Lecture 1

Humanities and
Design
Dr. Nithin Kalorth
13/07/2024
 Course Objectives

Expose students to the role of Humanities in Design

Introduce how designs must keep in mind psychology of everyday things and actions

Introduce students to importance of constraints, discoverability, and feedback in design scenarios

Make students think through design principles, and models of designing

Enable students to think about design from various philosophical perspectives

Provide students with an understanding of the influence of humanities as well as the integration of
relevant facets of humanities in the design of artifact thereby making students think about design in a
holistic way
Humanities
• Academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and
culture
• Came from the Latin word HUMANUS meaning human, cultured,
refined.
• Has various connotation depending on the political, economic,
social, artistic and cultural forces that surround the different
historical eras
Humanities – Then and now

• In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred

to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in
universities at the time.
• Today, the humanities are more frequently defined as any fields of
study outside of professional training, mathematics, and the
natural and social sciences.
Humanities and Science
• The humanities use methods that are primarily critical, or
speculative, and have a significant historical elements
• Different from empirical approaches of the natural sciences
• unlike the sciences, it has no central discipline.
• The humanities include the study of ancient and modern
languages, literature, philosophy, history, archaeology,
anthropology, human geography, law, politics, religion, and art.
Humanistic Inquiry
• The humanities and humanistic social sciences are fundamentally
acts of investigation and reflection about different cultures, texts,
and artifacts across space and time. Humanists study the diverse
means by which human beings in every age and culture explore,
understand, and change their world.
• The humanities enable us to think about and think through the
issues that confront us as global citizens of the twenty-first century.
• A Method of research.
Humanistic Inquiry
• Humans are self-reflective
• Humans try to make sense of what it means to be human and how to
relate to one another. We seek to understand ourselves and the world
around us, and always we think about how things could be, or should
be, or might have been.
• Humanistic inquiry is concerns with realms that lie at the heart of what
it means to be a thinking, feeling person, and into realms of
interpretation and analysis beyond what facts and figures alone can
tell us.
Example of Fact Based
(Quantitative)
• Set A of audience were those who exposed to Social Media information on COVID-19.
Set B of audience were those who exposed to Newspaper information on COVID-19.

• H0 – there will be no statistically significant difference in level of awareness between audience

from different experimental groups.
• H1 – The awareness level of Set A is significantly better than those who are in Set B.
• H2 – The awareness level of Set B is significantly better than those who are in Set A.

• Decisions are based on statistically proven data.

Example of quantitative
data
Activity SET SET
A B
• Set A of Audience exposed to Social Media
Information on COVID -19 Washing Hand 400 400
• Set B of Audience exposed to News paper Using Mask 365 358
Information on COVID -19
Maintaining 390 290
Social Distancing
Sharing 380 170
Information
Data Analysis
Groups Awareness Individual
(average) Score (Ex:
Chi Square)
SET A 383.4 0.95
•https://www.calculator.net/
SET B 304.5 0.76
Example of Humanistic Inquiry
• Set A of Audience exposed to Social Media Information on COVID -
19
• Set B of Audience exposed to News paper Information on COVID -
19

• Content Analysis
• Interviews Conducted (Focus Group/Individual)
• Social Media Analysis (User Level)
Example of qualitative data
analysis
• Content Analysis of the media selected:

• Social Media Post (Semiotics, Design, Message)

• Newspaper Report (Readability, Language, Effectiveness)

Results are interpreted based on available theory/local knowledge.

Subjective Bias needs to be overcome.
Branches of knowledge

NATURAL SOCIAL HUMANITIES

SCIENCES SCIENCES
 Nature – natural sciences –
technology – transformation of
nature
Practical Society – social sciences
Extension – politics – transformation of
society
Culture – human sciences
– culturonics – transformation of
culture
 Historically, liberal arts deals
with desire for a universal
understanding.
Liberal
Arts –
Historical Branches of Liberal Arts:
astronomy, mathematics,
geometry, and music, public
speaking, rhetoric, grammar,
and dialectic (logic)
 The modern use of the term liberal arts consists
of four areas: the natural sciences, social
sciences, arts, and humanities.

Liberal
Arts –
Academic areas that are associated with the
term liberal arts include:

Modern • Life sciences (biology, ecology, neuroscience)

• Physical science (physics, astronomy, chemistry, physical
geography)
• Logic, mathematics, statistics, computer science
• Philosophy
• History
• Social science (anthropology, economics, human
geography, linguistics, political science, jurisprudence,
psychology, and sociology)
• Creative arts (fine arts, music, performing arts, literature)
Liberal Arts and
Technology
Importance of Humanities in
Engineering
• Personal Development
• Societal Progress
• Skill Enhancement
• Understanding Global Culture
Design
Thinking
Design
Thinking
Design thinking is a methodology which
provides a solution-based approach to solving
problems.
Design Thinking
• Design Thinking is an iterative process in which we
seek to understand the user, challenge
assumptions, and redefine problems to identify
alternative strategies and solutions that might not
be instantly apparent with our initial level of
understanding.
• Design Thinking provides a solution-based
approach to solving problems. It is a way of
thinking and working as well as a collection of
hands-on methods.
Design Thinking
• Design thinking has been central to user-centered design
and human-centered design—the dominant methods of
designing human-computer interfaces—for over four
decades.
• Design thinking is also central to recent conceptions of
software development in general
Five Stages of Design Thinking
• Empathize: research your users' needs.
• Define: state your users' needs and problems.
• Ideate: challenge assumptions and create ideas.
• Prototype: start to create solutions.
• Test: try your solutions out.
Philosophy
of Design
 What is Philosophy of design?

The central idea of design.

Different approaches to the same

problem.
Definitions of design, and the
assumptions, foundations, and
implications of design.
Philosop
The main philosophy behind all of the
engineering and engineering design activities
is to serve the people, society and mankind.

hy of This is why the engineering design is defined as

Engineeri
an activity to satisfy a need.

ng A need is real only if it is defined and identified

Design
by a human.

Needs whether factual or fancied, moral or

amoral, present or future, important or
unimportant, have been and are the starting
points in engineering design.
 Engineers and designers are at

Starting
service of the mankind.

Points of
Design Needs whether factual or
fancied, moral or amoral,
present or future, important or
unimportant, have been and
are starting points in
engineering design.
Engineering design
• Engineering design is a unique
activity where a physical design
artifact is created from an
abstract need after human
imagination.
• Although the methodology is
dependent on the particular
design need, all of the
engineering design activities
have some common
engineering features.
 Engineering design is densely creative
at the beginning, and significance of
creativity decreases towards the end
of the process,

Engineeri Engineering design is iterative during

the whole design process both at
ng design macro scale and at element scale,

Engineering design is methodological

(productive) towards the end of the
design process.
 The stage and level of
industrialization of the society is a
factor in design.

Issues to The social traditions.

remembe
r in any
Sophistication and complexity of the
design product.

design Intended lifetime.

Economical conditions, Geographical

and climatic conditions.
 Design should not violate scientific
rules.

Factors Design should be economical.

for
Designin
Design should be compatible to
psychology and ergonomics.

g Design must satisfy requirements

stated in standards, laws, regulations.

Level of education and capabilities of

the user, production facilities.
 Factors for
Designing
all of the possible severe environmental conditions.
 Different
Philosophies of
Design
 The design should be natural.

Make your
design
Designers should observe
users’ subconscious behavior

instinctive
and how they typically
engage with digital products.

Only then can they design

solutions that users can
interact with instinctively.
Make Promotes simplicity,
functionality and nature.

things to
last, One should be in harmony

don’t
with his or her environment,
and things should be made to

replace
last rather than be replaced.

them Scandinavian minimalism

principles of design are
characterized by clean lines
and block colors.
 Anything that exists only
to satisfy the ego of the

Designer designer must be

eliminated.
s are not
users To avoid designing with
bias and really improve
the user experience,
designers need to get to
know their users.
 Designs are driven by the purpose of
the object, rather than its aesthetics

Function Seeking to achieve design purity

over
through reduction and restraint.

form
“good design emphasizes the
usefulness of a product while
disregarding anything that could
possibly detract from it.”

No matter how pixel-perfect your

interface, you need to make sure
that it works
Good With a good design, the user
engages with a selection of
design features that allow them to

should be
reach their end goal easily.

experienc “ It’s like an air conditioner in a

ed and conference room. Nobody ever

not seen
interrupts our meetings to tell
us how comfortable the
temperature is. They don’t
even notice.”
 Lecture 2
The Psychopathology of
Everyday Things
Dr. Nithin Kalorth
Read • Chapter 1 of Norman, Donald A. 2014.
The Design of Everyday Things, Revised
and Expanded Edition. New York: Basic
Books.
Manufactured • Large numbers of manufactured items
around us as intend to make our life easy and

items around pleasant.

• All devices are supposed to provide better

us output, save time and fast in nature.

