Design Innovation: A Tool for Value-Adding to the Papua New Guinea Balsa Wood Industry

Abstract

It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the 2015

Research-Led Design Practice: A New Approach of Research Through Design

“…To claim that the artefact is a substitute for written words, it must be claimed that the development of an artefact is a form of explicit knowledge that is presented to a wider audience outside of the field of design and research." (Kotlarewski et al, 2016) "Researchers make prototypes, products, and models to codify their own understanding of a particular situation and to provide a concrete framing of the problem and a description of a proposed, preferred state… Designers focus on the creation of artefacts through a process of disciplined imagination, because artefacts they make both reveal and become embodiments of possible futures… Design researchers can explore new materials and actively participate in intentionally constructing the future, in the form of disciplined imagination, instead of limiting their research to an analysis of the present and the past." (Zimmerman & Forlizzi, 2008) However, that is not to say that design researchers' contribution is restricted to the artefact rather than theory producing.…”

“…From the discussion above, research through design is the main approach to form design research as a discipline. Kotlarewski, Kuys, and Thong (2016) claim that research through design as the "act of practicing research, design, and reflection". "Research is a practice, writing is a practice, doing science is a practice, doing design is a practice, making art is a practice" (Frayling, 1993).…”

“…That is, by understanding the material to be used and the application possibilities the designer is able to reduce the cost of prototyping and testing designs. " (Kotlarewski et al, 2016) Just as Dorst (2008) claims that design researcher should have the capability of understanding of the object and context in a deeper and systematic way to enrich academic design research works. "This statement is used to legitimize the intentions of this study by promoting the designer, the design context and most importantly the physical manifestations of research-led practice in scholarly design research, with a direct focus on a new contribution to knowledge that is accessible to industry " (Kuys et al, 2014)…”

Integrating the Product Development Process in Scientific Research. Bridging the Research-Market Gap

“…With a qualitative research approach, Moultrie (2015) identifies contributions with the demonstrators in the domain of design and Simeone et al (2016) highlight designers' ability to work as translators in multidisciplinary projects. Specifically in scientific material development, studies have identified that designers can contribute testing properties and manufacturing processes for materials, in addition to exploring commercial applications for them (Kotlarewski et al, 2016, Thong andKuys, 2012). These contributions clearly show that science-design collaboration is important to increase the commercial output of scientific research, and can solve many of the problems surrounding the valley of death.…”