Interactional differences and effects between collocated and distributed design

Interactions (i.e. modes of operations through which product development knowledge is generated and externalized in the design process) play a vital role in knowledge processes of product development. Intentional or unintentional changes in interactions could have a significant impact on the design process (impacting e.g. idea generation, costly rework, and time delay). Although the literature has emphasized the importance of various types of interactions, defining and studying interactions from various perspectives are largely missed. In this study, interactions were studied with the following parameters to incorporate various perspective views: multimodal interactions (verbal, graphical, gesture, text and combination), variety of interactions (tools combinations), variation of interactions (frequency of interactions change), collaboration (individual and working together), and designers’ movements and positions. Laboratory experiments in collocated and distributed set-ups were conducted using SmartboardTM and RhinoTM conceptual CAD software to study these parameters. This paper presents initial results from both original and redesign processes, and details follow-up research questions.