• But why
• Most of the features of device unused?
• We need special workforce to use it?
• We need training or manual to use or
operate it?
• Frustrations of Everyday life
Design should • Simple to use

be: • Simple to understand

• Also powerful in function

• Labels, instruction manuals and

training will not help or patch up a
bad design.
• Useability and Understandability is
more important that appearance.
The debate
Human Error or Faulty Design?
Unworkable, outrageous and ill informed design
Everyday Life • Human mind make sense of the
world.
• Well designed objects are easy to
use.
• They contain visible cues to operate.
• Poorly designed objects are difficult
to use or frustrating.
• They come with no cues or false
cues.
Psychopathol • We are surrounded by many everyday things
that have poor usability

ogy of • Using a microwave

• Telephone features we can’t remember

Everyday how to use

• How to change the remote access

Things code?
• Photocopiers and fax machines
• Face down or face up?
• Many of these things can be difficult to
interpret and frustrating to use if they provide
no clues or false clues as to how they operate
Why is • poor usability results in
• anger and frustration
usability • decreased productivity in the
important? workplace
• higher error rates
• physical and emotional injury
• equipment damage
• loss of customer loyalty
• costs money
What is
Usability is a measure of the
usability? effectiveness, efficiency and
satisfaction with which specified
users can achieve specified goals
in a particular environment.
Examples of Poor
Design
• Trapped between doors!
• Handles afford pulling
• Using a flat plate would constrain the
user to push
Norman • The Norman door is basically any door that's confusing or difficult

Doors – Push
to use.
• Watch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY96hTb8WgI
or Pull??
Temperature Control
Norman’s • Make things visible

Principles of • Provide a good conceptual

model
Good Design • Affordance
• Mapping
• Constraints
• Feedback
Visibility • The correct parts must be visible and they must convey the
correct message
• Natural signals are naturally interpreted
• Visibility problems occur when clues are lacking or exist in
excess
• Just by looking the user should know
• State of the system
• Possible actions
• Don’t violate these principles to make something “look
good”!
How fast are
we going?
Good • A good conceptual model allows us
to predict the effects of our actions
Conceptual • Without a good model we operate

Model blindly
• Simply follow rules without
understanding a reason
• No understanding of cause or
effect
• No recourse when something
breaks
Affordances • The affordances of an object
determine, naturally, how it can be
used
• Button affords pushing
• Handle affords grasping
• Chair affords sitting
• Knob affords turning
• Just by looking at the object, a user
should know how to use it
• Example: The doors with handles
to push, mop sink
Mapping • Controls and displays should exploit
natural mapping
• Natural mapping takes advantage
of physical analogies and cultural
standards
• Physical: Steering wheel
• Cultural: red means stop, green
means go
Constraints

• Constraints limit the ways in which

something can be used
• Constraints can be
• Physical
• Semantic
• Cultural
• Logical
Feedback • Feedback is sending back to the
user information about what action
has actually been done
• Visibility of the effects of the
operation tell you if something
worked correctly
• Systems should be designed to
provide adequate feedback to the
users to ensure they know what to
do next in their tasks
Feedback • Telephone button press tones

Examples
• Telephone clicks
• Rice cooker goes “bing!”
• Clicker on your turn signal
• Animated icon while waiting for
a web page to load
 Norman’s Principles in Software

Visibility Affordance Mapping

• Visibility of the • If it looks like a • Clicking on a
tasks the button it can be particular
interface pressed, if it is a interface
supports underlined it can element
• Communication be clicked (web) produces
of system state / expected effect
mode (under F)ile
should be
O)pen)
 Norman’s Principles in Software
Constraints Feedback
• Constraining search • Providing clear and
criteria, graying out immediate feedback
menu items that don’t for each user action
apply in a particular
context
Larson’s dog effect
 Same with Software
Thank you for registering! We appreciate your business.
To activate your software, you will be sent an email key.
After you have received the key then you will be able to
click here and you can then proceed with the activation
process.

Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
click here blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah
Summary

If there are usability

Usability problems
problems in
can be overcome
everyday “simple”
Usability problems through attention
things, the
are common to design and
challenge is 100-
addressing studies
fold for complex
from HCI
software
 Lecture 3
The Psychology of
Everyday Actions
Nithin Kalorth
Read

• Chapter 2 of Norman, Donald A. 2014. The Design of Everyday

Things, Revised and Expanded Edition. New York: Basic Books.
 Assignment 1 Brief
• Topic: Select any 2 devices used in kitchen (one old and
one new) of your choice. Explain the differences in both
devices in terms of technology, design, usability and
functionality in 500 words or 5 slides (submit in PDF)

• Deadline: 17/08/2024
Paradox of technology

• Technology makes life easier and more enjoyable?

• New technology gives increased benefits?
• Added complexities?
So what is the
paradox?

• The same technology that simplifies life by providing more

functions in each device also complicating life by making the
device harder to learn, harder to use, This is the paradox of
technology.
 Faulty Design
Or
Human Stupidity?
People Do Make Errors
• If error is possible, someone will make it.
• Complex designs/devises need instructions to avoid/reduce confusion.
• Designers should make error free at free of cost.
Is there something called a good
error?
Provide examples?
 If error happens,
1. Errors should be easy to detect.
2. Errors should have minimal consequence.
3. The effects of error should be reversable.
 Misconception of Everyday Life
• Dealing with unfamiliar circumstances.
• Misconception is related to how we or how much we understand.
• It depends on how we raised up and how we learned from our environment.
• Role of scientific and critical thinking.
• Asking questions.
• Example: Aristotle's Naive Physics
Answer these
Learned Helplessness
• People experience failure at a task
• often numerous times ⇒ conclude that they simply cannot do the task; they
are helpless
• Self Blame
Taught Helplessness
• Failure at a task ⇒ generalization of failure at all tasks ⇒ not even trying at a
task ⇒ failure at a task
Gulf of execution and gulf of
evaluation
• People who attempt to use a device/design face two "gulfs" they must
bridge:
• the gulf of execution in which they try to figure out what to do
• the gulf of evaluation where they try to understand what happened as a
result of an action they took.
 Gulf of execution and gulf of evaluation

•Evaluation: Understanding the state of the system

•Execution: Taking action to accomplish a specific goal
Bridge
Seven Stages of Action
Goals of Action

1. Goal - The user is aware of something he wishes to achieve

2. Plan - The user has a vague sense of what he needs to do it
3. Specify - The user understands the actions they must do
4. Perform - The user undertakes the actions
5. Perceive - The user recognizes the change in the device
6. Interpret - The user recognizes the practical change
7. Compare - The user compares the outcome with his goal
Norman’s
Principles • Make things visible
of Good • Provide a good conceptual model
Design • Affordance
• Mapping
• Constraints
• Feedback
Human cognition

• Human cognition is permeated by self-control: the ability to

engage in complex, goal-oriented behaviors rather than just react
to the moment at hand.
Lecture 4
The Psychology of
Everyday Actions - II
Dr. Nithin Kalorth
 Assignment 1 Brief
• Topic: Select any 2devices used in kitchen (one old and
one new) of your choice. Explain the differences in both
devices in terms of technology, design, usability and
functionality in 500 words or 5 slides (submit in PDF)

• Deadline: 12/03/2024
“The hardest part of design is
deciding what to design”.
Readings for
the Lecture

• Chapter 2 of Norman, Donald

A. 2014. The Design of
Everyday Things
• Chapter 1 and 2 of Norman,
Donald A.2004. Emotional
Design: Why We Love (or Hate)
Everyday Things.
The Seven Stages of Action
1.Goal (form the goal)
2.Plan (the action)
3.Specify (an action sequence)
4.Perform (the action sequence)
5.Perceive (the state of the world)
6.Interpret (the perception)
7.Compare (the outcome with the goal)
https://medium.com/
Subconscious • Not all of the activity in the stages is
conscious. Goals tend to be, but even they may be
Mind subconscious.
• The action cycle can start from:
• The top — establishing a new goal, in which
case we call it goal-driven behavior. merge
with below
• The bottom — triggered by some event in the
world (data-driven or event-driven behavior)
• The seven stages provide a guideline for
developing new products or services.
• The gulfs are obvious places to start, for either
gulf, whether of execution or evaluation, is an
opportunity for product enhancement.
Human Thought: Mostly Subconscious
• Declarative memory — memory for factual information
Human Thought: Procedural memory — could be factual,
Mostly
•
but usually recalling activities like how to

Subconscious open a door

 • Cognition and emotion cannot be
Cognition and separated.

Emotion • Cognitive thoughts lead to emotions:

emotions drive cognitive thoughts.
thinkpsych.com
 • Everyone creates a story.
• Everyone finds or create an explanation to

People as his or her action.

Storytellers
• Everyone forms stories (conceptual
models) to explain what they have
observed.
• Stories tells how we see, feel and operate
in the designed world.
 • Stories enable us to understand and
remember in a way that a simple
recitation of facts or a bulleted list of
statistics simply doesn’t.
• This is because stories don’t just provide
The power of story information, they are also a vehicle for
emotions.
• We often consider stories entertainment
because they make us laugh, cry, and
scream—and it’s these emotional
experiences that make stories resonate
with us.
 • To fail is to learn: we learn more from our
failures than from our successes.

Positive Psychology • Eliminate all error messages from

electronic or computer systems.
Instead, provide help and guidance.
 • Human error usually is a result of poor
design: it should be called system error.
• If a person performs an inappropriate
action, the design should maximise the
chance that this can be discovered and
then rectified.
Falsely Blaming • This requires good, intelligible
Yourself feedback coupled with a simple, clear
conceptual model.
• When people understand what has
happened, what state the system is in,
and what the most appropriate set of
actions is, they can perform their activities
more effectively.
Revisiting The Seven Stages of Action
1.Goal (form the goal)
2.Plan (the action)
3.Specify (an action sequence)
4.Perform (the action sequence)
5.Perceive (the state of the world)
6.Interpret (the perception)
7.Compare (the outcome with the goal)
The Seven Stages of Action
1.Goal (form the goal) - What do I want to accomplish?
2.Plan (the action) - What are the alternative action sequences?
3.Specify (an action sequence) - What action can I do now?
4.Perform (the action sequence) - How do I do it?
5.Perceive (the state of the world) - What happened?
6.Interpret (the perception) - What does it mean?
7.Compare (the outcome with the goal) - Have I accomplished my goal?
Feedforward and Feedback
• The information that helps answer questions of execution (doing) is feedforward.
• The information that aids in understanding what has happened is feedback.
Seven fundamental principles of
design

Discoverabili Feedback Conceptual Affordances

ty model

Signifiers Mappings Constraints

Why do designers need principles?
• Design principles are aimed at helping designers find ways to enhance usability,
influence perception, increase appeal, teach users, and make sound design decisions
during projects.
• Design principles are a compass that helps you make design decisions throughout your
projects.
• The designer has the challenge of communicating their intent on how to use a product
in the most correct and efficient way.
1st principle of design - Discoverability

DISCOVERABILITY IT IS POSSIBLE TO DETERMINE

WHAT ACTIONS ARE POSSIBLE AND
THE CURRENT STATE OF THE
DEVICE.
2 principle of design - Feedback
nd

Feedback
There is full and continuous information about
the results of actions and the current state of the
product or service.
After an action has been executed, it is easy to
determine the new state.
3rd principle of design - Conceptual model

The design projects

all the information
The conceptual
needed to create a
model enhances
good conceptual
Conceptual model model of the
both discoverability
and evaluation of
system, leading to
results.
understanding and
a feeling of control.
 4th principle of design - Affordances

Affordances

The proper affordances exist to

make the desired actions possible.
5th principle of design - Signifiers

Effective use of
signifiers
ensures
discoverability
Signifiers and that the
feedback is well
communicated
and intelligible.
6th principle of design - Mappings

