|Topic 6 Conceptual Design
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Goal: Students exercise the conceptual design phase of a real project from problem definition to evaluation of the conceptual design alternatives.
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This topic seeks to guide the team around some common temptations that novice designers succumb to. Designers' success can be undermined by preconceptions, hasty decisions, and personal biases. Additionally, team environments require special attention to maintain the support of all team members. There are some easy to implement ploys to circumnavigate these pitfalls in a team environment. Though it takes more time, the design team is more likely to choose a good solution strategy.
Novice designers are often plagued by the tendency to adopt the first idea that comes to mind. Expert designers realize that rarely does the best idea come easily. The expert designer also realizes that the root problem may not be the problem as it is initially presented to them. Diligently identifying the true problem and searching for the broadest possible range of solution alternatives is the best way to ensure that your final solution is a relatively good one.
The goal of the conceptual design phase is to identify the very general type of solution that will be pursued. If the challenge is to "communicate a message," the conceptual decision is NOT whether to use a pen or a pencil. The conceptual decision is what type of communication media to use video, audio, written, or even smoke signals. If "written communication" is the chosen conceptual solution path then later, in the embodiment phase, you would choose what language and what tools to use (pen and paper, e-mail, or perhaps classified ads). Finally in the detail design phase you might choose a #2 pencil, standard notebook paper, and cursive writing. (Note this curriculum combines the embodiment and detail design phases for the sake of simplicity)
A prerequisite to choosing a good conceptual solution path is to make sure you are addressing the correct problem. In this example, "communicate a message," there are a lot of questions that should be asked regarding the nature of the message, the intended audience, and the resources at hand. The childhood message "I like you, do you like me?" probably warrants the pencil and notebook paper embodiment solution. Whereas the adult message "I love you, will you marry me?" might warrant a jumbotron at a sporting event or a banner trailing behind a plane...neither of which would work if the intended audience can't read. To maximize the chance of achieving a good solution, one must understand the problem and the imposed constraints.
Expert designers understand the difference between an abstract concept and a specific design. Beginning designers are unlikely to appreciate the difference nor will they necessarily be equipped to intuitively breakdown a complex challenge into constituent parts. For this reason, this topic uses a modified protocol aimed at using students' specific ideas to derive abstract functional requirements and conceptual solution alternatives.
The final area of concern addressed in this topic is how a team should make decisions. Most believe that we in the USA live in a democracy. That is not entirely true. We do have a representative form of government where "everyone" has an equal vote. However, decisions made by our representatives may or may not represent the majority of the people at that time. In your class you can choose to impose true democratic rule, but you will have the same problem that is felt on the national stage. Those in the minority will often resent the decisions that are made and may not work to support the team. Instead of majority rule, encourage consensus on all decisions. Consensus means finding a solution that every single member of the team will work to support. Though you will occasionally find an individual who refuses to compromise, generally ideas can be combined and re-formed into ideas that the entire team can completely support without losing the contributions of the minority.
Beyond learning how to reach concensus, all designers should learn ways to overcome personal attachment to specific ideas. One way to eliminate personal biases (or at least reduce them) is to utilize a mathematical decision matrix to choose between alternatives. Even if biases are not "strong," a decision matrix helps to weigh complex decisions (when many different factors must be considered). You'll find that it is easier to evaluate and compromise on a single decision (a single number in the matrix) than to readily accept that another idea is across the board better than your own "favorite." Using a mathematical decision matrix changes the rejection of an idea from "my idea is not as popular as others" to "mathematically my idea scored a lower than others and it's favorable qualities should be incorporated into the higher scoring ideas." It will also provide clues as to what favorable characteristics of various rejected ideas should be incorporated into the chosen idea. To create a decision matrix:
The students should be introduced to their class project and encouraged to openly discuss their initial impressions and inclinations on how to solve the problem. Then begin to describe to them the difference between conceptual and specific ideas and the potential pitfalls if the steps in the formal design method are not followed. (Specifically, those that insist of defining the problem well and choosing a conceptual solution without bias towards a specific preconception). Use your example design to lead the class through defining the problem, searching for solution alternatives, and choosing the best solution for thier class project. Use a mix of individual effort, small group effort, and full team discussions to keep all students actively engaged.
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