Resolving the Paradox in User-centred Design through Flexible Prototyping (REPAR)

Name Derya Ozcelik, Javier Quevedo
Advisor Jacques Terken, Jean-Bernard Martens, Zeljko Obrenovic

The REPAR project is a collaborative project between Eindhoven University of Technology, Twente University and several Dutch companies including Philips Research, DAFTrucks, OCé Technologies and Rademaker BV and is funded by the Ministry of Economic Affairs through the IOP-Integrated Product Creation and Realisation. The project has two main objectives: to develop a suite of tools for flexible prototyping both for the early and later stages of the design process, and to establish and test an associated set of protocols guiding designers how to facilitate the dialogue between designer and user using these tools.
One subproject focuses on extending an existing tool for interactive sketching, taking into consideration requirements from industry. A second subproject focuses on extending an existing tool for creating Virtual Reality prototypes. A third subproject investigates how the tools may be used to facilitate the dialogue between designer and user, an aspect that is crucial to any good design process. This subproject will result in validated protocols guiding designers to confront their ideas with end users, therewith increasing the contribution of end users to the early stages of concept development.  
The companies take an active role in the project by contributing use cases and by providing a context for requirements gathering and for testing and validating the tools and protocols. Several additional companies participate in the industrial user group.