The relationship
between controls
and their actions
follows the principles
Mappings of good mapping,
enhanced as much
as possible through
spatial layout and
temporal contiguity.
7th principle of design - Constraints

Constraints Providing physical, logical, semantic, and

cultural constraints guides actions and
eases interpretation.
Don Norman on his Principles of
Design

• “The designs of our products and services must also follow this philosophy. So, to
the designers who are reading this, let me give some advice”
• Do not blame people when they fail to use your products properly.
• Take people’s difficulties as signifiers of where the product can be improved.
• Eliminate all error messages from electronic or computer systems. Instead, provide help and
guidance.
• Make it possible to correct problems directly from help and guidance messages.
• Allow people to continue with their task: Don’t impede progress — help make it smooth and
continuous. Never make people start over.
• Assume that what people have done is partially correct, so if it is inappropriate, provide the
guidance that allows them to correct the problem and be on their way.
• Think positively, for yourself and for the people you interact with.
 Case Study

https://uxdesign.cc/ux-psychology-principles-normans-design-fundamentals-in-practice-and-beyond-
c09e95b6864d
 Lecture 5
Knowledge in the Head and the
world - I
Recap:
Seven fundamental principles of design

Discoverabili Feedback Conceptual Affordances

ty model

Signifiers Mappings Constraints

Recap:
Revisiting The Seven Stages of Action
1.Goal (form the goal)
2.Plan (the action)
3.Specify (an action sequence)
4.Perform (the action sequence)
5.Perceive (the state of the world)
6.Interpret (the perception)
7.Compare (the outcome with the goal)
Designer should study people

• Need to take care user’s interest and needs before designing.

• Test your design – not listen to your instincts.
• Love your design but understand the future user.
• Success of a design/product lies on how user using it – not how
you (designer) designing it.
Human
Knowledge
and Memory
Precise behavior of Human
• Not all the knowledge required for precise behavior has to
be in the head. It can be distributed - partly in the head,
partly in the world, and partly in the constraints of the world
Constraints in Design
• Don Norman on using constraints :
"Providing physical, logical, semantic,
and cultural constraints guides actions
and eases interpretation." Sometimes
natural constraints exist that keep you
from performing the wrong action.
Knowledge in the head +
knowledge in the world =
performance
Precise Behavior from Imprecise
Knowledge
1. Information in the world
2. Great precision is not required
3. Natural Constraints are present
4. Cultural Constraints are present

(T1, page no: 55)

People function through two knowledge

KNOWLEDGE OF KNOWLEDGE
HOW
Knowledge of (Declarative
Knowledge)

• Knowledge of is knowing some fact.

• The world is full of people who ‘know’ stuff. These are the people that can
recite facts.
• They know what something is called. They know the ten ways to write. They
know calculus. But they often have difficulty understanding these things at a
deeper level. Often, they are domain dependent.
• That is, they know something only in the context in which they learned it and
experience difficulty applying it outside of that context.
• We often end up knowing what something is called without really
understanding. This is the illusion of knowledge.
 Knowledge of - Example

STOPPING AT RED HOW FAR IS 9 TO 5 WORKING GEAR SYSTEM IN

LIGHT BEACH/RIVER FROM HOURS AUTOMOBILE
MY HOME
Knowledge how (Procedural
Knowledge)

• Procedural knowledge is difficult or impossible to write down and difficult to

teach.
• It is best taught by demonstration and best learned through practice.
• Even the best teachers cannot usually describe what they are doing.
• Procedural knowledge is largely subconscious.
Knowledge how – Example
• Perform music
• Parking car in narrow space
• To play a Googly smartly
• Pronounce words properly
Structure of Memory

87, 2, 4, 12, 13, 123

Structure of Memory

Can you repeat the numbers

Structure of Memory

New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata

Structure of Memory

Can you repeat the cities

Structure of Memory

Britannia, Nike, Axis Bank, IRCTC

Structure of Memory

Can you repeat the brands

Short Term
and Long
Term
Memory
Memory = Retrieving information
Class exercise
• List out of 5 things which you never forget?
• List out of 5 things which you often forget?
 Lecture 6
Knowledge in the Head and the
world - II
 External Knowledge is very
valuable – it has wide
Memory possibilities and scope.
is also Drawback – you have be
Knowledg present there in appropriate
e in the time.
world If you miss, its your loss.
 Interplay between Knowledge in the head
and knowledge in the world.
Two types of reminding: Signal and Message

Knowing that something to be remembered

Remindin
g Remembering what is it

Signal: Something to be remembered

Message: What it is?

 Diary
Alarm
Reminder
Devices Push Notification
Calendars
Applications
The Trade-off Between
Knowledge in the World and
in the Head
• Knowledge in the world and knowledge in the head
are both essential in our daily functioning.
• But to some extent we can choose to lean more
heavily on one or the other.
• That choice requires a tradeoff, gaining the
advantages of knowledge in the world means losing
the advantages of knowledge in the head.
Constraints simplify
memory
Memorizing a poem with rhyme, not
words
Poems are recreated – not memorised

Reassembling a device

Cultural Constraints
Mapping
Combination of Knowledge in the head and
Knowledge in the world.

Mapping is basically the relationship between two

sets of things. Basically, which control is connected
to what action on the product.
In the best possible scenario, there would be no
need for labels for which control works which
function, because it would be based on natural
mapping.
Natural Mapping
• Mappings where the relationship between the
controlled and the object to be controlled is obvious
Advices for Mapping
(arranged in decreasing effectiveness as memory
aids)
Best Mapping: Controls are mounted
directly on the item to be controlled.

Second - best mapping: Controls are

as close as possible to be object to be
controlled.
Third-best mapping: Controls are
arranged in the same spatial
configuration as the objects to be
controlled.
Good natural mapping: relationship
of controls completely contained in
world; load on human memory is much
reduced
Bad mapping: Burden is placed upon
memory, leading to more mental effort
and a higher chance of error.
Industrial settings: Good mapping is
of special importance
Culture and Design
Standardization vs. Localization

Technology dictates the activity. In

turn, the activity dictates the design.
When the design is appropriate for
the technology, people accept it,
regardless of culture.
Critical characteristics of design that need attention in a cultural
context:
• Language, which is a distinctive aspect of different cultures, which when moved to the online
domain presents its own challenges of quality of translation, representation and stylistic
elements.
• Layout that serves as a communication bridge between the user and the system, it involves
placement of banners, menu items, orientation, amongst others.
• Symbols refer to “metaphors” denoting actions for the user and vary from culture to culture.
They may be icons used for currencies, locations, and other navigational elements.
• Content or structure, referring information or features that the site offers and its
organization.
• Navigation that is easy to use and facilitates access to information.
• Multimedia, including video, animation, images and sound.
• Color – where color semiotics varies across cultures and can impact user expectations.

Cyr (2004)
 Does Culture
Matter for Product
Design?
Class Activity

• Analyse websites and social media pages of HCL and other Indian IT companies and try to understand how
culture of that company is resulted in design of webpage or social media page. You may use following points to
analyse:

• Language, which is a distinctive aspect of different cultures, which when moved to the online domain presents
its own challenges of quality of translation, representation and stylistic elements.
• Layout that serves as a communication bridge between the user and the system, it involves placement of
banners, menu items, orientation, amongst others.
• Symbols refer to “metaphors” denoting actions for the user and vary from culture to culture. They may be icons
used for currencies, locations, and other navigational elements.
• Content or structure, referring information or features that the site offers and its organization.
• Navigation that is easy to use and facilitates access to information.
• Multimedia, including video, animation, images and sound.
• Color – where color semiotics varies across cultures and can impact user expectations.
Lecture 7
Knowing What to Do:
Constraints, Discoverability, and
Feedback
Exercise for the class
• In comment box, explain in simple words, what do you
mean by Humanities and Design.
 How do we
determine
how to
operate
something
that we have
never seen
before?
• We have no choice but to combine knowledge in the world
with that in the head.
 • Humans have choice to operate
only if possibilities are available.
Choice and • Limited options provide limited

Possibilitie
operation and limited error.
• Humans operate or approach a

s
new design / product with
knowledge in the Head and
Knowledge in the World.
 • Knowledge in the world includes
perceived affordances and
signifiers, the mappings between
the parts that appear to be controls

What we or places to manipulate and the

resulting actions, and the physical

saw last
constraints that limit what can be
done.

weeks?
• Knowledge in the head includes
conceptual models; cultural,
semantic, and logical constraints
on behavior; and analogies
between the current situation and
previous experiences with other
situations.
Four Kinds of
• Physical
• Cultural

Constraints • Semantic
• Logical
 • Design constraints are conditions
that need to happen for a project

Constraint
to be successful.
• Design constraints help narrow

s in Design
choices when creating a project.
• Design constraints can feel like a
negative thing sometimes, but they
help shape the project to fit the
exact needs of the client.
 • Physical limitations constrain
possible operations.
• The value of physical constraints is

Physical that they rely upon properties of

the physical world for their

Constraint
operation; no special training is
necessary.

s
• With the proper use of physical
constraints, there should be only a
limited number of possible actions
—or, at least, desired actions can
be made obvious, usually by being
especially salient.
Physical constraints are made more effective and useful if
they are easy to see and interpret, for then the set of
actions is restricted before anything has been done.

Otherwise, a physical constraint prevents a wrong action

from succeeding only after it has been tried.
 • Each culture has a set of
allowable actions for social
situations.
• Cultural issues are at the
Cultural root of many of the
problems we have with new
Constrains machines: there are as yet
no universally accepted
conventions or customs for
dealing with them.
 • Semantics is the study of
meaning.

Semantic • Semantic constraints are

those that rely upon the
Constrains meaning of the situation to
control the set of possible
actions.
 • Limit the possibility of

Logical operations through logic

• Require a spatial or
Constrains functional correlation;
natural mapping is an
example
Example of Constrains from Lego
 • To inform user it worked or not.
• If worked, what next?

Feedback • If not, what went wrong?

