ebrahim bagheri taleghani

Today, we are witnessing the increasing expansion of websites, applications and computer systems, each of which, according to its characteristics, responds to a series of modern human needs. However, many of these products are rejected by users despite their huge costs. The reason for this is the inability of the product to provide favorable interaction conditions with users and the inability of users to achieve their goals and meet their needs. In other words, the low quality and inefficiency of interactive projects causes their failure. One of the most important factors affecting the quality of systems and products is usability. Usability is one of the main concepts in the field of interactive design and user experience design. This concept is a criterion for evaluating the acceptability of interactive systems and products in the opinion of users. Various models and definitions have been presented for this concept up to now; But each of the usability models have considered distinct components according to different definitions, and based on this, a comprehensive model that covers most of the factors affecting the process of interaction between the user and the product is missing. Identifying the components and factors effective on usability and then providing a comprehensive definition of it, can have a great impact on the accurate and favorable evaluation process of this concept. Based on this, this research has been done with the aim of providing a comprehensive view of the concept of usability. In line with the mentioned goal, the following questions were formulated:What components do the existing and presented models of usability have? In the presented models, how is the relationship between the concepts and usability components, and how much do they overlap? How can usability models be integrated in the form of a comprehensive model and what characteristics will this model have?For this purpose, the provided usability models were extracted from the research literature and their common and distinctive aspects were examined using the qualitative meta-synthesis method in order to identify all the factors affecting the interaction process. Then, by synthesizing the related components, the core components of the usability model were determined. The result of this process is a comprehensive conceptual model that displays usability components in relation to the user and the product, as well as the stages of the interaction process. According to this model, the concept of usability is not a feature unique to systems or products, but is defined as a feature of the process of interaction between a specific user and a specific system or product in a specific field of use. This model can be used to design various interactive systems and products. Also, can be used to evaluate the usability of different products, services and systems and can be a basis for designing a questionnaire or checklist for usability evaluation. The effect of the context of use on usability was not considered in this research and it can be one of the concerns of future researches.

Interactive design means planning and designing the process of two-way communication between the user and the product. If this dual communication is designed appropriately and is fruitful in the process of use, it leads in a greater success for the design and the improvement of the user experience quality. Therefore, it improves the usability of the product (effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction). Based on this, it can be considered a successful strategy to study and examine the concepts and theories proposed in the field of interactive design and to try to apply them in the design process, in line with the aforementioned goal. The theories of affordance and feedforward have entered the field of interactive design since the 1980s and their application is developing; However, the method of examining, analyzing and applying them in the process of product design is a valuable topic in the field of design methodology, which has received less attention and as a result faces many challenges. Therefore, the research questions are as follows: “How can the concepts of affordance, feedforward and feedback be used in the design process? How can one develop ideas or evaluate the design of a product based on these theories? How can the design of a product be modified and optimized based on the analysis of affordance, feedforward and feedback? Achieving the answers to these questions and providing practical methods can be very valuable in the field of design methodology and be used by students and professionals in the field of industrial design. According to the mentioned materials, the most important goal of the current research is to provide a practical method in the design process, so that one can identify the design problems and needs based on the analysis and evaluation of a product's affordances, feedforwards and feedbacks, and also provide solution or design proposal to modify and optimize the product.In this research, by benefiting from practical concepts in the field of interactive design, a method called "affordance analysis method" has been provided so that it can be used to modify and optimize the design of products. The current research is practical in terms of purpose. The most important concepts and applied information in this research have been collected with library based method and a review of theoretical sources, and the research is descriptive-analytical in terms of implementation method.Before understanding the methodology of interactive components analysis, the audience should be familiar with the theoretical foundations and especially the concepts related to this field. Based on this, firstly, the practical concepts related to affordance, feedforward and feedback and their types are briefly introduced, and then the "Gaver's model" is presented in separating the representative information of the affordance from the possibilities of action, as well as the "Task Analysis Method", so that they can be used as theoretical basis and components of the suggested method.Correct and desirable affordances in products, are the possibilities of actions along with perceptible information which represent these possibilities, so make users understand these possibilities and achieve their goal in communication and interaction with the given product. The correct design of affordances makes the product guide the user during use.Feedforward is the information that is provided to the user before performing