When Design Never Ends: emergent product design practices in the era of Additive Manufacturing

当设计永无止境：增材制造时代的新兴产品设计实践

• 批准号: AH/V009214/1
• 负责人: Patrick PRADEL
• 金额: $ 25.78万
• 依托单位: Loughborough University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FV009214%2F1
• 关键词: When; Design; Never; Ends; emergent

Additive Manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D Printing, is a family of manufacturing technologies that build physical artefacts by adding material layer by layer. Unlike manufacturing processes such as folding, milling, moulding or casting AM can make shapes that would be impossible or at least very difficult with traditional methods. AM capabilities are transformative for product design in many ways, but especially because they remove the traditional barriers of upfront investment in tooling that mark the end of the design process and the start of production. This can allow professional designers to change their designs continually without a clear end to the design process nor a final design. As in craftmanship or software development, each iteration of the product can become a new improved version of the previous. So, the sequential structure of product versions can disappear and be replaced by a continuous design flow of potentially unique or personalised products with new, improved or simply different functions or aesthetics. This can bring great opportunities but also many questions and challenges. For instance, how would the quality or regulatory compliance of a product be assured? How much time or effort should be invested in the design of each iteration? How would brand identity be maintained? How would the design process be managed? Would product designers have more or less work? What new knowledge and skills would be required? Our ambition in this project is to answer these questions by uncovering cutting-edge design practices in AM and studying empirically how product design practice is evolving; thus, defining the implications of AM for the future of the discipline. This project aims to provide a robust conceptual framework for understanding the impact of AM in product design practice; building a systematic methodology for studying the evolution of design practice; and presenting a new perspective through a comparative analysis of design practices across different domains and sectors. The data collected in this project will be transformed into a virtual exhibition that will inform both professional designers and academic research over the long term on the evolution of product design practice.

增材制造（AM），也称为3D打印，是一系列制造技术，通过逐层添加材料来构建物理制品。与折叠、铣削、模塑或铸造等制造工艺不同，AM可以制造出传统方法不可能或至少非常困难的形状。AM功能在许多方面都对产品设计具有变革性，特别是因为它们消除了传统的前期投资障碍，这些投资标志着设计过程的结束和生产的开始。这可以让专业设计师不断地改变他们的设计，而没有明确的设计过程结束，也没有最终的设计。与工艺或软件开发一样，产品的每次迭代都可以成为上一个版本的新改进版本。因此，产品版本的顺序结构可能会消失，并被具有新的、改进的或只是不同功能或美学的潜在独特或个性化产品的连续设计流程所取代。这可能带来巨大的机遇，但也带来许多问题和挑战。例如，如何保证产品的质量或遵守法规？在每次迭代的设计中应该投入多少时间或精力？如何保持品牌形象？如何管理设计过程？产品设计师的工作会更多还是更少？需要哪些新的知识和技能？我们在这个项目中的目标是通过发现AM中的尖端设计实践并实证研究产品设计实践如何演变来回答这些问题;从而定义AM对该学科未来的影响。该项目旨在为理解AM在产品设计实践中的影响提供一个强大的概念框架;建立一个系统的方法来研究设计实践的演变;并通过对不同领域和部门的设计实践的比较分析提出一个新的视角。在这个项目中收集的数据将被转化为一个虚拟的展览，将告知专业设计师和学术研究在长期的产品设计实践的演变。