• Troubleshooting
• Sound based Feedback
 • Discoverability, in the context of product
and design, is the degree of ease with which
the user can find all the elements and
features of a new system when they first
encounter it.
• That ability is an important consideration in
user interface and user experience design
for hardware devices, software applications
Discoverability and websites.
• Discoverability is one component of
learnability, a measure of how easily
someone can find, access and make use of
the components and features of a new
system.
• Learnability, in turn, is an element of
usability, which is an assessment of a
product's potential to accomplish the goals
of the user.
Lecture 8
Human Error or Bad
Design?
Part 1
Nithin Kalorth
Mid Term Exam
• 5 questions of 6 marks each
• Answer in your own words with help of lecture slides and
readings.
• Use of any AI tool is not allowed.
• Provide examples and illustrations as needed.
Most industrial accidents are caused by human error: estimates
range between 75 and 95 percent.

How is it that so many people are so incompetent?

Answer: They aren’t. It’s a design problem.

Human Error and
Blame Game
Understanding Why There Is Error
• Physical limitations are well understood by designers;
mental limitations are greatly misunderstood.
• We should treat all failures in the same way: find the
fundamental causes and redesign the system so that these
can no longer lead to problems.
Understanding Why There Is Error
• Error occurs for many reasons.
• The most common is in the nature of the tasks and
procedures that require people to behave in unnatural ways
—staying alert for hours at a time, providing precise,
accurate control specifications, all the while multitasking,
doing several things at once, and subjected to multiple
interfering activities.
Root Cause Analysis
• Root cause analysis (RCA) is the process of discovering the root causes
of problems in order to identify appropriate solutions.

• Analysis to understand why the error occurred, and what can be done
to prevent it.

• The main problem in RCA is that it only presupposes i.e. assume and
focus only one root cause of defect. But in reality, situation can be
more complex. There might be more than one root cause of defect.
So, one needs to focus on all aspects related to defect and need to
think about all root cause of defect.
Five whys
• Five whys (or 5 whys) is an iterative interrogative technique
used to explore the cause-and-effect relationships
underlying a particular problem.
• The primary goal of the technique is to determine the root
cause of a defect or problem by repeating the question
"Why?". Each answer forms the basis of the next question.
Five whys
• The "five" in the name derives from an anecdotal
observation on the number of iterations needed to resolve
the problem. Not all problems have a single root cause.
• If one wishes to uncover multiple root causes, the method
must be repeated asking a different sequence of questions
each time. The method provides no hard and fast rules
about what lines of questions to explore, or how long to
continue the search for additional root causes.
• Thus, even when the method is closely followed, the
outcome still depends upon the knowledge and persistence
of the people involved.
Example
• The vehicle will not start.
1.Why? – The battery is dead. (First why)
2.Why? – The alternator is not functioning. (Second why)
3.Why? – The alternator belt has broken. (Third why)
4.Why? – The alternator belt was well beyond its useful service
life and not replaced. (Fourth why)
5.Why? – The vehicle was not maintained according to the
recommended service schedule. (Fifth why, a root cause) [2]
Admitting Problem
Asking How?
Deliberate
Violations
Two types of Errors
(by British psychologist James Reason and Don Norman)

Slips Mistakes
• Error - Human error is defined as any deviance from
“appropriate” behavior.
• Slip - A slip occurs when a person intends to do one action
and ends up doing something else. With a slip, the action
performed is not the same as the action that was intended.
• Mistake - A mistake occurs when the wrong goal is
established or the wrong plan is formed. From that point on,
even if the actions are executed properly they are part of the
error,
Social and Institutional Pressures
• Complex problem-solving is required when one is faced with
knowledge-based problems. In some cases, it can take
teams of people days to understand what is wrong and the
best ways to respond.
• A subtle issue that seems to figure in many accidents is
social pressure. Although at first it may not seem relevant to
design, it has strong influence on everyday behavior. In
industrial settings, social pressures can lead to
misinterpretation, mistakes, and accidents.
Uses of Checklist
• Checklists are powerful tools, proven to increase the
accuracy of behavior and to reduce error, particularly slips
and memory lapses.
• They are especially important in situations with multiple,
complex requirements, and even more so where there are
interruptions.
 Lecture 9:
Human Error or Bad Design?
- Part 2
Dr. Nithin Kalorth
Two types of Errors
(by British psychologist James Reason and Don Norman)

Slips Mistakes
• Error - Human error is defined as any deviance from
“appropriate” behavior.
• Slip - A slip occurs when a person intends to do one action
and ends up doing something else. With a slip, the action
performed is not the same as the action that was intended.
• Mistake - A mistake occurs when the wrong goal is
established or the wrong plan is formed. From that point on,
even if the actions are executed properly they are part of the
error,
Social and Institutional Pressures
• Complex problem-solving is required when one is faced with
knowledge-based problems. In some cases, it can take
teams of people days to understand what is wrong and the
best ways to respond.
• A subtle issue that seems to figure in many accidents is
social pressure. Although at first it may not seem relevant to
design, it has strong influence on everyday behavior. In
industrial settings, social pressures can lead to
misinterpretation, mistakes, and accidents.
Uses of Checklist
• Checklists are powerful tools, proven to increase the
accuracy of behavior and to reduce error, particularly slips
and memory lapses.
• They are especially important in situations with multiple,
complex requirements, and even more so where there are
interruptions.
Reporting Error
• If errors can be caught, then many of the problems they
might lead to can often be avoided.
• But not all errors are easy to detect.
• Moreover, social pressures often make it difficult for people
to admit to their own errors (or to report the errors of
others). If people report their own errors, they might be
fined or punished.
CASE STUDY:
JIDOKA—HOW TOYOTA HANDLES
ERROR
• Key principles is a philosophy called Jidoka, which Toyota
says is “roughly translated as ‘automation with a human
touch.’’

• If a worker notices something wrong, the worker is

supposed to report it, sometimes even stopping the entire
assembly line if a faulty part is about to proceed to the next
station.
• Poka-yoke translates as “error proofing” or “avoiding error.”
One of the techniques of poka-yoke is to add simple fixtures,
jigs, or devices to constrain the operations so that they are
correct.
Detecting Error
• Errors do not necessarily lead to harm if they are discovered
quickly. The different categories of errors have differing
ease of discovery.
• In general, action slips are relatively easy to discover;
mistakes, much more difficult.
• Action slips are relatively easy to detect because it is usually
easy to notice a discrepancy between the intended act and
the one that got performed.
• But this detection can only take place if there is feedback.
• Memory-lapse slips are difficult to detect precisely because
there is nothing to see. With a memory slip, the required
action is not performed.
• When no action is done, there is nothing to detect.
• It is only when the lack of action allows some unwanted
event to occur that there is hope of detecting a memory-
lapse slip.
Designing for Error
• It is relatively easy to design for the situation where
everything goes well, where people use the device in the
way that was intended, and no unforeseen events occur.
• The tricky part is to design for when things go wrong.
What to do?
• Understand the causes of error and design to minimize those
causes.
• Do sensibility checks. Does the action pass the “common sense”
test?
• Make it possible to reverse actions—to “undo” them—or make it
harder to do what cannot be reversed.
• Make it easier for people to discover the errors that do occur,
and make them easier to correct.
• Don’t treat the action as an error; rather, try to help the person
complete the action properly. Think of the action as an
approximation to what is desired.
Swiss cheese model (James Reason)
• Fortunately, most errors do not lead to accidents. Accidents
often have numerous contributing causes, no single one of
which is the root cause of the incident.

• "Swiss cheese model" to illustrate how analyses of major

accidents and catastrophic systems failures tend to reveal
multiple, smaller failures leading up to the actual hazard.
• In the model, each slice of cheese represents a safety
barrier or precaution relevant to a particular hazard.
Reducing Errors
• Add more slices of cheese.
• Reduce the number of holes (or make the existing holes
smaller).
• Alert the human operators when several holes have lined
up.
When Good Design Isn’t Enough
• Good Design; Bad Users.
• Good Car will lead to accident if driver is drunk or driver is
sleep deprived.
• High Tech planes – pilot with no skills??
• Good computer program – person with no language skills??
• Good video game – player with no interest?
Resilience Engineering
• Resilience engineering is a paradigm for safety
management that focuses on how to help people cope with
complexity under pressure to achieve success.
The Paradox of Automation
• Machines are getting smarter. More and more tasks are
becoming fully automated. As this happens, there is a
tendency to believe that many of the difficulties involved
with human control will go away.

• Driver less cars are best example.

Design Principles for Dealing with
Error
• People are flexible, versatile, and creative. Machines are
rigid, precise, and relatively fixed in their operations.
• There is a mismatch between the two, one that can lead to
enhanced capability if used properly.
• Think of an electronic calculator. It doesn’t do mathematics
like a person, but can solve problems people can’t.
• Moreover, calculators do not make errors. So, the human
plus calculator is a perfect collaboration:
• Difficulties arise when we do not think of people and
machines as collaborative systems, but assign whatever
tasks can be automated to the machines and leave the rest
to people.
• This ends up requiring people to behave in machine like
fashion, in ways that differ from human capabilities.
Key Principles
Key Principles
Key Principles
Final word on Human Error
• What we call “human error” is often simply a human action
that is inappropriate for the needs of technology. As a
result, it flags a deficit in our technology. It should not be
thought of as error. We should eliminate the concept of
error: instead, we should realize that people can use
assistance in translating their goals and plans into the
appropriate form for technology.
 Lecture 10
Emotional Design
Dr. Nithin Kalorth
Emotional Design
Components of Product Design
• Usability
• Aesthetics
• Practicality
Factors for Designers
• The choice of material
• The manufacturing method
• Product Marketing
• Cost and Practicality
• How easy to use or understand the product
Major Argument by Don Norman
• Emotional Side of a Design may be more critical to product’s
success than its practical elements.
Emotional Design
• Emotional design is the concept of how to create designs that
evoke emotions which result in positive user experiences.

• Emotional Design is Design that Anticipates and Accommodates

Users’ Needs and Responses

• “Everything has a personality: everything sends an emotional signal.

Even where this was not the intention of the designer, the people who
view the website infer personalities and experience emotions.”
— Don Norman
Aesthetics and Culture
• Aesthetic Preferences are culturally dependent.

• Aesthetic Tradition

• Action - oriented - don't care about beauty

• Connection between beauty and function?

Evolution of Affect, Emotion and
Cognition
• Cognition interprets the world - leading to increased
understanding and knowledge.