the action. In fact, it informs the user about what the purpose and result of his action, so that the user can choose and perform the appropriate action. Affordances provide information to users before performing an action, like feedforwards; But, contrary to feedforwards, affordances do not provide information about the purpose of performing an action, which is considered the main difference between affordances and feedforwards. Feedforwards in expressing the purpose and result of an action are complementary to the affordances and are usually designed and used in accordance with the affordances of the user interface.Feedback informs the user about the action that has been taken, and usually its purpose is to inform the user about the responsiveness of the system to the user's action, to indicate the progress of the work, or to confirm that the product has been directed by the user. Sometimes the failure to provide feedback or its inadequacy causes the user to not be informed about the product's capabilities or functional possibilities or not to achieve functional opportunities in a proper way. In the process of interacting with a product, it is sometimes necessary to provide feedback for each user action, and not providing appropriate feedback means there is a gap or problem in the interaction process with the product, and in other words, it causes problems in the interaction process and the progress of two-way communication between user and product.In this article, the method of analyzing the interactive components of the products is described in three steps with the title "Affordance Analysis Method". In order to ensure the correct transfer of concepts and ease of understanding of the method, a vacuum cleaner was selected as the product under review and the steps of this method are presented in the form of analytical tables by examining the mentioned product.In order to achieve proper interaction with a product and the desired quality of user experience, the interaction process must first be examined in detail in order to provide the possibility of examining the role and impact of interactive components in each stage of user interaction with the product. For this purpose, in the first step, the “Task Analysis Method” can be used and the interaction process with the product can be separated into three main stages (before usage, usage and after usage) with consideration of the details of each stage. Then, the more detailed steps can be defined and drew in the tree diagram and the needs and problems can be identified by examining the details and their connection with the context. The task steps and details are separated to the extent that they require different action possibilities and perceptible information.In designing products, it is expected to provide perceptible affordances. Therefore, in the second step, the most important interactive components (such as affordances, feedforwards and feedbacks) should be analyzed in each part of the user interaction process with the product. For this purpose, theoretical foundations and Gaver's model are used, and problems of the product are specified and introduced by asking about the possibilities of actions, the expected feedbacks and perceptible information representing them in the product.In the third step, it should be determined how the design can respond to the needs or problems raised; Therefore, according to the analysis carried out in the previous stage, the types of affordances, feedforwards and expected feedbacks are determined and solutions or design suggestions can be presented. Then, according to the design suggestions that are introduced in terms of interactive components, the design is carried out and re-evaluated and modified in response to the identified needs.When the three-dimensional and accurate design of the product meets the needs and problems raised in this evaluation and modification cycle, this stage is completed and the other stages of the design process comes forward. But when the design solutions are unsuccessful in response to the needs raised in this process, the designer checks which of the previous steps was not done correctly and by returning and correcting that step, they complete the process, so the user's interaction with the product reaches the desired result. Therefore, this repeatable process can be used to evaluate, optimize and even create detailed ideas in the design process of interactive products. It should be noted that in user-centered and participatory design approaches, the user can be present at various stages of the design process and play a decisive role in their correct execution. This method, which is the result of numerous studies in the field of interactive design, as well as the teaching and executive experience of the authors in this field, can play a valuable role in the design process with the goals of idea generation, evaluation, modification and optimization of the design and can be effectively used by students and designers.

Stress is an inevitable phenomenon that one may experience in all situations during his life. Although experiencing stress seems undesirable, but in fact, the changes that occur in humans due to stress, increase the mental and physical abilities of an individual to cope with threatening changes. Much research has been done on stress and its effects on humans; various theories have been proposed to study this multifaceted issue; but despite numerous articles examining stress from a psychological perspective, almost no scientific research has provided solutions or guidelines to design products for dealing with stress properly. Accordingly, the main purpose of this study is to examine the basic concepts related to stress from a design perspective and explore the features that have the potential to be employed in the design of products to reduce stress. Therefore, terms such as fight/flight response, Lazarus - Folkman transactional model of stress and coping, and separated concepts of desirable and undesirable stress have been studied as the basic and applied concepts related to stress. Finally, a design model entitled “Design to Relieve Stress”, was proposed in the form of three strategies along with related examples, that can be employed in designing products aiming to reduce stress. In future research, using the solutions presented in this article, products can be designed to reduce users’ stress, so their effectiveness in dealing with various types of stress can be examined to take effective steps to reduce its harmful effects and to improve people's mental health.

