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The digitalization of many forms of work during the Covid-19 pandemic has brought many challenges for online collaboration Bakirlioglu et al explain that while they have been using online communication tools for meetings and collaboration for a while, this is the first time they are collectively being forced to do so At least for them, existing online tools initially created a sense of reassurance, as they were familiar with them - collaborating on project management through shared files and co-edited documents, having meetings and saving conversations for later reference, collaborating with partners around the globe, and so on Utilizing completely online tools for participatory design (PD) has its challenges PD aims to bring stakeholders into the design process democratically and to enable and empower them to influence the process It focuses on "infrastructuring" tools, networks, and sociotechnical skills for participants to actively take part in design projects

User experience evolves in accordance with users' attitudes, habits, and personality, as well as their prior experiences. Even though there are attempts to holistically frame the long-term experience of interactive products, there is still debate on how to guide designers in the design process of those products. To tackle this issue, this paper proposes the usage of Path of Long-Term User Experience (PLUX) model in design process. To interrogate the usefulness of the model, we conducted two studies. First, we adopted, adapted and tested the applicability of the backcasting approach, together with the visual materials that could be used in the design process. Following this, we tested the effectiveness of using the PLUX model as a guidance tool in designing interactive products. The PLUX model together with the backcasting approach helps designers to better ground their decisions in the design process and to find ways to enrich long-term user experience. The stages of user experience as well as the human and product-related qualities of the PLUX model facilitated in-depth reflection, and espoused creative interpretations of these qualities for ideation. However, the high level of detail is found limiting at times, depending on the ways the model is utilised., Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK)

Design considerations that take into account the diverse issues of sustainability have become a central source of inspiration for third-year design students in the Department of Industrial Design at Middle East Technical University. These considerations include the development of products that can evolve in line with local needs, product maintenance, repair and upgrade, and the effective use of resources and have been integrated into various design projects relating to diverse product sectors (e.g. small household appliances, bathroom tiles and accessories). While engaged in these projects, the graduate students focused on and developed a generative design research method and an innovative idea generation tool that helped the design students better understand and incorporate these considerations into the idea generation phase of the design process. This paper presents suggestions for and insights into the means of bringing together undergraduate education and graduate research by providing example...

Incorporating concerns of sustainability and circularity into design practice is undoubtedly important for both design research and education. There is a need to equip novice designers with the skills to facilitate a sustainability-focused future, whilst also collaborating with industry to implement these concerns into contemporary design practices. On the one hand, SMMEs and small teams in other sectors (i.e. public) lack the resources and time to improve their knowledge, to explore alternative ways of conducting business and to transform their design practices. Contrarily, novice designers (i.e. design students) can access state-of-the-art knowledge on sustainability and experiment with sustainable design practices throughout their education, yet they lack insights into market realities around implementation. Similarly, design researchers and educators are on the fore-front of developing sustainability-focused design methodology through research, but they often lack exposure to the industry. If the parties were all to work together, however, the sharing of resources, knowledge and experiences become valuable commodities in creating more sustainable design practices. This paper outlines an on-campus Design for Circular Economy and Sustainability training programme where industry worked with interns and academics to address real-world challenges. The project forms a part of a larger EU collaboration. The programme aimed to create a co-learning environment for novice designers, industry partners and design researcher/educators. Here all stakeholders could exchange their knowledge and insights and learn from each other to explore and experiment with practically implementing sustainability in real-world contexts. This paper briefly introduces the development of the programme and explores how and what co-learning occurred for the different stakeholders. Finally, the paper discusses how the outcomes of this programme subsequently affected the practices of industry partners. The programme offered a unique environment to prepare novice designers for the real world and provided researcher/educators with valuable insights on how to facilitate such a transition. The industry partners utilised this experience and outcomes to review their practices and kick-start the transition towards sustainable businesses., European Commission (EC); European Union (EU); Erasmus thorn Programme of the European Union; Circular Design: Learning for Innovative Design for Sustainability (L4IDS) Knowledge Alliance Project

There is an increasing interest in teaching user experience design in many of the industrial design bachelor’s programs. The subjectivity of the topic requires new approaches as well as reliable and valid assessment tools. It has always been a challenge for the teachers to assess creative work in higher education. In relation, the assessment of how products create user experience in student works requires extra attention. In this paper, we discuss the difficulty of properly assessing design and explain the development and application of rubrics that we aimed to facilitate the assessment of design for user experience assignments of a 3rd year bachelors’ course of the University of Twente. We present evidence of the reliability and validity of the assessment through the rubrics. Usability of the rubrics for assessment purposes has also been addressed.