• Affect - includes emotion - judging what's good or bad, safe

or dangerous
Three levels of Processing
• These are response mechanisms that analyse and generate
physical responses.
• Each of the 3 levels of design (Visceral, behavioural and
reflective) play its part in shaping the experience of use.
• Each is as important as the others, but each requires a
different approach by the designer.
Visceral:
• People learn sometimes to overcome the visceral response
of the body (to be in noisy places, to eat spicy food, etc.)
when for instance a thing is viscerally negative, but
reflectively positive (i.e. to ride a roller-coaster in an
amusement parks).
• Effective visceral design requires the skills of the visual and
graphic artists and industrial engineers.
Behavioral:
• What matters here is function, understandability, usability
and physically feel. When designing for the behavioral level,
the hardest is to understand the unarticulated needs of the
user, because they don’t know what they need.
• Observation is the appropriate type of research for this
situation, instead of focus groups, questionnaires or surveys
which rely to much on the user opinion.
Reflective
• There is nothing practical or biological about the this level.
Attractiveness is to visceral, what beauty is to reflective.
Beauty comes from conscious, it looks below the surface.
• The overall impact of a product comes through reflection
(again, the example of the roller coaster), that is why
costumer relationship plays a mayor role in the reflective
level.
Three levels of Processing
Multiple Faces of Emotion and
Design
• The visceral is a biological level that reacts to certain things like temperature,
shapes, lightning, textures, smells, etc. It is about appearance and touch and
feel.
• Behavioural and reflective level are directly affected by culture.
• Behavioural is about function, performance and usability, whilst reflective is
about interpretation, understanding and reasoning.
• The question is how to combine these 3 levels or 3 designs in one product.
There is no clear answer to that question but it should be take into
consideration that no product will never satisfy everyone.
• Products must be attractive and pleasurable but also effective,
understandable and appropriately priced. Products must strive for balance
among the 3 levels.
Multiple Faces of Emotion and
Design
• The question is how to combine these 3 levels or 3 designs
in one product. There is no clear answer to that question but
it should be take into consideration that no product will
never satisfy everyone.
• Products must be attractive and pleasurable but also
effective, understandable and appropriately priced.
Products must strive for balance among the 3 levels.
Needs and Wants
• Difference between what is truly necessary for a person's
activities (needs) versus what a person asks for (wants).

• Needs are determined by task

• Wants are determined by Culture by advertising, by self-
image
Object that Evokes Memories
• Feeling of Self
• The Personality of Products
Emotional Machines
Machines that Sense Emotion
Emotional Robots
• Machines have reasonable amount of intelligence but no
emotions (citing examples from early 2000).
• Non-verbal feedback, facial expression and body language
will be needed in robots in order to understand them better.
• Machines will not be smart and sensible until they have both
intelligence and emotions.
• Emotions not necessarily similar to humans emotions, but
any other way of affective system.
• Norman goes deeper imagining possible home-robots and
how they should interact. He discusses their shapes and
general behaviour.
• Norman mentions that robots should have at least these 3
emotions in order to improve their performance: Pride, fear
and frustration.
 Lecture 11
Design Thinking
Can you
solve
problems?
Can you solve problems?
• You wake up and see that your alarm never went off. So, you
are starting your morning 15 minutes later than you
planned. It is an important day at office, and you cannot be
late. What could you do?
Can you solve problems?
• You finished your work early. What should you do?
Problem is everywhere
and solution too!
Real Life Problem
• Often invisible
• Finding Correct Problem
• Identifying variables
• Findings Solutions

• Real Life problems are different from examples which are neat and
clean

• https://www.hcltech.com/digital-analytics-services/digital-transformati
on-consulting/experience-design
Solving Correct Problem
• Engineers and businesspeople are trained to solve
problems.
• Designers are trained to discover the real problems.
• A brilliant solution to the wrong problem can be worse than
no solution at all: solve the correct problem.
• Understand problem first before solving.
 A good design is …..
…..developing products that fit the needs and capabilities of
people.
The Double-Diamond Model of
Design
• Design process model popularized by the British Design
Council in 2005
• Adapted from the divergence-convergence model proposed
in 1996 by Hungarian-American linguist Béla H. Bánáthy.

• The two diamonds represent a process of exploring an issue

more widely or deeply (divergent thinking) and then taking
focused action (convergent thinking)
Design process should have four
phases
• Discover: Understand, rather than simply assume, what the
problem is. It involves speaking to and spending time with
people who are affected by the issues.
• Define: The insight gathered from the discovery phase can
help to define the challenge in a different way.
• Develop: Give different answers to the clearly defined
problem, seeking inspiration from elsewhere and co-
designing with a range of different people.
• Deliver: Involves testing out different solutions at small-
scale, rejecting those that will not work and improving the
ones that will.
The
Human-
Centered
Design
Process
Observation
• The initial research to understand the nature of the problem
itself is part of the discipline of design research.
• The research about the customer and the people who will
use the products under consideration.
Idea generation
• Generate numerous ideas:
• It is dangerous to become fixated upon one or two ideas too early
in the process.
• Be creative without regard for constraints:
• Avoid criticizing ideas, whether your own or those of others. Even
crazy ideas, often obviously wrong, can contain creative insights
that can later be extracted and put to good use in the final idea
selection. Avoid premature dismissal of ideas.
Idea generation
• Question everything.
• A stupid question asks about things so fundamental that everyone
assumes the answer is obvious. But when the question is taken
seriously, it often turns out to be profound: the obvious often is not
obvious at all.
• What we assume to be obvious is simply the way things have
always been done, but now that it is questioned, we don’t actually
know the reasons. Quite often the solution to problems is
discovered through stupid questions, through questioning the
obvious.
Prototyping and Testing
• In theory, there is no difference between theory and
practice. In practice, there is.
DON NORMAN’S LAW OF
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
• The day a product development process starts, it is behind
schedule and above budget.
The Design Challenge
• Designers are asked to figure out how to manage complex
things
• To manage the interaction of technology and people.
• Good designers are quick learners, for today they might be
asked to design a camera; tomorrow, to design a
transportation system or a company’s organizational
structure.
• Designers try hard to determine people’s real needs and to
fulfill them, whereas marketing is concerned with
determining what people will actually buy.
The Design Challenge
• Producing a good product requires a lot more than good
technical skills: it requires a harmonious, smoothly
functioning, cooperative and respectful organization.
Factors of Design Thinking
• PRODUCTS HAVE MULTIPLE, CONFLICTING REQUIREMENTS
• DESIGNING FOR SPECIAL PEOPLE
• THE STIGMA PROBLEM
Class Exercise
• Please go through below URL and find which product or
services in HCL you are into:

• https://www.hcltech.com/digital-business#partners

• Mention how you are applying or can apply Design Thinking

to improve your work.
Complexity and Confusion

• “Complexity is essential: it is confusion that is undesirable”

Donald Norman

The way we arrange, organize and design will be complex for

others; vica versa.
Standardization and Technology
Design: Developing Technology for
People
• Design is a marvelous discipline, bringing together
technology and people, business and politics, culture and
commerce.
• The different pressures on design are severe, presenting
huge challenges to the designer.
• At the same time, the designers must always keep foremost
in mind that the products are to be used by people.
• This is what makes design such a rewarding discipline: On
the one hand, woefully complex constraints to overcome; on
the other hand, the opportunity to develop things that assist
and enrich the lives of people, that bring benefits and
enjoyment.
Models of
Designing
12/10/2024
Textbook
Essays by Fred Brooks contain
extraordinary insights for designers
in every discipline. Brooks pinpoints
constants inherent in all design
projects and uncovers processes and
patterns likely to lead to excellence.
Drawing on conversations with
dozens of exceptional designers, as
well as his own experiences in
several design domains, Brooks
observes that bold design decisions
lead to better outcomes.
The Design
Question
On Theory everything is
possible; but what about
practical?

In theory, designing might seem

limitless, but how do we balance
creative freedom with real-world
constraints? The design process
requires both imagination and
practical problem-solving.
What is design?
The Oxford English Dictionary defines the
verb design as “To form a plan or scheme
of, to arrange or conceive in the mind for
later execution”.
Design is the process of creating a plan or
solution. For instance, when architects design
a building, they start by conceptualizing the
structure and later execute it through
construction. Similarly, in product design, the
process begins with ideation—sketching out
ideas—before moving to prototyping and
development.
Creative Process
of Design
1. The formulation of the conceptual constructs: Forming
an initial idea or blueprint. For example, a fashion
designer might sketch various clothing ideas.
2. Implementation in real media: Bringing the idea to life.
A graphic designer, for instance, moves from concept
sketches to using tools like Photoshop to create digital
art.
3. Interactivity with users in real uses: Testing and refining
the design based on user feedback. A software designer
might release a beta version of an app and adjust
features based on user input.

- Dorothy Leigh Sayers emphasized that the best designs take

users’ needs into account
 Kinds of Design:
System Design versus Artistic Design
Kinds of Design:
System Design versus Artistic Design
• Design of complex systems, and the viewpoint is that
of the engineer, an engineer focused on utility and
effectiveness but also on efficiency and elegance.
• This contrasts with much of the design done by artists
and writers, whose emphasis is on delight and the
conveying of meaning. Architects and industrial
designers, of course, fall into both camps.

• System design refers to creating functional products

or systems, like an engineer designing a computer
network with high efficiency.
• Artistic design, by contrast, focuses on emotional
impact, such as a filmmaker using color and
composition to evoke specific emotions in the
audience.
Kinds of Design:
Routine, Adaptive,
Original Design
• Routine design involves tweaking
existing products, like making minor
updates to a phone model each year.
• Adaptive design modifies a product to
serve new purposes, such as converting
a regular car into an electric vehicle.
• Original design introduces something
entirely new, like the invention of the
smartphone itself.
How Engineers Think
of Design:
The Rational Model
This decision-making model often used in
design processes, which follows a logical
flow of steps to make iterative
improvements until a solution is
considered "good enough" or time has run
out.
 Model Explanation
Desiderata: Associated with the
Goal: First one starts with a primary goal are a host of
primary goal, or objective. desiderata, or secondary
objectives.

