Co-design toolkit for users to participate in the early stage of automotive design

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master_Cheng_Xiaoyi_2020.pdf (86.36 MB)

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School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Master's thesis
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Authors

Cheng, Xiaoyi

Date

2020

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Mcode

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Language

en

Pages

88+7

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Abstract

Currently, automotive design is technology oriented. Because of the fast-paced lifestyle, users can spend a significant amount of their leisure time in the vehicle. With the development of technology, traditional automotive design is changing step by step. In the future, the vehicle will not only be the means of transportation but will also become a living space. Therefore, the potential demands of the users create novel design opportunities in the automotive design field. At present, users are mainly involved in the concept assessment and usability test; the gap between users and automotive design still exists. To dig the users’ needs more in-depth, and give everyone an opportunity to speak, co-design may be a practical way to engage users in the early stage of automotive design. Therefore, the goal of this thesis is to engage users and propose a co-design toolkit for them to participate in the early stage of automotive design. This thesis consists of research and design. The literature review and desktop research build the theoretical framework for the design of the toolkit, while the interviews provide insights into the attitudes of engaging users in automotive design from the experts’ views. In the design stage, the toolkit is iterated twice, and the co-design workshops were conducted with 28 participants. The toolkit includes positive emotion cards, negative emotion cards and experience tasks, which assist the users in building a common language, recalling previous in-vehicle experiences and generating new ideas. Because this thesis is supported by GAC G&D Centre, which is a Chinese automotive design company, the data research is based on the Chinese market, and the workshops were held in China. The analysis of the workshops demonstrates that with the help of the toolkit, the participants actively shared stories and expressed expectation. In the toolkit, positive and negative emotions served as triggers to dig deeper into users demands. Moreover, the outcomes of the workshops reveal the present problems and expectations of each experience and list the proposal for future automotive design.

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Supervisor

Lucero, Andres

Thesis advisor

Lucero, Andres

Keywords

co-design, toolkit, user engagement, automotive design, card, workshops

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https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202006143740

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[master] Taiteiden ja suunnittelun korkeakoulu / ARTS