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EPDE2022/1199
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ENGINEERING AND PRODUCT DESIGN EDUCATION
8–9 SEPTEMBER 2022, LONDON SOUTH BANK UNIVERSITY, LONDON, UK
EXPLORE, RESPOND, ADAPT: THE ROLE OF RISK
AND EXPERTISE IN HYBRID (SOFT/HARD)
PRODUCT EDUCATION
Sue FAIRBURN and Stephanie E. PHILLIPS
Wilson School of Design, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Canada
ABSTRACT
Design education is working in an expanding field of environmental contexts. The coming generations
will witness changing climates that drive them toward migration to the poles and survivalism. As we
explore and settle further from our familiar locales, how might we respond to risk before we adapt? Why
are risk and expertise in extreme environments relevant to future design education?
In accessing extreme environments, humans require technical products and protective equipment (PPE)
to survive and thrive. This paper shares experience from hybrid (soft and hard) product design education
where extremes (environment and context) inform the curriculum. Projects are challenge-based and set
in high-risk environments. Starting from the unfamiliar environmental contexts, students learn from
experts who have mitigated risks and developed specialty knowledge-base and technical skills relevant
to this expanded field. The year 3 curriculum model is collaborative, explorative and technically
demanding with a 7-week project involving expertise in technology, the body and context/users.
Iterative prototyping happens in on-site speciality labs with early and frequent testing. The student
teams self-organize and project-manage their way to a full scale, functional prototype that is evaluated
through design scenarios, expert feedback, field-based test protocols (on and off-site).
This paper reflects on project outcomes over 5 years. Informed by student and stakeholder feedback, it
offers perspectives and recommendations on the necessity of an expanded ‘environmental’ field for this
generation of risk-engaged designers. Future-proofing design education derives benefit from
introducing the unfamiliar and unknowns so students can explore, respond, and adapt as designers.
Keywords: Protective equipment, extreme environments, human factors, technologies, industry
partnerships, climate crisis
1 INTRODUCTION
Over the coming decades, design education will necessitate an awareness of an ‘expanded field’ of
environmental contexts due in part to climate change and there is a growing human desire to democratise
exploration and adventure tourism to all corners and surfaces of the planet [1]. These shifts require
additional demands in the products that enable humans to explore, respond and adapt. The impact of
climate change will be exposure to rapid weather systems, with more extremes (temperature, humidity,
precipitation), and much of it involving coastal settings. Scientist/Author Jim Al-Khalili writes;
“Predictions about the way in which our lives will change thanks to advances in science and technology
are spread across that wide expanse between the inevitable and the utterly foreseen” [2] Climate Change
Scientist Julia Slingo adds that the interaction of the systems on which we rely, both in everyday
situations and in emergencies (e.g. telecommunications, transportation, etc.), are the basis for “a new
set of circumstances and pose new challenges about how secure we will be in the future” and these
aspects of the changing environmental context necessitate the need to “go beyond plan and prepare to
adapt - to climate-proof our lives” [3]. Understanding the challenges requires us to access regions of
the planet that test the limits of technology and the human body. While there are many places on the
planet that are conducive to human life, there are many places where humans go that require them to
prepare and adapt to extreme conditions. Our interest to date has been in polar regions, oceans, and
mountains. In pursuit of these settings, we push the limits of the human body and protective equipment.
In doing so, we encounter challenges that come with living in a range of non-ideal environments. It is
these non-ideal, extraordinary, extreme environments that raise our interest and expand the learning of
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our students to work beyond what is known and ideal. We seek learning opportunities based in the
survival measures offered by protective apparel/equipment/devices that human’s pair with to explore
extreme environments, or survival through design.
2 ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXTS AS [DESIGN] EDUCATION PRACTICE
While the ‘field’ varies in location and context, the exploration of more extreme environments is
growing in popularity and therein presents an opportunity to respond to user needs and meet the
environmental demands. What is every day to some who regularly plan, prepare, and access
environment-based recreation, may soon become extreme as conditions shift unexpectedly.