Constrains: These are

Utility Function: One wants to limitations that affect the
design. Budget is a common
optimize the design according to
constraint, but there could also
some utility or goodness
be constraints on time,
function that weights the several
materials, or technical feasibility.
desiderata as to their
For example, in designing a new
importance.
phone, battery life could be a
constraint.
 Constrains

Resource Budgets Crucial Budgets

Allocations
 Design Tree of Decisions
The flow starts by acknowledging that decisions in design are rarely straightforward. Instead, designers explore different branches of possibilities (a decision
tree) and iterate through them to find the best outcome. The tree structure represents various paths you could take.
• UNTIL Loop ("Good Enough" or Time Runs Out):
• UNTIL ("good enough") or time runs out:
• This indicates that the design process will continue until either an acceptable solution is found or time (or another resource) limits further work.
“Good enough” means a solution that satisfies the utility function to a reasonable degree.
• DO another design (to improve utility function):
• If the current design doesn’t meet the “good enough” criteria, another iteration is performed, refining or rethinking parts of the design to optimize
the outcome.
• UNTIL the Design is Complete:
• UNTIL design is complete:
• The process will repeat until the design satisfies all necessary criteria. This could mean multiple redesigns, adding features, or removing flaws.
• WHILE Loop (Design Feasibility):
• WHILE design remains feasible, make another design decision:
• As long as the design is still realistic and viable (i.e., feasible within the constraints), further design choices are made. This could mean making
incremental improvements or exploring alternatives.
• END WHILE:
• Once the design becomes infeasible (due to cost, time, or other constraints), this phase of decision-making ends.
A decision tree helps in
mapping out different
choices and their
consequences. For example,
in software design, a
decision tree might guide
whether to use a cloud
server or a physical one,
based on factors like
security, cost, and speed.
Each choice leads to further
decisions about
implementation, scalability,
and performance.
Example of Application
• Imagine a car company is designing a new electric vehicle:
• Goal: Maximize the car's range.
• Desiderata: Keep costs down, ensure user comfort, and maintain
safety standards.
• Utility function: The company measures the design's success by a
combination of factors, like range, cost efficiency, and user
satisfaction.
• Constraints: Budget limitations, battery technology, and safety
regulations.
• The engineers start by designing a battery system that gives the car
a 300-mile range. However, the design is too expensive. They
backtrack and try a different combination of materials, balancing
cost and range. This process continues with iterative designs until
they find a feasible balance that maximizes utility within the given
constraints.
• This model provides a structured approach to decision-making in
design, ensuring that every iteration aims for improvement while
considering real-world limitations.
Case Study on Alarm Clock
Software/
Waterfall
Model
The Waterfall Model is a
step-by-step approach
to software design.
For example, a team
developing a new
mobile app might first
gather user
requirements, then
design, code, and test
before releasing the
app.
Advantages
• Simple and easy to understand and use
• Easy to manage due to the rigidity of the model. Each phase
has specific deliverables and a review process.
• Phases are processed and completed one at a time.
• Works well for smaller projects where requirements are very
well understood.
• Clearly defined stages.
• Well understood milestones.
• Easy to arrange tasks.
• Process and results are well documented.
Disadvanta
ges
• No working software is produced until late during the life
cycle.
• High amounts of risk and uncertainty.
• Not a good model for complex and object-oriented
projects.
• Poor model for long and ongoing projects.
• Not suitable for the projects where requirements are at a
moderate to high risk of changing. So, risk and
uncertainty is high with this process model.
• It is difficult to measure progress within stages.
• Cannot accommodate changing requirements.
• Adjusting scope during the life cycle can end a project.
Boehm’s Spiral Model
 Boehm’s Spiral Model
The Spiral Model is iterative, and each loop adds more detail to
the project. For example, in designing a video game, the first loop
might involve prototyping basic mechanics. After testing, a
second loop could focus on enhancing graphics or adding new
features, continually improving based on feedback.
 1. Objective setting Specific objectives for that phase of the
project are defined. Constraints on the process and the
product are identified and a detailed management plan is
drawn up. Project risks are identified. Alternative
strategies, depending on these risks, may be planned.
Each loop in 2. Risk assessment and reduction For each of the identified
project risks, a detailed analysis is carried out. Steps are
the spiral is taken to reduce the risk. For example, if there is a risk that
the requirements are inappropriate, a prototype system

split into
may be developed.
3. Development and validation After risk evaluation, a

four sectors
development model for the system is chosen. For example,
throw-away prototyping may be the best development
approach if user interface risks are dominant. If safety
risks are the main consideration, development based on
formal transformations may be the most appropriate
process, and so on. If the main identified risk is sub-system
integration, the waterfall model may be the best
development model to use.
4. Planning The project is reviewed and a decision made
whether to continue with a further loop of the spiral. If it is
decided to continue, plans are drawn up for the next phase
of the project.
Maher, Poon, and Boulanger’s
Co-Evolution Model of design
Maher, Poon, and Boulanger’s
Co-Evolution Model of design
Maher, Poon, and Boulanger’s Co-Evolution Model of Design is an
influential model in the field of design, particularly useful for understanding
how design problems and solutions evolve together over time. This model
focuses on the idea that the design process is not linear, but rather a co-
evolutionary process where both the problem and the solution develop
simultaneously and influence each other.
Co-Evolution of
Problem and
Solution
• The problem space (what you are trying to
solve) and the solution space (how you are
solving it) evolve together. The idea is that, as
designers work on a problem, the problem
itself may change based on emerging
solutions, and similarly, new solutions might
shift the understanding of the problem.
• Example: Consider designing a bridge.
Initially, the problem might be defined as
building a strong, long-lasting bridge.
However, during the process, solutions
involving sustainable materials or unique
architectural designs may lead to rethinking
the original problem (e.g., a focus on
environmental impact or aesthetic appeal).
Exploration of Two Spaces:
The design process is seen as moving between two spaces:
Problem Space: Where the designer refines and
Solution Space: Where different solutions are
redefines the problem based on new insights
explored, tested, and modified.
and information.

Example:
A car manufacturer may start with the problem of improving fuel efficiency.
However, as they explore hybrid or electric solutions, the problem may evolve to
include new challenges such as charging infrastructure or battery life.
 The Co-Evolution Model emphasizes an iterative
process where designers repeatedly move back
and forth between the problem and solution
spaces. This feedback loop ensures that neither

Iterative
the problem nor the solution is static; they are
continuously refined and improved.

Process Example: A software developer may begin with

the problem of creating a user-friendly
interface. As they design and test prototypes,
they receive user feedback that highlights new
problems (e.g., accessibility issues), which in
turn leads to further refinement of both the
interface and the original problem definition.
Influence of
Constraints
• The model also acknowledges that real-
world constraints (e.g., budget, materials,
technology) influence both the problem
and solution spaces. These constraints
may cause the problem to be redefined,
and as the solution evolves, new
constraints may emerge that further
shape the design process.
• Example: In architecture, constraints such
as building regulations, materials, and
climate conditions can force the architect
to reconsider the original design problem
(such as structural integrity or
sustainability), leading to an iterative
adjustment in the design solution.
Phases of the Co-Evolution Model
Initial • The process begins with an initial understanding of the design
problem and the exploration of potential solutions. However, these

Exploration:
initial solutions may not fully resolve the problem, prompting
further exploration.

Co-Evolution • Designers explore both the problem and solution spaces in

parallel, allowing them to redefine and refine both. This is where

Phase:
the true "co-evolution" happens, as solutions influence the
understanding of the problem, and vice versa.

• Eventually, through continuous iterations, the design process

Convergence: moves toward convergence where both the problem and solution
are clearly defined, and a satisfactory balance between the two is
achieved.
Examples of Co-Evolution in Design
Urban Planning: In city design, initial problems may focus on transportation or
housing. However, as solutions are explored (e.g., building highways or public
transport), the problem space may shift to include environmental concerns or
the need for public spaces, leading to an evolving design solution.

Product Design: A tech company might initially define its problem as designing a
faster smartphone. However, as they explore solutions (e.g., improving
processors or software), new challenges like battery life, screen durability, or
overheating emerge, leading to a redefinition of the problem and co-evolution of
the design solution.
The Cathedral and
the Bazaar Models
by Eric S. Raymond
• The Cathedral model, in which
source code is available with each
software release, but code developed
between releases is restricted to an
exclusive group of software
developers.

• The Bazaar model, in which the code

is developed over the Internet in view
of the public. Raymond credits Linus
Torvalds, leader of the Linux kernel
project, as the inventor of this
process.
The Cathedral Model

The Cathedral model refers to a centralized, controlled, and top-down

approach to design and development.

In this model, the process is rigidly managed by a small group of experts

or a core team, and the product (whether software, hardware, or other
projects) is developed behind closed doors, with limited or no public
involvement until its completion
Key Characteristics of The Cathedral
Model
• Closed Development Process: Only a small group of individuals, typically experts, work on the
project. The code (or design) is rarely made public until the final product is released.
• Structured Releases: Development is planned with formal versions or iterations being released
after careful planning and refinement.
• Clear Hierarchy: There is a well-defined leadership structure in the project, with key decisions being
made by the project leader or core team members.
• Emphasis on Perfection: Since the project is not visible to the public during development, the team
aims to ensure that the product is highly polished before it is unveiled.
• Example:
• Traditional software companies, such as Microsoft in the 1990s, followed the Cathedral model,
where the development of operating systems like Windows was kept under tight control and
released only after rigorous internal testing.
• In the context of physical products, Apple follows a Cathedral-like approach with products like
the iPhone or MacBook, where development is done privately, and the final product is only
revealed when it’s ready for launch.
Bazaar model
• The Bazaar model represents a
decentralized, open, and bottom-up
approach to design and development.
• In this model, development is open to the
public, allowing contributions from a wide
range of people, not just experts. The
process is collaborative, with frequent
releases and improvements made by a
diverse community of users and
developers.
Key Characteristics of Bazaar
model
• Open Development Process: Anyone can view, modify, and contribute to the project. This creates a highly
collaborative environment.
• Frequent Releases: There are often small, incremental updates that are regularly made available for public use
and feedback.
• Distributed Leadership: Instead of a centralized authority making all the decisions, contributors from around the
world provide input, with a more fluid leadership model. Core maintainers may oversee the project, but the
broader community has significant influence.
• Rapid Iteration and Feedback: Since the project is in the hands of many contributors, changes and
improvements happen faster. Bugs are spotted and fixed quicker because of the large, engaged community.