According to the decrease of reading rate in recent years, the decrease of general and specialized knowledge of the community can be predictable. Too many reasons are known as the causes of reading rate decrease, but one of the most important of them, according to the related researches, is lack of information about books. The low ability of users to search for books, can be another reason of the proposed problem. Furthermore, economic problems of the publishers in informing and advertising of new published documents can be listed in the main causes of reading rate changes.Thus, the main goal of this research is studying Iranian users for designing a mobile application in order to make an opportunity for them to search the academic and non- academic documents efficiently, effectively and in a new attractive experience. By using this service and application, the users can become aware of all kinds of book information, purchasing ways, the relevant publishers, books table of content, selling rate and the level of reader satisfaction. Moreover, a creative and cost effective solution for economic problems in book advertising is another purpose of this research.The research hypothesis is that user's needs assessment and designing this application in an effective and user- centered way can lead a useful book searching process as well as making a good purchasing facility for the users. This study by purpose is practical and the required information was collected in a library and field study manner through observation and questionnaire. Also, the process of data analysis has been done by qualitative and quantitative methods.According to UCD Process, the context of use has been specified and used in design process. Afterwards, user requirements have been recognized accurately in order to be utilized in ideation phase. The ideation process has been done according to research goals and user requirements. Subsequently, by using user- centered design approach and related tools, the process of idea development has been done precisely too. So, various tools such as brainstorming, task- function mapping, function allocation, scenarios of use, user journey map, and information architecture have been used wherever needed. In the following steps, paper prototype and wireframes were made and became ready for the test. In this section, an entire evaluation has been done by two different groups of users and publishers and the evaluation results were used to finalize the design. Thus, the latest version of the design was obtained. The results of this research show that design of this effective and user- centered application, facilitates advanced book searching process and book purchasing. This application provides various benefits to the publishers and users. Easy retrieval of academic and non-academic books and resources, view and access to useful features of each document, finding the interdisciplinary resources, and being able to purchase them using various means are some of the system’s accomplishments for the users. Also increase of sales rate, direct and indirect marketing, and decrease of advertising costs are some of the beneficial results for the publishers.

Service design has been introduced to the field of industrial design for decades and the design of product service systems has been studied and emphasized since the 1990s, due to the importance and benefits of combining products and services in response to the needs and values of users, as well as improving the economic position of companies; since then, numerous studies have been conducted to clarify the relevant concepts and provide the PSS design process. Accordingly, the number of projects and dissertations related to service design and design of product service systems, has been increased in university education; but unfortunately, due to the insufficient information of students about the basics of this field and the appropriate and usable processes, there are many problems in the process and the results of such researches. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to provide basic and practical concepts about the product service system and also to introduce one of the best PSS design processes.To achieve the goals of this research, questions can be asked and examined: What is a product service system? What does service mean and what are its characteristics according to both traditional and developed approaches? What components does the product service system consist of? What are the benefits and challenges of PSS? What are the types of product service system? In the PSS design process, how the two service-design and product-design processes can be integrated? What are the most important processes presented in the field of PSS design and which process has more clarity, accuracy and comprehensiveness and what is its main structure?Recently, companies produced their products and offered them to customers, and in this way, the strategy of companies' success in the field of economy, were identifying customer needs, also designing and producing products which had multiple capabilities, economic value and competitive quality, to meet customer needs. Today, with the economic crisis, increasing competition between manufacturing companies, increasing environmental problems and concerns, and diverse customer demands, "selling products only" is more difficult than ever Therefore, the design, production and supply of industrial products alone are not responsible and companies and organizations must use more successful strategies to attract and retain customers. Providing services with