Traditional product design cycle places user input on late stages of product development. User centered design places user input earlier on the design cycle. However, to really fulfill the needs of the consumer, the user input has to be placed in the very beginning of the development, right in the design brief stage.  This is one of the principles of the Empathic Design Approach.

The material landscape is everything that we surround ourselves with, from the products that we purchase and place in our home to the products that are purchased for us that we have to work with. This video talks about how the material landscape connects with our personality and how functionality and super-functionality influence industrial design.

Deana McDonagh talks about the importance of empathy when designing for people that are different from you and about the so called Empathic Horizon.

A presentation is also available on iFoundry’s SlideShare channel. 

Industrial design equates to everything we touch from the moment we wake up to the moment we fall asleep.  It literally shape our daily experiences. 

This presentation by Deana McDonagh briefly introduces industrial design and its importance for our daily life. 

Bruce Litchfield, Deana McDonagh, and Sharra Vostral are discussed in the Daily Illini article here.