• Example:
• Linux is the most famous example of the Bazaar model. Linux, unlike proprietary operating systems, is
developed collaboratively by thousands of developers worldwide. New features, bug fixes, and security
patches are constantly contributed by volunteers, and the process is more open and transparent.
• Similarly, Wikipedia functions under a Bazaar-like model, where content is continuously edited and
improved by a vast number of contributors.
Cathedral vs. Bazaar: A
Comparison
Aspect Cathedral Model Bazaar Model
Development
Centralized, controlled, closed Decentralized, open, collaborative
Process
Contributors Small group of experts Large, diverse community
Leadership Hierarchical Distributed, community-driven
Release Frequency Infrequent, polished releases Frequent, incremental updates
Closed until product is
Openness Open to public from early stages
complete
Perfection-driven, careful Rapid iteration, evolutionary
Design Philosophy
planning approach
 Business & Product Design:
Modern • Many businesses are adopting a hybrid

Examples and
approach between the Cathedral and Bazaar
models. For example, Google opens its

Application
products like Android for outside
contributions (Bazaar model) but still

Beyond maintains strong control over the core

Software
system (Cathedral model).
Project Management:
• Some companies follow a Cathedral-like
approach in managing internal projects,
especially when projects require tight
control, while using the Bazaar approach for
customer feedback or crowdsourcing ideas
(e.g., crowdsourced designs for new
products).
19 Lessons from
Eric S Raymond
Eric Raymond highlight the
importance of collaboration,
iteration, openness, and
community engagement in
successful software
development.
Although these insights were
originally focused on the open-
source movement, they have
since found relevance in
various other areas of product
development, design, and
project management.
Lesson 1
• Every good work of software starts by scratching a
developer’s personal itch:
• The best software projects often begin when a developer
faces a personal problem or frustration, leading them to
create a solution for themselves, which eventually grows to
serve others as well.
• Example: Raymond created Fetchmail because he wanted a
better way to retrieve his email.
Lesson 2
Good programmers know what to write. Great ones
know what to rewrite (and reuse):
•

• Skilled developers understand that rewriting or refactoring

code is often necessary to improve quality, and that it's
better to reuse existing solutions where possible rather than
reinvent the wheel.
• Example : The practice of modular code reuse, common in
open-source projects, leads to more efficient and stable
software.
Lesson 3
•Plan to throw one away; you will, anyhow :
• The first version of any software project is usually imperfect.
Developers should be prepared to discard it and start over,
learning from the initial attempt.
•Example : Most successful software products undergo
several iterations, with early versions scrapped as new
insights emerge.
Lesson 4
If you have the right attitude, interesting problems will
find you:
•

• Developers with a curious and problem-solving mindset

naturally attract opportunities to work on meaningful
projects.
• Example : Open-source contributors often find themselves
pulled into projects as their reputation grows within the
community.
Lesson 5
When you lose interest in a program, your last duty to it
is to hand it off to a competent successor:
•

• In open-source projects, if a developer loses interest or can

no longer maintain a project, they should ensure that
someone else can take over, keeping the project alive.
• Example: Many open-source projects have survived due to
responsible handoffs between maintainers.
Lesson 6
Treating your users as co-developers is your least-hassle
route to rapid code improvement and effective
•

debugging:
• By involving users in the development process, particularly
in testing and bug reporting, software can evolve faster and
with fewer issues.
• Example : In the Linux community, users are actively
involved in reporting bugs and suggesting improvements.
Lesson 7
Release early. Release often. And listen to your
customers:
•

• Frequent releases allow developers to get feedback from

users quickly and iterate on the project based on real-world
usage.
• Example : The open-source development model thrives on
this principle, where updates are often released in quick
cycles.
Lesson 8
Given a large enough beta-tester and co-developer base,
almost every problem will be characterized quickly, and
•

the fix will be obvious to someone:

• Known as "Linus's Law" (named after Linux creator Linus
Torvalds), this principle suggests that with enough eyes on a
piece of code, bugs and problems will be quickly identified
and solved by someone in the community.
• Example : The collaborative nature of open-source software
allows many people to contribute fixes to bugs.
Lesson 9
Smart data structures and dumb code works a lot better
than the other way around:
•

• Well-designed data structures simplify code, leading to

cleaner, more maintainable, and more efficient software.
• Example: Simple algorithms on well-structured data often
outperform complicated algorithms on poor data
structures.
Lesson 10
If you treat your beta-testers as if they’re your most
valuable resource, they will respond by becoming your
•

most valuable resource:

• Beta testers, if treated with respect and encouraged to
participate, can become long-term contributors and
advocates for a project.
• Example: Many key contributors to open-source projects
began as users or testers who became deeply involved over
time.
Lesson 11
The next best thing to having good ideas is recognizing
good ideas from your users. Sometimes the latter is
•

better:
• Developers should always be open to feedback and
suggestions from users, as they can offer valuable insights
that the developers may not have considered.
• Example: Many popular features in open-source software
originated as user suggestions.
Lesson 12
Often, the most striking and innovative solutions come
from realizing that your concept of the problem was
•

wrong:
• A fresh perspective or redefinition of the problem can lead
to breakthroughs that wouldn’t have been possible with the
original approach.
• Example : The development of Linux saw many iterations
where initial assumptions about user needs were rethought,
leading to a more flexible system.
Lesson 13
Perfection (in design) is achieved not when there is
nothing more to add, but rather when there is nothing
•

more to take away:

• Simplicity is key to good software design. Reducing
complexity improves usability, maintainability, and
performance.
• Example : UNIX commands are known for their simplicity
and elegance, doing one thing well and chaining together
for more complex tasks.
Lesson 14
Any tool should be useful in the expected way, but a
truly great tool lends itself to uses you never expected:
•

• Good software should be flexible enough that users can

adapt it to their needs, even in ways the original developers
didn’t foresee.
• Example : The programming language Python is widely used
for web development, scientific computing, and automation,
even though it wasn’t originally designed with all these uses
in mind.
Lesson 15
When writing gateway software of any kind, take pains to
disturb the data stream as little as possible—and never
•
throw away information unless the recipient forces you
to!:
• When creating software that passes data between systems or
formats, it's important to preserve as much original
information as possible to avoid losing functionality or causing
issues.
• Example : Open-source projects often use data formats that
retain full flexibility, allowing other systems to use the data
more effectively.
Lesson 16
When your language is nowhere near Turing-complete,
syntactic sugar can be your friend:
•

• Sometimes, adding convenience features (syntactic sugar)

to a language or system can greatly improve usability
without compromising its power or flexibility.
• Example: Shell scripts add shortcuts and conveniences to
make writing them easier for users, even though the
underlying commands remain powerful.
Lesson 17
A security system is only as secure as its secret. Beware
of "security through obscurity":
•

• Security should rely on robust, well-tested mechanisms

rather than hiding details. If the security depends solely on
keeping something secret (such as a password or
proprietary algorithm), it’s vulnerable.
• Example : Open-source projects rely on transparent, tested
security protocols rather than trying to hide their
mechanisms from the public.
Lesson 18
To solve an interesting problem, start by finding a
problem that is interesting to you:
•

• Developers are more motivated and effective when working

on problems they are personally passionate about.
• Example : Raymond's work on Fetchmail was driven by his
desire for a better email retrieval system, which led to
significant improvements in the tool.
Lesson 19
Provided the development coordinator has a
communications medium at least as good as the Internet,
•

and knows how to lead without coercion, many heads are

inevitably better than one:
• Collaborative development works best when there’s an open,
efficient communication platform (like the internet), and when
leadership allows for contributions from all participants without
forcing decisions.
• Example : The decentralized but well-coordinated development
of Linux, with Linus Torvalds guiding the project, shows the
power of collective intelligence.
 Lecture 13
Design Perspectives
What we learnt previously
• Different models of design – engineering design.

• Computer programming design – Bazaar vs Cathedral

model
How we know what is correct?
Or how we know what went wrong?
Information and
Knowledge

Kalorth
What can be observed in a
design/model?
World Reality
Lived Experience
Empirical Findings
Existing Knowledge
Theory
Kalorth
Example of a model

2020 Kalorth
Common Sense and Knowledge

Method Methodology

Epistemology Ontology

Kalorth
Epistemology
Rationalism and Empiricism

Rationalism and Empiricism are approaches to epistemology.

Rationalism: The knowledge we gain in subject area, S, by

intuition and deduction, as well as the ideas and instances of
knowledge in S that are innate to us, could not have been
gained by us through sense experience.

Empiricism entails that knowledge can only be gained, if at all,

by experience
User Models
Better Wrong than Vague!!
Explicit User and Use Models
• Experienced Designer note down:
• What they know about the user?
• The user's purpose of use?
• The modes of use
• What they don't know but assume about user and users.
Revisiting Norman’s Principles
Affordances: The properties of an object that suggest how it should be used. Good
design makes these intuitively clear.

Feedback: Effective communication between the product and the user is crucial.
Users should receive immediate and understandable feedback about their actions.

Conceptual Models: Designers should create products that align with users' mental
models, making them easier to understand and use.

Iterative Design: Norman advocates for an iterative approach, where prototypes

are tested and refined based on user feedback.

Emotional Design: Beyond functionality, products should evoke positive emotions,

enhancing user satisfaction and engagement.
Team Design Works
Better
Collaboration in Team Design

• Diverse Perspectives: Teams bring together individuals with varied backgrounds,

experiences, and skills, which can lead to richer ideas and more comprehensive
problem-solving.
• Shared Knowledge: Collaboration allows team members to share insights and
knowledge, which can enhance creativity and lead to better-informed design
decisions.
• Iterative Feedback: Working in teams fosters a culture of constructive feedback,
enabling designs to be refined and improved through collective input.
• Enhanced Problem-Solving: Teams can tackle complex problems more effectively by
combining different viewpoints and expertise, leading to more robust solutions.
• Support and Motivation: Team environments can provide emotional support and
motivation, helping individuals stay engaged and committed to the design process.
Constraints can be
Friends too!!
How to make use of
Constraints

• Constrains shrink the designer's search

space.
• Help in Focus and Speed Design
• Stimulating for a fresh design
How to make use of Constraints

• Guidance for Design: Constraints provide a framework that helps designers

focus their efforts, guiding them toward feasible and practical solutions.
• Encouraging Innovation: Limitations can spark creativity by forcing designers
to think outside the box and explore unconventional approaches.
• Enhancing Usability: Constraints related to user needs, context, or technology
can lead to more user-friendly designs, as they push designers to consider
practical limitations.
• Streamlining Decisions: By establishing boundaries, constraints can simplify
the decision-making process, helping teams prioritize features and
functionalities.
• Encouraging Simplicity: Constraints can lead to simpler, more elegant solutions
that are often more effective than overly complex designs.
Different
Constraints

• Real Constraints
• Obsolete once-real constraints
• Constraints misperceived as real
• Intentional Artificial Constraints
Real Constraints

• These are genuine limitations

based on physical laws,
technology, or user capabilities.
They shape what is possible in
design, such as the limitations of
materials or the ergonomics of
human interaction.