products can be considered as a strategy that improves competition and achieves social, environmental and economic goals, as well as attracting and retaining customers  In other words, given the increasing competition between manufacturing companies and concerns about their stability in the market environment, it is necessary for companies to move away from the traditional approach with a focus on creating value by the product, and choose an approach that focuses on the customer and his values; An approach that provides services alongside products, can provide more innovation and added value and enable longer communication with customers. Accordingly, we see that the importance of designing and providing services along with products is increasing day by day and continuously. Another challenge for the companies is to integrate and interact these two components instead of paying separate attention to products and services so that they can reap the benefits of this integration. Baines et al. (2007) combined the ideas of Manzini and Vezolli (2003) and Tukker (2004) to describe three kinds of PSS. It should be noted that this category is clearly presented for the first time in Tukker article and has been used in numerous studies: Product-oriented PSS: The provider not only sells a product, but also offers services that are needed during the use phase of the product. Services such as maintenance, recycling, refilling, etc. can be classified in this type.Product-oriented PSS types:Product related services: such as maintenance of escalators or elevators or product warranty or supply of consumables.Providing information, training and consulting: such as consulting about the arrangement of a factory's machines or training on working with a CNC machine.Use-oriented PSS: The Company sells the ability to use or make available a product that does not belong to the customer. Leasing or product sharing are examples of this.Use-oriented PSS types:Product lease (personal and exclusive access): such as renting a food or newspaper stall.Product renting / sharing (temporary personal access): such as renting a bicycle or car for a short and specific period of time (shift use and in order).Product pooling (simultaneous use of a product): such as play equipment and sports in parks, simultaneous use of a recreational or sports environment.Result-oriented PSS: The Company sells the result of the use or capacity of a product that does not belong to the customer. For example, a company instead of selling the paint to the customer, can sell the result which is, painting a house.Result-oriented PSS types:Activity management (often, the method and technology of the activity is determined): such as outsourcing food preparation, cleaning and car washing.Pay per service unit (according to the level of access, use and amount of output): such as payment per copy of the page or payment of car fare per kilometer.Functional result (In contrast to the first case, only the result is emphasized, not the technology and the way it is done): such as providing a company's air conditioning, a contract to guarantee the health of farmers' products.It should be noted that in the field of PSS, new trends (such as digital PSS / service or smart PSS) have been proposed and are being developed that addressing their characteristics and applications is beyond the scope of this article. As mentioned, another important issue is the integration of products and services in product-service systems. Integrating products and services and supporting it requires a system consisting of components of product, service, business model, stakeholders and organizational structure, which is called the product service system, and the correct and accurate design of this system is the concern of methodological experts. In academia, Ulrich (2011) has suggested that either a product or a service can be considered as an "artifact" which is designed by a human being with the same process. Aurich et al. (2006), for product and service design, first considered two systematic processes which similarity and coherence between them can be seen. Then, from the combination and integration of the two mentioned processes, they have proposed the integrated design process of PSS, which is the general process of designing product service systems. Sakao (2011), for designing a product service system, has proposed a process called "SPIPS" which has 7 steps. Marques et al. (2013) also proposed an integrated process of designing product service system that includes four phases: organizational preparation, planning, design and post-design. In their research, Tuan and Park, while methodologically examining and analyzing some PSS design methods, have proposed a general and integrated PSS design method, along with examples illustrating its application in the three types of product service systems introduced. The steps are clear and understandable and have more clarity, accuracy and comprehensiveness than other processes presented. This process consists of 7 steps (includes: PSS idea development, PSS planning, requirement analysis, design and integration, test and refinement, implementation, retirement and recycling) and the design actions, communication with the business model as well as the role and participation of all stakeholders in it are clearly defined, and the application of this process in the design of product oriented, use oriented and result oriented PSS is presented with practical examples. Therefore, it can be used more clearly as a product service system design process, along with practical tools by students and designers.

