Measuring Early Stage Engineering Process:
A Design Data Analysis Approach

Professor Maria C. Yang

Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering

University of Southern California

Date: Friday, February 16, 2007
Place: Buchanan 1930
Time: 2:00 pm — 3:00 pm


Abstract:

Creativity, innovation, social-technical interaction, and informatics are critical design research areas for US industrial competitiveness today. This talk will focus on two themes: innovation and informatics in early stage design.

A common assumption in the discipline of engineering design is that good design outcomes are linked to good design process. Many methodologies have been shown to be effective in the later stages of design, but this research examines approaches used in the very early, conceptual stages of design. One of the key challenges of studying early stage design lies in the difficulty of tracking preliminary design concepts. By nature, early design concepts are rapidly evolving and ambiguous, thereby preserving design freedom and creativity. The alternative approach this research takes is to consider design through the activities that design teams engage in, such as ideation and sketching, and through the output of these activities, including textual design information, design sketches, mockups, and prototypes.

This work will examine how aspects of design activities relate to design outcome, how design outcome should be considered, and ways that this process information might be used to provide feedback for design teams. This presentation will detail case studies that apply this approach to design team documentation and to sketches. Finally, future work in the development of integrated process measures for early stage design will be discussed, and thoughts on design curriculum will also be presented.

MARIA YANG is an Assistant Professor of Industrial & Systems Engineering at USC. She earned her MS and PhD from Stanford’s Mechanical Engineering Department at the Center for Design Research, under an NSF Graduate Fellowship, and her BS in Mechanical Engineering from MIT. She was Director of Design at Reactivity, Inc., and has designed interfaces in Apple Computer's Advanced Technology Group and Lockheed Artificial Intelligence Center. She explored usability issues of force-feedback devices at Immersion Corp. She is the recipient of a 2006 NSF CAREER award. She was lecturer in design at Stanford and an instructor of design at Caltech. Currently, she serves on the MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering Visiting Committee. Her teaching portfolio includes courses that focus on design process, creativity, sketching, prototyping, mechanical dissection, and engineering management. .

Host: Professor Curtis Roads, Media Arts and Technology