• Example: Designing a
smartphone interface must
consider the physical size of the
screen. The limited space requires
careful arrangement of buttons
and information to ensure
usability.
Obsolete Once-Real Constraints

• These constraints were once valid but

have become irrelevant due to
advances in technology or changes in
user needs. Designers should
recognize these outdated limitations
to encourage innovation and not
restrict creativity.

• Example: Early web design was

constrained by slow internet speeds,
leading to minimalistic designs and
low-resolution images. With today’s
fast internet and high-resolution
displays, these constraints are no
longer relevant, allowing for richer
visual designs.
Constraints Misperceived as Real
• Sometimes, designers may incorrectly perceive certain
limitations as absolute. These can stifle creativity and
prevent exploration of viable alternatives that could
enhance the design.

• Example: A designer might assume that users prefer

complex features to enhance functionality. However, this
could misrepresent users’ needs for simplicity and ease of
use, stifling more straightforward, user-friendly design
options.
Intentional Artificial Constraints
• These are deliberately imposed limitations meant to guide
the design process or foster creativity. They can help focus
efforts and inspire innovative solutions by setting specific
boundaries that challenge designers.

• Example: A design challenge may impose a constraint such

as limiting the color palette to only three colors. This forces
designers to think creatively about how to convey
information and aesthetics within those limitations, often
leading to innovative solutions.
Aesthetics and Style
in Technical Design
Aesthetic-Usability Effect

• Norman suggests that users often equate attractive designs with

higher quality and better usability. This means that aesthetically
pleasing products can create a positive first impression, leading
users to perceive them as more functional and easier to use, even
before they interact with them.
Emotional Connection

• Good design elicits an emotional response. When products are

visually appealing, they can foster a connection between the user
and the product, enhancing satisfaction and engagement. This
emotional resonance can encourage users to invest more time in
learning how to use the product.
Context and Style

• Norman highlights that the context of use matters. A design’s

style should align with its purpose and the user's expectations.
For example, a medical device needs a different aesthetic
approach compared to a consumer gadget, reflecting their
respective functions and user bases.
Balancing Form and Function

• While aesthetics are important, they should not compromise

functionality. Effective design balances visual appeal with practical
usability, ensuring that the product is not only attractive but also
easy to use.
Designing for Human
Behavior: Insights from
Cognitive Psychology
• Cognitive Load: Design should minimize
cognitive load, making it easier for users to
process information and complete tasks
without overwhelming them.
• Affordances and Signifiers: Affordances
(what actions are possible) and signifiers
(cues that indicate how to interact with a
design), are important in intuitive design.
• Mental Models: Users form mental models
of how a product works and how designers
can align their designs with these models to
improve usability.
Designing for Human
Behavior: Insights
from Cognitive
Psychology
• Feedback and Error Prevention: Clear
feedback to users and designing is important to
prevent errors.
• Emotional Engagement: Emotions in decision-
making and how effective design can create
positive emotional responses, enhancing user
satisfaction.
• User Behavior Patterns: Common behavior
patterns, such as familiarity and routine, and it
influence interaction with products.
• Iterative Design Process: The importance of
iterative design, testing, and refining based on
user behavior and feedback to create better
user experiences.
 Dr. Nithin Kalorth

Biomimicr
y
• BI-O-MIM-IC-RY
From the Greek bios, life, and mimesis, imitation
Nature as model

• Biomimicry is a new science that studies nature’s models and then

imitates or takes inspiration from these designs and processes to
solve human problems, e.g., a solar cell inspired by a leaf.
Nature as measure

• Biomimicry uses an ecological standard to judge the “rightness”

of our innovations. After 3.8 billion years of evolution, nature has
learned: What works. What is appropriate. What lasts for long.
Nature as mentor

• Biomimicry is a new way of viewing and valuing nature. It

introduces an era based not on what we can extract from the
natural world, but on what we can learn from it.
Cosmic Calendar Explanation

• https://clios.com/entertainment/winner/a-v-technique/cosmic-cal
endar-interactive-feature-blu-ray-intera-4390

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2_6cqa2cP4
Questions?

• How much we can destroy?

• How much we can use?
• How to implement sustainability?
• How to encounter natural disasters?
• How much nature will tolerate?
• How much we will adopt/learn from nature?
Biomimicry

• Humans always try to understand the nature and design the

solution for their problem – that quest is biomimicry—the
conscious emulation of life’s genius. Innovation inspired by
nature.
Industrial Revolution

• Humans have tendency to dominate and improve the nature.

• The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing
processes in Britain, continental Europe and the United States, in the
period from about 1760 to sometime between 1820 and 1840
• This transition included going from hand production methods to
machines, new chemical manufacturing and iron production
processes, the increasing use of steam power and water power, the
development of machine tools and the rise of the mechanized
factory system.
• The Industrial Revolution also led to an unprecedented rise in the
rate of population growth.
• The English philosopher, Sir Francis Bacon described science in his
time as learning to “torture nature for her secrets.”
• For centuries, human progress was marked by domination of the
natural world, mining, and extracting and leaving piles of waste
behind.
Warning from Nature

• Any species that ignores this law winds up destroying its

community to support its own expansion.
• Tragically, this has been our path.
• We began as a small population in a very large world and have
expanded in number and territory until we are bursting the
seams of that world. There are too many of us, and our habits are
unsustainable.
 Solution is
Biomimicry
Biomimicry Revolution

• Biomimicry Revolution introduces an era based not on what we

can extract from nature, but on what we can learn from nature.
• “doing it nature’s way” has the potential to change the way we
grow food, make materials, harness energy, heal ourselves, store
information, and conduct business.
Biomimetic World

• In a biomimetic world, we would manufacture the way animals

and plants do, using sun and simple compounds to produce
totally biodegradable fibers, ceramics, plastics, and chemicals.
• Our farms, modeled on prairies, would be self-fertilizing and pest-
resistant.
• To find new drugs or crops, we would consult animals and insects
that have used plants for millions of years to keep themselves
healthy and nourished.
• Computing also takes cues from nature.
Importance of Biomimicry

• The biomimics are discovering what works in the natural world,

and more important, what lasts.
• The more our world looks and functions like this natural world,
the more likely we are to be accepted on this home that is ours,
but not ours alone.
 Nature runs on sunlight.
Nature uses only the energy it needs.
Nature fits form to function.
Nature recycles everything.
Nature rewards cooperation.
Nature banks on diversity.
Nature demands local expertise.
Nature curbs excesses from within.
Nature taps the power of limits.

https://www.usgbc.org/articles/nature-leed-how-natural-laws-inspire-and-inform-green-building
Learning from Nature, but
The last really famous biomimetic invention was the
airplane (the Wright brothers watched vultures to learn the
nuances of drag and lift).
We flew like a bird for the first time in 1903, and

by 1914, we were dropping bombs from the sky.

• The real survivors are the Earth inhabitants that have lived millions of
years without consuming their ecological capital, the base from which
all abundance flows.
• Examples: animals, plants, microorganism etc.
Realm of ecology encompasses the following levels

1. Individual organisms, which are living entities that are

genetically and physically discrete
2. Populations, or individuals of the same species that occur
together in time and space
3. Communities, or populations of various species, also co-
occurring at the same time and place
4. Landscapes and Seascapes (collectively, these are ecoscapes),
which are spatial integrations of various communities over large
areas
5. Biosphere in its entirety, which is composed of all life and
ecosystems on Earth
• “There is not very much to learn in the city. It is time to walk
in the forest again.”
After hiking with his dog, a Swiss engineer found burrs from a
Burdock plant stuck on his dog’s coat and his pants. Inspired by
the tiny hooks on the burr, he designed a new and popular hook
and loop fastener (made famous by the Velcro ® Brand
Companies). In the 1960s, this new fastener was used
extensively by NASA’s space program.
Images provided by the VELCRO® Brand Companies
Designers at Speedo were inspired
by the mosaic-like layering of shark
skin to create a swimsuit fabric that
could reduce “drag” on the
swimmer.

Albert kok 2009

Famously, these “Fastskin” suits
were worn by the U.S. team at the
2008 Olympics and were

Pascal Deynat

Jmex60 2008
later banned.
In Japan, a new commuter train
was going so fast that it made a
booming sound when it entered
tunnels.

Ludovic Bertron 2009

Engineers successfully
re-designed the nose of the train by
copying the Kingfisher bird’s beak
shape and solved the noise
problem.

Alok Mishra 2010

 You may be already familiar with some
examples of biomimicry.

Echolocation is the use of sound waves

and echoes to determine the location of
objects. Bats and dolphins use

Fillbit 2008
echolocation to navigate and find food.
pixabay

Scientists studying echolocation in

animals developed sonar and radar

NASA
technologies that today are widely used
in the ocean, on land and in outer space
to navigate and
FC Robiller/naturlichter.de 2008

find objects.
Biomimicry – towards sustainability
• Biomimicry is an exciting field that seeks to copy or imitate
nature to create sustainable solutions to human problems.
That is, biomimicry offers solutions that can keep going
without damaging the environment.

• Today, biomimicry is used by professionals such as

scientists, engineers, designers and businesses to create
new ideas.
Three big ideas to remember about biomimicry are:

1. Plants and animals have developed amazing ways to solve

problems so they can live and thrive.

2. Scientists identify problems in today’s world and explore

sustainable solutions already working in the lives of plants and
animals.

3. Visual, performing and literary artists fascinated by the

amazing abilities of plants and animals find exciting problems
for their own creative work.
What we can learn from biomimicry are:

• ETHOS: Respect nature and the world in which we live.

• RE-CONNECT: Remember that people are a part of nature, not

separate.

• EMULATE: Look at the genius of nature to better inform what

we make and how we live.