Intuition is a mental ability based on unconscious knowledge structures which plays a key role in creative processes and intertwined with conscious reasoning, they form the foundation of human thinking. Design, as a complex cognitive process, requires proper use of both of these mental abilities; but unfortunately due to the mere emphasis on using reasoning abilities for solving design problems in academic society, designers do not have appropriate knowledge about intuition. Intuition, as one of the fundamental cognitive capacities, has been less systematically studied as a reliable means for problem-solving processes, which emphasizes the importance of the present study. The advantage of intuitive thinking over logical thinking is its ability to solve complex problems in difficult situations, and since "design" is now considered as a way of problem solving ability, intuitive thinking will have a valuable capacity to play a role in this activity. The main objective of this research is to identify and introduce the factors which influence intuition as a valuable mental ability in the field of design. In other words, the factors that affect intuition of designers in ideation and problem solving during design processes have been identified and introduced to be used as a basis for developing methods to empower intuitive thinking in the design process. The statistical population consists of 60 industrial designers in Tehran, who were randomly selected. The criterion for selecting the sample is having a university degree in industrial design, general familiarity with design methodology and activity in one of the specialized fields as an industrial designer. Among the target population, 75 designers were identified with the mentioned specifications and 60 of them were selected as a statistical sample using Cochran's formula. In order to identify the factors affecting intuition, a questionnaire consisting of 3 descriptive questions and 27 multiple choice questions was used. The validity and reliability of this questionnaire were evaluated and confirmed according to the content analysis method and Cronbach's alpha test, respectively (Cronbach's alpha = 0.72). The method of data analysis in this study is descriptive and inferential and frequency distribution tables and chi-square have been used. Statistical analyzes were performed using SPSS software version 22. The study of the factors which affect intuition of designers in the design process confirms the possibility of strengthening intuitive thinking and consciously paving the way for the occurrence of intuitive events. The results of the research include the introduction of eleven factors which affect intuition of designers in design process in four categories: Circumstance and context, Individual characteristics, knowing and mental processing and synthesis. In the continuation of the research, 11 identified factors affecting intuition, after being introduced to designers, were approved and emphasized, and based on their experiences regarding intuitive events and solving design problems with the help of intuition, 21 related and effective sub-variables affecting intuition of designers identified. These variables can be used for creation and development of methods and tools to empower intuitive thinking and providing conditions for occurrence of intuitive perceptions in design.

The term "feedforward" has been adopted from the control theory and it is less than two decades that has been introduced to the field of interactive design; but unfortunately, interactive product designers still lack the proper understanding of the term; and it can be clearly stated that the lack of clarity in contrasting with other concepts such as feedback and affordance, which have been introduced to the field of design in recent decades, has also made it less used in interactive design. however, the appropriate application of feedforward in this scope, can increase product usability, thus improves the user’s interaction with the product. Interactive design is the design of purposeful and two-way user-product relationship, which is mediated by the interface as well as the context; accordingly, the aforementioned items (user, product, interface and context) can be considered as structural components of interactive design. On the other hand, in an interaction, there are other components that enable purposeful, effective, and reciprocal communication between the user and the product, and are considered the principles governing the interactive relationships, or the executive components of an interaction. In the interactive design process, after studying the structural components and the design goals, three components of feedback, feedforward and affordance and their interdependence must be properly studied and analyzed in order to design a purposeful and mutual communication of user with the product. Based on the above, the purpose of the present study is to investigate and analyze the relevant concepts of the term feedforward, by analogy with the concepts of feedback and affordance, and providing practical examples to clarify its application in the field of interactive design; so while fully understanding the subject, designers can properly use it in designing interactive products. This study by purpose is both fundamental and applied, and is descriptive-analytical in method. Therefore, while introducing the background entry of the term "feedforward" into interactive design, aspects of its similarity and distinction with the concepts of feedback and affordance have been carefully analyzed and investigated with the application of analytical tables; also types of feedforward (including: Inherent, Augmented, Functional, Hidden, False, Nested, Sequential, …) are introduced with applied examples. In analytical tables, for each type of feedforward, the type of user communication skill to understand the feedforward, how it can be presented in the intended product, the usage and the type of information it transmits to the user, and some examples are summarized. This way, designers can gain a good understanding of the types of feedforwards and their applications by comparing and identifying aspects of similarity and differentiation to apply them correctly in the design of interfaces. At the end of the article, the most important requirements for the application of feedforward in the design process, are presented in the form of ten practical guidelines. It seems that after studying and understanding the concepts presented in this paper, the application of guidelines will play a significant role in the proper design of interactive products.

