Vol 9 - Issue 3

Technology and Innovation

List of Articles

It is common to study scientific production through bibliometric analyses. In this article, we propose to focus more specifically on research that revolves around both design thinking or an approach to design closely related to it, and on the game or the transformation of devices through gamification. To accomplish this, we have assembled an initial reference corpus by querying the title field of three international scientific resources (Google Scholar, Scopus, and Web of Science). This work has two objectives. The first is to estimate the evolution and distribution of research on these topics over the past 20 years. The second pertains to whether or not it is worthwhile to track this evolution through the sole indexing portal for international scientific works, Web of Science. We demonstrate, through the creation of a second corpus, that concerning research on these subjects, the Web of Science platform provides a fairly good overview of ongoing work, provided that a reference corpus is established by querying the abstract field, not just the title field.

This chapter presents two socio-technical systems that combine the use of serious games, especially digital ones, with design thinking. The aim of this approach is to test whether such a combination is possible. To this end, we conduct a comparative study of two serious games in which we were involved. Through a reflexive approach and by mobilizing surveys and field studies, the approach is not only feasible, but also allows for a good complementarity between game phases and design thinking. However, the way in which the game activity is conceived seems essential to achieve this. In fact, the strategy of combining these two phases is more effective than superimposing them.

Design thinking is a method of creativity based on empathy, storytelling and prototyping. These three characteristics are explained in particular by Tim Brown, one of whose books, Change by design (2009) is studied precisely in this article which seeks to establish a connection with design fiction, this new approach to design based on prototyping from of the science fiction imaginary. The Near Future Laboratory book The Manual of Design Fiction (2022) serves as a reference for analyzing the links between design fiction and design thinking. The Esoldat project is an example of design fiction whose function is notably to produce foresight. Science fiction and design thinking make it possible to extract the imaginary of organizations and create stories to optimize strategic discourse. Design fiction would therefore benefit from turning to design thinking methods to further improve a methodology oriented towards the implementation of innovation policies using the imaginary of experts, but also of organizational employees.

Design Thinking (DT) is a problem-solving approach based on a collaborative process involving end-user feedback. This process consists of different steps with different iterations and changes over time. However, DT is still a linear method, which takes time to implement a solution and does not deal with the work organization within the team. To address the limitations of DT and to reduce the development time, this paper proposes the integration of agile method into journey map, which is one of DT tools used to analyze the user needs. The proposed approach was called Agile Design Thinking (ADT). The results show that journey map permits an agile management approach in DT. This integration ensures the user participation and enables an effective interaction between the user and the team, a rapid implementation of concrete solutions, and a fast reaction to the user appreciation. A case study was conducted on the well-being of elders at home to illustrate the implementation of the proposed ADT. This study was successfully carried out by students of IDEAS (Innovation et Design EvAlués par les uSages) master’s degree at the ENSGSI (Ecole Nationale Supérieure en Génie des Systèmes et de l’Innovation) engineering school.

On 17 March 2020, a team of researchers, managers and engineers joined forces to design a technical object considered essential at the time: an artificial respirator called MakAir, designed for the mechanical ventilation of patients suffering from pneumonia caused by the coronavirus 2019, which could develop into acute respiratory distress syndrome. This article describes and retraces the design dynamics of this innovative medical device, analysing it from the perspective of the three types of singularity that make it up: technical, socio-technical and contextual.

Codesign, or the involvement of target users in the design of a product or service, is promising but does not guarantee the achievement of objectives. Drawing on the latest work from the course of action [THE 15], we examined the experience of three people who participated in codesign sessions in cyberhealth. Our analysis resulted in maps of these individuals’ experiences, which visually represent the dynamics of their experience and highlight what was significant from their point of view. Our results suggest that participants were strongly mobilized by the reinterpretation of elements they believed were shared in their communities. They were concerned with systemic issues that, although complementary, questioned the solution proposed for the cogesign project. Our results lead us to propose three avenues to explore to optimize the codesign process.

Designing user-friendly products requires methodological skills but also an empathetic and collaborative approach towards the user. A wide variety of tools from many disciplinary fields are traditionally used in design thinking or user-centred design, which sometimes makes it difficult to choose and train in these tools. Within the framework of our research and educational activities, we have proposed a tool-based approach to guide the engineering student towards a better consideration of the user when designing a new product. The tool-based approach has been used for several semesters and has been evaluated by students. The results highlight the usefulness of the tools and the approach as well as the support it provides for taking the user into account, adopting an empathic approach and multidisciplinary work. The results also highlight a difference in appropriation according to the profiles of engineering students. These results allow us to conclude on the relevance of the P&P approach from a pedagogical point of view and on ways of improving the approach.