The peri-urban zone is a central part of the structure and functioning of urban systems, as it represents
an important extension of major cities, accessed for resources, for recreation and leisure, and for
infrastructure developments [4]. Regions offering mountain, forest and coastal features draw increasing
numbers to the peri-urban environment, and the four-season access translates into incidents requiring
Search and Rescue (SAR) interventions across numerous settings and weather conditions. Annual
regional incident reports indicate a general increase in responses over the last 30 years (Figure 1b), more
than population increases, supporting the trend towards a growing adventure tourism and the
accompanying risks [5].
Figure 1a. Search and Rescue Figure 1b. Search and Rescue (SARS)
situation in alpine, winter conditions, Results 1991/92 to 2018/19 (B.C. SARS)
Adventure tourism and eco-education in polar climates is also increasing. Maher [6] attributes the
increases to the unknown nature of arctic locales, the attention of the media to climate change, and to
notable designations such as International Polar Year (IPY). He sums up the underlying reasons for the
trend in the sobering statement that people want to “see it before it’s gone”. This desire to understand
and connect with our planet and enjoy all that nature has to offer results in more people venturing into
this cold and often harsh climate. Furthermore, new technologies in materials and equipment enable
people to enjoy outdoor pursuits regardless of the weather in peri-urban areas, and to push the limits and
explore the cold climates in more remote arctic settings in higher numbers, which in turn leads to greater
risks. Institutional expertise, peri-urban and proximal-polar geographical setting, and
industrial/academic partners are considered alongside the growing environmental need for students to
respond to the challenges afforded by this approach to design education.
3 EXPANSIVE ENVIRONMENTAL [DESIGN] METHODOLOGY
In the field of design education, this meeting of object and opportunity is informing the curriculum in
the design of technical apparel and equipment, but it offers potential across design. Meyer and Norman
[7] note that “skills for developing creative solutions to complex problems are increasingly essential.”
They group design challenges into performance, systemic, contextual and global and highlight the skills
most relevant to each group before offering that “designer’s responsibilities are expanding beyond the
technical to include the organizational and managerial.” Their position is to expand beyond a design
school’s emphasis on practice, and on the research university’s emphasis on evidence, theory, and
principles. What does it mean for a programme to offer both evidence-based design theory and principles
alongside technical, practice-based education?
Designers are moving their attention from making-to-making sense of complex information to define
the problem. Working with others, across disciplines, is inherent in these problems and this introduces
multi-modal methodology. In the context of adventure tourism, these methodologies could include the
EPDE2022/1199
knowledge of the limitations of the human body in various environments, technical tests for protective
equipment, human and equipment-related demands for exposure, and competences to recover from
unexpected incidents where human or equipment are insufficient for comfort or safety. In this case,
curriculum draws on technical information from psychology, physiology, material science, geography,
etc. and professionals in first response, health and safety, medicine, materials, and engineering, etc. The
curriculum is collaborative, explorative and involves technically challenging prototyping to various
degrees of fidelity. This ‘expanded field’ benefits from technologies and partnerships with emerging
industries and the role of design is in understanding the layering and intersections of applied expertise
that can be achieved with design methodologies that facilitate curriculum innovation.
4 THE ROLE OF THE [DESIGN] PROJECT
This paper exemplifies a project-based approach to accessing an expanded field of environmental
contexts. Students confer with users to gather and analyse their needs, with the aim of innovatively and
economically improving function, performance, and comfort, before considering manufacturing
requirements in the development of solutions. At its core, the project involves experts as providers of
knowledge, experience-based examples to contextualize that knowledge, and as mentors: body expert,
product expert, and user expert. The project sits in term 6 (8 terms, 4 years) of an undergraduate
design degree, when students are also undergoing industry experience practicums and considering
careers choices. At the outset, the project serves as a ‘testbed’ as it requires them to identify their role,
noting their strengths, skills, and area of specialization, in addition possible ‘non-design’ positions of
leadership, project management, and team negotiation. Martela [8] identifies some of the essential
benefits of teamwork in its’ ability to focus on practical and emotional characteristics. The project and
teams are given the space and the autonomy to self-organize and proceed with faculty guidance. In doing
so, the intent is for them to achieve the characteristics of what Martela [8] describes as a ‘well-
functioning team’, such as ‘asking and giving advice, helping each other out, sharing the workload
fairly, knowing each other's strengths and weaknesses, and trusting each other.’
