Understanding the characteristics between design and non-design background students in product development process and its implications

Abstract

As only technical advancement in the market is not enough to meet increasingly higher expectations of users, companies have tried to take the initiative through multi-disciplinary approach in the product development process. As their influencing the academia, non-design background students are expected to experience innovation through design. However, there has been a lack of understanding of their characteristics comparing to design background students. Therefore, this study aims to find out the similarities and differences between design and non-design background students in the product development process. Through a design course where both groups of students had taken, distinctive characteristics between groups were identified. The key contribution of this study lays a good foundation for the development of design education for non-design background students. The implications and limitations are discussed as well.