' PtD competence in developing countries, such as Malaysia, remains elusive. Due to the recent implementation of PtD-based guideline in Malaysia, the Occupational Safety and Health in Construction Industry (Management) (OSHCI(M)), the need to recognise the characteristics of a competent designer in fulfilling OSHCI(M) requirements is important and timely. To address this gap, a two-pronged research approach was adopted. First, 135 practitioners were selected using purposive sampling to participate in the questionnaire survey. This is followed by discussions with practitioners who have experiences in OSHCI(M) projects, to further validate the survey findings. The findings highlight that the top five important PtD competency attributes were knowledge-based attributes i.e. (construction, design feature, risk and hazard, management concepts and legislative framework). Meanwhile, design and construction experience, hazard-related and collaboration skills were also significant for PtD competency. The findings also indicate that continuous efforts related to collaborative contractual arrangement, early education, professional training and institutional pressure are needed to bridge the designers' priori and experiential knowledge and skills, where the new normal of OSH practice is required to address the required OSHCI(M) duties. This study extends the current PtD literature in terms of providing a new perspective on designers' PtD competence in the field of construction, from the context of developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is the main technology research and development country in the world’s bamboo industry, as well as the main producer and exporter of bamboo products. It ranks at the international leading level in terms of bamboo forest area, stock volume, bamboo product output and scientific research level. However, through literature review, it is found that the development of bamboo products in the modern social environment still faces many challenges. The author searched the keyword “bamboo product design” through CNKI and SCOPUS database systems, and initially retrieved 562 literatures. According to the screening criteria “Bamboo Product Design Status and Strategies”, and excluding redundant and repetitive studies, 76 papers were finally screened and identified. The author uses the A-type graphical tool of the KJ method to combine, classify and analyze the keywords in the “problem” literature, and use the relationship between these materials to organically combine and summarize these facts. It is found that there is a gap in capability between bamboo product designers and craftsmen. What is the gap between them? How to narrow the gap between them and improve their design capability? This is the research question of this study. To a certain extent, it is one of the key factors for the insufficient design innovation of bamboo products and the inability to meet consumer demands. Therefore, this study constructs a strategic framework of five capability dimensions by reviewing the literature on design capability management, combining product design standards and design capability demand theory, and incorporating the unique relevant factors of bamboo product design. The framework aims to improve the knowledge system and professional capability of craftsmen and designers to enhance the diversification and innovation of bamboo products, help the bamboo industry to clarify the market positioning of products, and meet people’s needs for bamboo products in modern life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gamification is usually defined as the use of game structure components in circumstances that are not commonly associated with games. In engineering studies, Gamification and its sub-concept of Serious Games are rather widespread pedagogical models. Just like in other application scopes, the approach to their utilisation or analysis is always concerned with the players, their psychological experience and the relevance of their learning outcomes. The aim of this work is to illustrate the results of a different approach, the 'Learner-Designer Approach to Serious Games' (LDASG). The study was carried out through a single group variation on the two-group posttest-only randomised experiment and performed on 79 second year undergraduate students of an Industrial Plant Design course within a Management Engineering programme. Quantitative data on the students' learning performance and learning experience were collected through a test and a questionnaire, respectively. The test results were analyzed by means of the Paired Samples Test and effect sizes were calculated. As to the questionnaire, a descriptive analysis was employed. The outcomes obtained show how LDASG can successfully compete with other active learning methodologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there is a rich tradition of research into the labour market for artists, studies of the labour market for designers have only recently come on stream. This paper examines the factors affecting design graduates' work choices, and specifically the proportion of time they are able or willing to spend working in the field they were educated. Based on a survey of design graduates in the Netherlands, we explore the relative importance of three types of determinants (economic, work-related and socio-demographic) that influence design graduates' work choices. We find that next to degree-related income, the application of creative skills outside the field of study and job satisfaction play a role. Additionally, younger and older design graduates combine work in different ways and for different reasons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to illustrate Indian film costume creation. To better understand these colorful, highly adorned, and powerful expressions of global material culture, the authors—US-based costume designers—investigate the background from which these costumes emerge, exploring who envisions them, who creates them, who wears them, and what tangible resources make them possible. The authors discuss how film costume production is shaped by skilled artisans who use extraordinary materials and techniques available in India and employ unique production processes to create costumes for compelling narratives. Findings from field research and interviews, along with a look at the influence of contemporary fashion trends on costume production, are discussed and analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes research on the concept of 'identity' and its development in the field of design. While the establishment of common points among philosophers indicates some contemporary understanding of this word, emerging practice may facilitate novel product ideas, as explored here in collections of the Brazilian designer, Brunno Jahara, named Compatriots, Transatlantic, and Multiplastic. Each one refers, respectively, to specific issues of the concepts of geographical identity, identity in colonized countries, and identity in the current globalized industrial times. During this process, a theory of space or gaps among places will be used as the basis of the question of identity in colonized cultures. We provide a practical understanding of how the concepts of identity and culture evolve design and share a reflection about collections elaborated on the product application concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the past 15 years, the Sri Lankan apparel industry has been upgrading from apparel assembly to providing design and product development services. The country's fashion education developed in response to the industry's need for design professionals. The purpose of this study is to explore how fashion designer competencies are developed within Sri Lanka. This study adopts a qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews conducted with 28 fashion and product development professionals, selected through purposive sampling. The development of fashion designer competencies within SL in this context are analysed and discussed. The study proposes a 'fashion education ecosystem' that