Project evaluation was informed by a survey distributed to all course alumni (2017-2021), who were
reminded of the course contexts: dangerous and unpredictable. The questions informed insights into
aspects of the course's learning objectives, content and activities in the areas of learning impact, risk,
and expertise. Question formats included 5-point Likert scale, checklists and short answer.
5 A PROJECT OF ENVIRONMENTAL [DESIGN] CONTEXTS: A CASE STUDY
The project arose from discussions with industry: the timing reflects the industry standard for innovation
projects (6-7 weeks) and the output reflects the manufacturing specialty of the region. The project runs
in cycles, so yearly cohorts join a project ‘in progress’, which facilitates critical analysis of prior
approaches but requires students to apply core principles to a new context; thus, integrating different
experts, users, and criteria. The expansive and collaborative project space is presented across 5 iterations
(2017-2021). The original project on which the course was based, was brought to the institution by a
well-established industry partner in the protective apparel and equipment sector. Table 1 provides an
overview of the projects to date, each for specific user and environmental context.
The project cycle is set up to ladder, with each set of 3 iterations building on aspects of the prior
prototype. For example, year 1 thermal rewarming project was deployed and tested in field conditions
using simulated protocols by students in the Design of Technical Apparel programme and professional
SAR personnel. Year 2 thermal rewarming project underwent field-based testing aboard a vessel during
a snorkel safari expedition where the prototype was deployed with a dry user and all features were
demonstrated during simulated protocols. Year 3 thermal rewarming project iteration was deployed on
a rescue vessel using a test protocol written for a coast guard team. The data from the testing was
provided to the next group of students to build upon. The following figures show some of the key
activities integrated into the project, defining the environmental context-specific functional hierarchy
(Figure 2), design development (Figure 3), deployment examples (Figure 4).
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Table 1. Products for extreme contexts soft & hard goods projects
Figure 2. Functional planning and prototype assessment matrix (ENIX)
Figure 3. Iteration 1 - Small scale and full-scale prototyping of the Burrito: ideation development,
anthropometrics, prototyping, and integration with medical equipment (image credits: Alisa Yao)
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Figure 4. left: Thermal rewarming projects: left peri-urban SAR (2017) (credit: Alisa Yao), centre: Polar
Burrito (2018) shown in field testing aboard a vessel during a snorkel safari (credit: Jeff Britnell), right
ENIX (2019) for marine environments being field tested by the Coast Guard (credit: S. Phillips)
6 RESULTS, FINDINGS, AND INSIGHTS
Design education is a constantly changing field, with creativity a factor in pedagogy as well as practice.
The specific project evaluation survey revealed insights on risk, laddering and expertise.
Risk: Thirteen responses were received for the project questionnaire (n=13 of 20, 65% response rate).
All students responded that the project ‘helped them grow as designers’ with 77% of the students
“strongly agreeing”. Our enquiry into risk and expertise yielded interesting insights, in that 60% of
students “agreed” with the statement that the project informed their willingness to take risks in their
other design project, yet 23% were “neutral” and 15% “disagreed”. In comparison, 93% of students
“agreed” (of which 54% “strongly agreed”) that the project informed their understanding of risk from
the perspective of the users and the context (Figure 5).
Figure 5. Student project questionnaire: Likert scale results on risk
Laddering: Another aspect of this project is the laddering cycle of 3 years. When asked how reviewing
prior prototypes informed their design process, student responses focused on the value of reverse
engineering and hands-on testing, both front-end analysis methods: “...understanding why the previous
year did what they did in terms of the last generation product was a great foundation to build upon. It
evoked inspiration to push the previous boundaries and to find out what worked and what did not- to
learn and improve on the next generation product.” Another student offered; “By interacting with
previous prototypes, we were able to discover problems (or great solutions) of that prototype’s potential
in that context...this allowed us to search for potential problems and test new ideas to resolve for our
context.” Diving deeper into the project’s approach, one student noted that they were able to integrate
new knowledge “…mostly by studying and testing the old product and comparing to the new prototypes
to find out how to optimize usability, affordances and overall function.” The level of critical analysis
was specific, with another student noting “…we could see the level of detail and overall scale we could
expect and ... understand the product in a tangible way” and another noted even more tangible elements
of the design: “…utilize similar closing techniques but iterate new solutions for a colder climate with
increased variables that could limit the burritos success (cold, ice, wet etc.), this allowed us to build off
previous prototypes closing system to understand what would be successful and not.”
