The research presented explores traditional Chinese visual design elements with a goal of incorporating them into contemporary design. It seeks to provide insight into how Chinese and non-Chinese designers and non-designers recognize common visual design elements as being associated with Chinese design. As a result, the research explores three characteristics: a) handicraft; b) naturalism; and c) design with meaning, which can be key points in understanding traditional Chinese design. Furthermore, the research explores two sets of design criteria that can guide designers to apply these representative design elements into contemporary design in order to express Chinese culture.

In response to the rapid rise of emerging markets, shorter product lifecycles, increasing global exchange and worldwide competition, companies are implementing `sustainable development' as a mechanism by which to maintain competitive global advantage. Sustainable product development approaches used in industry focus mainly on environmental issues, and to a certain extent on social and economic aspects. Unfortunately, companies have often ignored or are unsure of how to deal with the cultural dimensions of sustainable product development. Multi-nationals expanding their business across international boundaries are agents of cultural change and should be cognizant of the impact their products have on local markets. Companies need to develop a deeper understanding of local cultures in order to design and deliver products that are not only economically viable but also culturally appropriate. To demonstrate applicability of cultural appropriate design, this research undertakes a case study of food systems in India specifically focusing on the exchange of fresh fruits and vegetables (FFV). This study focuses on understanding the entire supply chain of FFV exchange, which includes consumer experiences, distribution practices and production processes. This study also compares different distribution channels and exchange practices and analyzes the pattern of authority between different players within the distribution network. The ethnographic methods for data collection included a photo-journal assignment, shop-along visits, semi-structured interviews, a participatory design activity and focus group studies. The study revealed that traditional retail formats like pushcart vendors, street retailers and city retail markets are generally preferred over modern retail stores. For consumers, shopping is a non-choreographed activity often resulting in exercising, socializing and accidental purchases. Informal communication, personal relationships and openness to bargaining were important aspects of the consumer-retailer relationship. This study presents cultural insights into interactions, artifacts and contexts relevant to FFV systems in India. It also presents key implications for the field of design, design research, cultural studies, consumer research and sustainability. The insights gained from this study will act as guidelines for designers, researchers and corporations interested in designing products and services that are culturally appropriate to contexts of production, distribution and consumption.

All too often, industrial designers face seemingly intractable obstacles as they endeavor to, as Simon (1996, p. 111) describes, devise "courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones." These problems, described by Rittel and Webber (1973) as "wicked," are insurmountable due to the contradictory and changing nature of their requirements. I argue that that industrial design (ID) is largely subject to Rittel's quandary because of its penchant for producing single solutions for large populations; such design solutions are bound, in some senses, to fail due to the contradictory and changing nature of large and, thus, inherently diverse populations. This one-size-fits-all approach is not a necessary attribute of ID, rather, it is a consequence of the time in which it came into being, specifically, the period of industrial mass production. Fortunately, new, agile manufacturing techniques, inexpensive sensors, and machine learning provide an alternative course for ID to take, but it requires a new way of thinking and it requires a new set of methods, which I will elaborate in this thesis. According to Duguay, Landry, and Pasin (1997), we are entering an age where it will be feasible to produce individualized, one-off products from large-scale industrial manufacturing facilities in a way that is not only cost effective, but in many ways as cost effective as the existing techniques of mass production. By availing ourselves of these opportunities, we can tame the problem, not by defeating Rittel's logic, rather by reducing the extent to which his theories are appropriate to the domain of ID. This thesis also describes a test study: an experiment whose design was guided by the proposed design methodologies. The goal of the experiment was to determine the feasibility of a noninvasive system for measuring the health of the forearm muscles. Such a tool would provide the basis for assessing the true impact and possible pathogeny of the manual use of products or modifications to products. Previously, it was considered impossible to use surface electromyography (as opposed to needle or wire based electromyography) to assess muscular activity and muscular health due to the complexity of the arrangement of muscles in the forearm. Attempts to overcome this problem have failed because they have tried to create a single solution for all people. My hypothesis is that, by designing for each individual, a solution may be found. Specifically, I show that, for any given individual, there is a high correlation between the EMG signal and the movements of the fingers that, ostensibly, those muscles control. In other words, by knowing, with great accuracy, the position and the motion of the hand then it would become possible to disambiguate the mixed signals coming from the complex web of muscles in the forearm and enable the assessment of the forearm's health by non-invasive means.

This dissertation examines the use of color in lowrider car customizations. It studies the relationships among car owners, car painters, and car clubs in the process of selection, and manipulation of color. This research studies how color is constructed as an element for individual and community differentiation. Also included is the examination of the influence of car clubs in the design process, the understanding of color by car painters and car owners, and the cultural values associated with color in this community. This research argues that through the use, manipulation, and implementation of color as a visual/design element, lowriders challenge, transgress, and resist the preconceived notions of space, aesthetic hegemony, and social disparity they experience. In this case, color as a cultural expression, becomes a pivotal element to narrate and retell their stories of struggle and endurance, as well as to envision a different world. This research frames Chicana/o vernacular production, and color use as being central to the borderland experience of this community. Finally, this research follows the discourse of taste, as this concept has been used to create social categories of exotic otherness and the perpetuation of specific aesthetic epistemologies. In this context, it presents lowriders as expression of a Chicana/o network of vernacular border knowledge. This dissertation concludes by framing the Low n' Slow movement, in the context of healing and emancipating practices enacted by subjugated communities in order to survive, give sense to their reality, and to envision a more egalitarian world.

As digital technology promises immediacy and interactivity in communication, sight and sound in motion graphics has expanded the range of design possibilities in advertising, social networking, and telecommunication beyond the visual realm. The experience of seeing has been greatly enriched by sound as visual solutions become dynamic and multi-dimensional. The ability to record and transfer sight and sound with new media has granted the designer more control in manipulating a viewer's experience of time and space. This control allows time-based form to become the foundation that establishes many interactive, multisensory and interdisciplinary applications. Is conventional design theory for print media adequate to effectively approach time-based form? If not, what is the core element that is required to balance the static and dynamic aspects of time in new media? Should time-related theories and methodologies from other disciplines be adopted into our design principles? If so, how would this knowledge be integrated? How can this experience in time be effectively transferred to paper? Unless the role of the time dimension in sight is operationally deconstructed and retained with sound, it is very challenging to control the design in this fugitive form. Time activation refers to how time and the perception of time can be manipulated for design and communication purposes. Sound, as a shortcut to the active time design element, not only encapsulates the structure of its "invisible" time-based form, but also makes changes in time conspicuously measurable and comparable. Two experiments reflect the influence of sound on imagery, a slideshow and video, as well as how the dynamics in time are represented across all design media. A cyclical time-based model is established to reconnect the conventional design principles learned in print media with time-based media. This knowledge helps expand static images to motion and encapsulate motion in stasis. The findings provide creative methods for approaching visualization, interactivity, and design education.