Delft Design Guide -Revised edition. Annemiek van Boeijen
a design that does not address the actual problem. Ideally, you spiral from problem to solution, from abstract to concrete, and from function to product geometry. This process is usually iterative, in which you sometimes have to take a few steps back – ‘back to the drawing board!’ – to go a step forward later on. You might also enter into the cycle at different steps, as long as you complete the cycle each time. Being aware of the basic cycle that you are going through on different resolution levels – from a cycle within the time span of a minute to cycles that span several weeks – helps you to organise your thoughts and design activities.
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Mindset: The Basic Design Cycle represents a fundamental cycle of reasoning that is inherent in conscious, purposeful design problem solving. This means that a designer who desires to do so needs to critically reflect on how his or her own thinking corresponds to basic reasoning logic.
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Tips & Concerns
Do not confuse the five reasoning steps with the phases of a design process. The Basic Design Cycle is a model describing the fundamental reasoning steps and their relative logical order, which happen throughout any conscious, goal-directed design process.
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This means that there is not one phase in which you synthesise, but that you must engage in synthesis throughout the design process.
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When you ‘get lost’ in your ideas and thoughts, you might find it helpful to consider which step of the basic cycle you are in and identify which reasoning steps you might have missed that might get you back on track.
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Discussion with others often helps in effectively doing these reflections.
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Limitations
‘Analyse’ is the first step in this model, and this might suggest that it should also be your point of departure. However, that step is not necessarily your preferred point for starting your design cycle.
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Depending on your preference, you can enter into the cycle at different points.
The Basic Design Cycle is a model that represents the fundamental reasoning steps in the process of designing. It consists of a sequence of conscious reasoning steps that are repeated in empirical cycles. The knowledge of both the problem and the solution increases with each cycle.
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References & Further Reading: Roozenburg, N.F.M. & Eekels, J., 1995. Product Design: Fundamentals and Methods. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. / Roozenburg, N.F.M. & Eekels, J., 1998. Product Ontwerpen: Structuur en Methoden. 2 nd ed. Utrecht: Lemma.
organisation
evaluation
evaluation
evaluation
evaluation
evaluation
Competitive environment
generating search
areas
generating product
ideas
strategic
product
position
product
launch
product
use
strategic
situation of the company
search areas
design
brief
product
design
product development
evaluation of the product
use
evaluation
of the product
Internal
analysis
Internal
analysis
of bottle- necks
technology
development
distribution promotion and sales
manu-
facturing
market
development
External
analysis
External
need
analysis
market
intro-
duction
It never ends: the Product Innovation Process is a continuous circular process. An organisation moves through the cycle all the time, developing new products and redeveloping existing products, sometimes simultaneously. (After Buijs, 2012)
Step 1 - Product use: The use of the company’s existing pro- ducts is seen as the starting point for the next innovation round. This stage involves connecting product use with the next step – which is referred to as a strategy formulation for the company – thereby initiating the next innovation cycle.
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Step 2 - Strategy formulation: This stage starts with determining the current strategic situation of the company using an internal and external analysis of the company. By combining these two analyses, you can formulate search areas, which are strategic ideas for innovation and are potential new business opportunities. When evaluating these search areas you can check their validity in a number of ways such as expert interviews, looking at patents, or observing potential customers and users.
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Step 3 - Design brief formulation: In this stage, the selec- ted search areas are transformed into product ideas, which
are then formulated in a design brief. This brief describes the ideas in a way that an internal or external design team can start developing the product or service. The brief can include a vision statement, a program of requirements, and other guidelines to steer the design direction.
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Step 4 - Development: This stage involves traditional design activities that are related to product design, and such activities include creating a marketing plan and assessing the required technology for the product and its production.