Expertise: The programme focuses on critical thinking skills based on quantitative and qualitative
research. Students review a range of secondary research sources (technical reports, scientific papers,
patents, etc.) and learn skills to identify, access, communicate with and interview a range of experts.
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The role of expertise is highlighted in this project due to the unknown context and the risk-level
associated with the context. When asked of the importance of this aspect, 84.6% (11 of 13 students)
strongly agreed it was important to their understanding. Students were also asked whether the project
gave them skills or confidence in reaching out to experts with 23.1% strongly agreeing/46.2 %
agreeing that they developed their skills through the project, while 38.5% strongly agreeing/46.2 %.
This was echoed by one student’s comment: “Reaching out to experts and having interviews is really
important to designers and for personal development. I feel I was already comfortable doing this but for
those who may not have been, it would be an even more important experience to have.” The mediation
of expertise is a central challenge for many designers and therefore one we explored and supported.
When asked, 92% of the students (11 of 12) indicated that the project contributed to their ability to
compare and evaluate information obtained from different sources.
7 DISCUSSION & CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
This paper offers recommendations and perspectives on the notion of an expanded field of context for a
future generation of design practitioners. The roles of risk and expertise were explored in depth with the
student cohorts for the past five years. The area of risk analysis is essential in complex environments
where uncertainty is key and new research suggests that there are discrepancies between what users
declare as risk behaviour and what they do [9]. The findings with regards to expertise reinforced the
value in developing skills and confidence in reaching out and in comparing and evaluating information
from different sources, as expected. However, researching the role of risk yielded interesting insights.
While the faculty saw the students take notable risks in the project based on the ‘big’ nature of the
deliverables, the demanding research element, and the multiple points of reference outside their
knowledge base, the student survey results didn’t support this observation. Instead, we saw that the
project helped them to understand risk, but that understanding of risk was informed through the
perspective of the user and context.
The curriculum model is a general foundation in design as well as specialization. Held in high regard
are the niche manufacturing industries in the region (technical equipment, adventure apparel, material
innovation, survival gear, and emergent technologies). The industry-based Programme Advisory
Committee (PAC) guides the programme objectives and the specific skills needed by students/graduates,
as they reflect on the changing labour market. The PAC has responsibility and opportunity. As evidenced
by the project described in this paper, the faculty aims for a balance of theory and practice founded in
direct industry experience and worthy problems. As the programme is growing quickly, and successive
years see larger cohorts, this may introduce complexities to this project and team structure and roles,
but it may also provide opportunity for further expanding the fields of context.
REFERENCES
[1] Buckley R. C. (2004b) Commercial adventure recreation in remote areas: the edge of tourism. In
T.V. Singh (ed.) New Horizons in Tourism (pp. 37-48). Oxford: CAB International.
[2] Al-Khalili J. (2018) What the Future Looks Like, Ed by Jim Al-Khalili Pub the Experiment New
York.
[3] Julia Slingo (2018) Chapter 3: Climate Change in What the Future Looks Like, Ed by Jim Al-
Khalili Pub the Experiment New York.
[4] Bryant and Charvet, (2003) http://www.cjrs-rcsr.org/archives/26-2-3/1-Bryant.pdf
[5] Government of B.C. Report (2019) Emergency Management Operational Summary.
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/public-safety-and-emergency-services/emergency-
preparedness-response-recovery/embc/ecc-statistics/sar_results_fy_18_19.pdf accessed 4 Mar 22.
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(eds.), The Interconnected Arctic — UArctic Congress 2016, Springer Polar Sciences, DOI
10.1007/978-3-319-57532-2_22
[7] Meyer M. W. and Norman D. (2020) Changing Design Education for the 21st Century, she ji,
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