has emerged from the nexus between formal fashion education and training and professional development within the industry, supporting the upgrading of the industry through the enhancement of designer skills. Sri Lanka, as a small country that depends heavily on the apparel industry for employment and economic development, provides a model for other developing countries seeking industrial upgrading from apparel assembly to design and product development services through the fashion education ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Designers increasingly facilitate multidisciplinary innovation projects. The user-centred design approach offers the opportunity to increase idea generation, co-creation and multidisciplinary exchange and convey more flexible and open innovation process approaches. However, we have little knowledge about how the designer as facilitator influences these innovation projects. This becomes however more and more important, as more open and networked innovation have become prominent innovation paradigms. This paper explores the contribution that designers bring into multidisciplinary settings. It is based on empirical data from three case studies. It contributes to extant literature on designers as facilitators by identifying the interplay between different levels of creative facilitation as moderating factor for the fulfilment level of the collaboration. We propose to include the balancing of this interplay as additional input of facilitating designers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing agreement among researchers and practitioners that the input of facility managers (FMs) can be a vital resource during the architectural design process. FMs are responsible for the everyday operations of buildings, and are therefore aware of many practical details of maintenance and efficiency that designers may overlook. However, despite the recognized benefits of collaboration between designers and FMs, there are significant obstacles that have so far prevented the widespread implementation of this partnership. The current study used data from 30 in-depth interviews and a widely distributed survey of FMs in three international regions to identify some of the obstacles that prevent collaboration between FMs and designers. Based on these data, the authors also developed specific recommendations for better incorporating the knowledge of FMs into the design process. Difficulties in communication and cultural barriers between the two fields were found to be the most pervasively reported obstacles, closely followed by the perception that designers are unaware or uninterested in the contributions that FMs can offer. Educational initiatives, technology training, and structural incentives were among the proposed solutions. The study resulted in a simple visual model of best practices for promoting collaboration, as well as a separate model for organizing the contributions of FMs during design. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The aim of this paper is to encourage understanding and preservation of twentieth and twenty-first century fashion. It considers the use of plastics by three influential designers of modern and contemporary Western fashion and the challenge of preserving both the plastics and the designers' intent. Focussing on pieces from The Costume Institute (The Metropolitan Museum, New York) by three influential fashion designers, Elsa Schiaparelli, Beth Levine and Rei Kawakubo, the paper explores the challenges of conserving their work in its design, material and construction. Each designer responded differently to the then newly available plastic polymeric materials used to create their visionary designs. Instrumental analysis, using micro-FTIR, Py-GC/MS and EGA-MS, helped to identify the plastics and to predict longer-term changes. Concerns about ephemerality and temporality are shared by both innovative fashion and conservation. Disconnection between preserving the designs, in the form of museum artefacts, and each designer's intent, as manifested in the original relationships and processes used to materialise that intent, is examined to understand whether and how 'designer intent' can be preserved or represented. The works of Schiaparelli, Levine and Kawakubo provide comparative case studies to explore the challenges of conservation and representation and to inform the development of a theory of 'fashion conservation'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this paper is how design students think about sustainable practices and design solutions. A survey distributed to American and Korean design students asked how important sustainability was to them as a user and as a professional in training. How the two groups of students understand sustainability in apparel was considered through their identification of sustainable strategies and practicing of sustainable behaviours. In analysis regarding practices throughout the clothing lifespan, the most significant sustainable factor for American students was ‘purchase’ and for Korean students it was ‘use’. This comparison provides valuable insights regarding how cultural factors shape and influence perspectives on sustainability and how this information pertains to design education. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The aim of this paper was to explore the implications of planned obsolescence (PO) and the associated product lifetime on the environmental impact of products. To achieve this task, a literature review was performed to assess both the historical context and recent situation of planned obsolescence. A search in scholarly journals was performed to evaluate to what extent product lifetime and PO have been discussed in the recent literature. Based on the findings, selected cases of PO are discussed and trends in the practice of limiting product lifetime are identified. Factors considered to have a significant influence on product lifetime have been identified and discussed. The discussion of case studies made it possible to establish the links between product design, manufacturing and associated impacts of lifetime. The role of the actors along the value chain is also considered to propose a business scheme, where the influences of consumer behaviour and design choices are crucial. Finally, strategies to facilitate the definition of different scenarios are given. These strategies may serve to increase the reliability of environmental assessment throughout a product life cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Modern science reveals that our universe is fine-tuned for life. Many fundamental constants and conditions in our nature fall into very narrow life-allowing ranges. This fine-tuning phenomenon can be addressed by two major hypotheses: the God hypothesis, and the multiverse hypothesis. In this article, I show that recent scientific observations do not favor the multiverse hypothesis. Also, I argue that an omnipotent, omniscient and perfectly good God would not create our fine-tuned universe through the multiverse scenario. Therefore, these two specific hypotheses are incompatible with each other. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Growing up in my mother's atelier when I was young meant a childhood spent in and around textiles–and a constant game of dress-up. The thrum of sewing machines was my soundtrack of choice as I gleaned valuable dressmaking skills and learned to identify materials by touch. I gained a strong appreciation of the "noble fibers" such as cotton, silk, and wool, whose pedigree was second to none. "Shorn This Way" is a homage to wool; a piece in praise of, and to publicize, the astonishing historical trajectory of wool. This is a material with a lifespan that one can love, and be loved by in return. The casualization of consumerism has left many traditional textiles neglected, but that can easily be remedied, perhaps by closing one's eyes–as I did many years ago in my mother's workshop–and forgetting what we know, allowing oneself to luxuriate in the richness of fibers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]