One of the most important issues in the development of children is the development of gross and fine motor skills. Given that recent researches in Iran indicate that a significant percentage of children aged 3 to 6 years have impaired and delayed gross motor skills, finding ways to help these children seems to be essential. Therefore, the aim of this study is to design a toy to improve the teaching and learning of gross motor skills in children with developmental delay age 3 to 6 years. This study by purpose is practical and is based on a five-step process of action research. The required information was collected in a library and field study manner through observation, questionnaire and Denver II test application and statistical data were analyzed in a descriptive manner. At first, the research sample was evaluated for performing gross motor skills and the data of Denver II test were collected and recorded. The findings showed that a significant number of children of this age group, were not capable of performing the intended skills. After need assessment and idea development, the product was designed and prototyped and provided to 36 children with developmental delay to evaluate its effect on improving motor skills. The final results showed that the designed product plays an effective role in improving the gross motor skills of 3 to 6 years old children. This multi-functional toy can be used by children in homes, rehabilitation centers, kindergartens, educational centers and all indoor and outdoor spaces.

The conformity of products affordances and their signifiers with the level of physical and cognitive abilities of users, is a key factor determining the usability of different products, especially interactive products. The multi-functionality of interactive products has created the process of working with them through sequential and nested affordances, Therefore, working with them is more complex and difficult than many products. In some interactive products (such as Mobile phone and some applications), there is the possibility to customize interfaces and some affordances, so users can match them with their needs, level of ability and skill; but in generic interactive products (such as ATM, ticket vending machines) which users have different physical and cognitive abilities, it's not possible to customize and match the products affordances and signifiers with different users, so the interaction involves many problems.
The purpose of this research, is to provide a good solution for improving the design of generic interactive products and enhancing their usability; so it is assumed that designing multi-level affordances can provide the appropriate use of generic interactive products for a wide variety of users. Accordingly, the background of the affordance theory in the field of product design has been briefly outlined. Then, the start point of this research and the reasons for choosing ATM as the case study are mentioned, and the full process of an applied research is described. Applied data in this research is gathered through the field study, using the questionnaires. Independent variables such as age, gender, level of education, user experience and skills, and familiarity with intelligent systems, were selected as the most important variables affecting the understanding of the affordances and the way of using the ATM.
In the first stage of research, the users problems and needs in dealing with the ATM, different users preferences in the design of affordances and the most important variables affecting the desirable affordances, were determined using the questionnaire. In the second stage, significance of the relationship between independent variables with understanding the simplicity or difficulty of the process of interaction with ATM, became clear using the second questionnaire and Chi-square test and the severity of the relationship was determined using Cramer's test. In the third stage, in order to prepare multi-level affordance test, the affordances of three services of ATM were designed in three levels based on the results of the first and second questionnaires. In the fourth stage, the affordances and user interaction steps were programmed and simulated by application, then presented to the statistical sample and tested with the third questionnaire. In the fifth stage, the statistical data were analyzed using SPSS software in descriptive and inferential manners.
The result of this study shows that if be possible to select a level of affordance which is appropriate to the physical and cognitive abilities of the users, the process of doing the work will be less difficult and less complicated and the work will be satisfactory for the user. At the end of the article, some suggestions on how to apply multi-level affordances in generic interactive products are provided.

When a design assignment is given to designers and non-designers, their way of thinking and dealing with the problem and solutions are totally different; thus the design processes will lead to different results. Even different designers may choose different approaches and strategies when dealing with the same problem. How far should a designer focus on the problem and detailed analysis of it before ideation? How should he/she use the problem, the information, the designer›s knowledge and initial ideas to
achieve more acceptable results? This paper, reviews the most important researches which have been done from 1970s and discusses briefly the results as problem oriented, information oriented, solution oriented, and knowledge oriented design strategies. In the following, the design thinking processes proposed by IDEO and Stanford School of Design,
are introduced which are based on solution oriented design. Finally some questions are proposed which could not find any any clear answers in recent researches, and can be followed in future studies, by those interested in the field of design and it›s methodology.