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

增材制造（AM），也称为3D打印，是一系列通过逐层添加材料来构建物理工件的制造技术。与折叠、铣削、成型或铸造等制造工艺不同，增材制造可以制造出传统方法不可能或至少非常困难的形状。增材制造能力在许多方面对产品设计具有变革性，尤其是因为它们消除了传统的前期投资障碍，这些障碍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改变他们的设计，而不需要明确的设计过程结束或最终设计。就像在工艺或软件开发中一样，产品的每次迭代都可以成为前一个产品的新改进版本。因此，产品版本的顺序结构可以消失，取而代之的是具有新的、改进的或仅仅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。这可以带来巨大的机遇，但也会带来许多问题和挑战。例如，如何保证产品的质量或法规遵从性？在每次迭代的设计中应该投入多少时间和精力？如何保持品牌形象？如何管理设计过程？产品设计师的工作量会增加还是减少？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在增材制造中发现尖端的设计实践来回答这些问题，并从经验上研究产品设计实践是如何演变的；因此，定义了AM对该学科未来的影响。该项目旨在为理解增材制造在产品设计实践中的影响提供一个强大的概念框架；构建研究设计实践演变的系统方法论并通过对不同领域和部门的设计实践的比较分析，呈现出新的视角。该项目收集的数据将转化为一个虚拟展览，为专业设计师和学术研究人员提供关于产品设计实践演变的长期信息。

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.