Audio-visual frameworks for design process representation

Abstract

The design process is based on a recursive and iterative feedback between a designer's ideas and their physical representation. In most practices, this feedback takes place upon one single medium, which endows the designer with one single view on his ideas. However, having several views can contribute for a deeper and more informed critique of the physical representation of those ideas; ultimately it can lead to a better final product. In the first part of this study, the use of audio-visual interfaces as tools for representing the design process is proposed. The idea is to understand, through simulation, what beneficial effects a process based on multiple feedbacks can potentially have on the actual design. As such, five frameworks mapping graphics to sound were designed and implemented computationally. Although the referred interfaces were in fact designed as a means to support a claim, they mainly stand out as independent objects that carry a significance of their own. The second part of this research explores the relevance of these objects as media that yield new forms of audio-visual design, engage the user in design thinking, and support design education.