<aside> 🚩 This roadmap provides a high-level overview of the stages and tasks required for the semester-long design project in this course. It was designed to trade off (1) the needs of developing a good design intervention, (2) the needs of good design pedagogy/andragogy, and (3) the pragmatics of managing a one-semester course in design.

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Overview

The process for this course is based on an iterative cycle called the Study, Propose, Critique (SPC) loop. Each team will perform the loop three times over the 10 weeks of the project. Each pass through the loop will give teams the chance to (a) improve their designs, and (b) learn new methods and tools.

Keep in mind that in the broadest sense, the stages of the SPC loop are:

Detailed expectations for each of the three loops are described below.

Loop 1

This is the initial pass through the Study, Propose, Critique loop. Tasks include:

• Process Bootstrapping
  • Hold a Kickoff Meeting.
  • Study the Design Brief and conduct appropriate background Research.
• Study Stage
  • Create the initial Situational Knowledge Base, using the structure of a Situation Scan.
  • Develop some key Requirements.
    • In Loop 1, focus only on situational requirements.
• Propose Stage
  • Develop one Design Concept per team member.
• Critique Stage
  • Critique the design concepts to develop and document a set of Design Issues.
    • For Loop 1 only, every team member must use the quick-scan approach to help them find and document HF-related Design Issues in their concepts.
    • See Human Factor Capabilities for further general information.
    • Refer to Human Factors Analysis for specific information about the project expectations for this course.
• Document preparation and submission
  • Prepare and submit Milestone 1 (MEC325) for grading.
  • The appropriate tab of the WDF must be completed by the submission deadline of the Milestone Report.

Loop 2

Your goal is not just to improve your design concepts, but also to improve your documentation, design decisions, and justifications in light of feedback from your TA.

Perform another pass through the Study, Propose, Critique loop, extending each stage as described below.

• Study stage
  • Develop suitable Situated Use Cases and Personas for your project.
  • Conduct HF-capability analyses for all the HFs covered by the Cambridge Exclusion Calculator. Since vision, hearing, and strength will be covered specifically in this course, you are expected to focus on these HFs. See the following pages for more information:
    • Human Factor Capabilities
    • Human Factors Analysis, and
    • Driving Design with the Cambridge Exclusion Calculator.
  • Conduct further study and Research to understand as many Design Issues as possible.
  • Expand your Requirements as necessary; these may be either situational or internal requirements.
    • Remember: situational requirements must apply to every concept; internal requirements may be specific to particular concepts.
• Propose stage
  • Refine your concepts to address several of the Design Issues already identified, taking advantage of at least two of the three Creativity Methods: analogical design, design by attribute, and design by inversion.
    • Whether your attempt to apply a given Creativity Method is successful or not, be sure to document your attempt, even if it was unsuccessful.
• Critique stage
  • Critique the refined design concepts to develop and document more Design Issues.
  • Use the Cambridge Exclusion Calculator to help you find more HF-related Design Issues.