From a social perspective, I have been working on how to change current consumption patterns through a change in people's behavior and attitude towards their possessions. The concept is based on how we can value, care for, and preserve our belongings by using theories in the Empathic Design field. I have created a structure that allows people to become an active part of a creative process and create their own products. Through this commitment, an emotional relationship is built between the user and the product, and the product tends to gain a longer life. Based on a method to manufacture your own yarn by reusing old clothes, I want to provide the basic tools for an easy and playful way to build the knowledge needed to produce something useful..

This quantitative study, with qualitative elements, intended to investigate the empathic ability among students and its change during social work education in Sweden. The study used a self-assessment form in the form of a questionnaire sent out to 8 of the 15 universities around the country. Respondents who participated in the survey studied in semester 1 & 2 and semester 6 & 7. The instrument which were used, measure the empathy level of the respondents and was a Swedish translation of the instrument, the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) which is a proven self-assessment form. IRI consists of 28 questions divided into 4 areas (subscales), which together provide a score, where a higher score corresponds to a greater capacity for empathy.

Within the Swedish school and the public library communities it is generally held as a truth that reading of fiction develops the empathic ability of the reader. This opinion is also expressed in political guiding documents for the school system and cultural sector. This paper's main hypothesis is that there is no assembled theoretic ground for the statement that reading of fiction develops the empathic ability. The investigation consists of two parts, the first being theoretical and the second empirical. Definitions of what empathy and reading is, are reviewed in the first part.

The aim of this study was to describe young women's experiences of midwives/ gynaecologists treatment in connection to gynaecological examination. A further aim was to achieve a better understanding of the factors that can form the basis of the experience of treatment. A qualitative study was performed in which the participants (N=10) was Swedish-speaking women aged 18-25 years, with experience of at least one gynaecological examination. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, using an interview guide. The material was analyzed according to Graneheim and Lundman´s (2004) method for qualitative content analysis.

När företag ska utveckla produkter och tjänster behöver de informationsunderlag om kunder och användare. Traditionella marknadsundersökningar kräver ett rationellt förhållningssätt och avslöjar åsikter och attityder, men uppvisar brister när det kommer till att upptäcka omedvetna behov hos användare. Lösningen på denna problematik är att observera användare i deras egen kontext, ett tillvägagångssätt som är vanligt bland industridesigners.Syftet med studien var att jämföra hur industridesigners och marknadsförare arbetar för att samla in information om användare i samband med produkt- och tjänsteutveckling. Därefter syftade studien till att ställa dessa likheter och skillnader i kontrast till tre teorier: Marketing Research Process, Design Thinking samt Empathic Design. Tre intervjuer genomfördes med tre olika företag: ett industridesignföretag, ett marknadsundersökningsföretag samt ett tjänstedesignföretag.Studien resulterade i ett antal slutsatser.

Syftet med denna studie var att identifiera problem och behov som byggare i Sverige stöter på i sin vardag samt anordna en workshop där produktutveckling utifrån dessa behov diskuteras, samt hur denna information kan användas i produktutvecklingen. Studien grundar sig i teorier om innovation, behov och kvalitet, behovsidentifiering, innovationsspridning, produktlivscykel och metoden NABC: Need, Approach, Benefit, Competition. Grunden till arbetet är en föreställning att produktanvändare har behov som dem själva inte är medveten om. Genom att utgå från dessa omedvetna behov kan en bättre produkt utformas. Empatisk design (deltagande observation) användes för att kunna upptäcka outtalade behov samt skapa en god förståelse för byggarnas naturliga arbetsmiljö.

This study is about state officials who handle applications for sickness benefits and about municipal officials who handle applications for financial assistance. The purpose of this study is to explore the differences between the two professional roles regarding their conception about their exercise of authority, in terms of flexibility, individual adjustment, empathy and legal security.The study has a qualitative approach and is based on structured interviews with two state officials and two municipal officials. The questions that this study aims to answer are:- Is there a difference between state officials and municipal officials regarding their experience and use of flexibility? - Is there a difference between state officials and municipal officials regarding their perceptions of legal security, individual adjustment and empathy in their exercise of authority? - What kind of bureaucracy can you find in the two organizations?The results show that the state officials in this study have very limited flexibility due to legislation which makes their exercise of authority neither empathic nor individual. The municipal officials in this study state in their turn that the law entails broad flexibility and the opportunity for them to be empathic and to make individual decisions.

A case study of professional interaction designers' usage of design materials was conducted. Five interviews were performed in order to gain insight in the systems used by designers, how these work, how they collaborate within them, and what they think of recent research about them. Design studios allow collaboration for several users at once. Digital material (mockups, pictures, etc.) are commonly used, but needs to be made analog, e.g. printed, to be usable in the design studio environment.

Design management är ett arbetssätt som har börjat tillämpas av allt fler företag de senaste åren, men det kan fortfarande vara svårt att förstå betydelsen av design management. I uppsatsen undersöks det vilken betydelse en design managers kompetens och position har för samarbetet mellan det designköpande företaget och en designkonsult under ett designinköp. Genom ett flertal intervjuer, utifrån både design managers och designkonsulters perspektiv, undersöks det hur samarbetet fungerar mellan dessa parter. En analys av intervjumaterial med hjälp av en teoretisk referensram bestående av design management-teori, design som en integrerad process och beslutsrollsteori har lett fram till ett antal slutsatser om design management. Några av slutsatserna är att design management, enligt teorierna, som arbetssätt inte är så vanligt och att det finns en viss samarbetsbrist enligt de intervjuade designkonsulterna, som i viss mån underlättas om design managern har kunskap om vad design innebär..

This study is based on the public eldercare assistances administrators and unit managers perspective. The purpose of this study is to describe and understand how the assistance administrator and unit manager approach elderly needs, who can be harder to accommodate as well as alternative providers that also can meet the needs of the elderly. It is important to gain more knowledge about how assistance administrators and unit managers look at these aspects, what their attitude and approach is towards them. This is important to learn more about because the assistance administrators and unit managers have discretion in their work and the power to change and affect the elderlys situation in a significant way. They decide on actions and design implementation to meet the needs of the elderly and enable them a reasonable standard of living.The choice of method used in this study was qualitative through semi-structured interviews, conducted with assistance officers and unit managers.

In our study, we investigated how the streamed TV domain relates to existing design principles for web design. Further, we have investigated whether there are specific characteristics of the domain that the design principles do not cover. In the survey we have studied two sites which are representative of the streamed TV domain. Finally, we discuss how applicable the design principles are for the domain and the specific characteristics that would require new or further developed design principles..

The final stage of a designers work is always a bit tricky. Design is an abstract phenomenon and no one can tell when a design is really finished. The design process that designers work within has been thoroughly studied but cannot be truly mapped with strict constraints which the designer can follow to succeed. Therefore, in this paper we take a look at the final stage in the design process. The main goal is to get more knowledge and highlight key factors about what designers face when they are about finish their design or what forces them to leave a project that can stay in development for eternity.

I work on a lighting design for a dance performance to be on tour. A lighting design adapted for three different conditions was made: - One comprehensive where I allow myself a great deal of creative freedom, adapted for the stages with major technical conditions. - One smaller version for stages with less equipment and with less time for preparation on site. - One design for very simple conditions. I also examine the specific differences between typical theatrical lighting design and typical dance lighting design, and the best way to prepare for the hands-on stage design phase..

A design methodology to mitigate timing problems due to long wire delays is proposed. The timing problems are taking care of at architecture level instead of layout level in this design method so that no change is needed when the whole design goes to backend design. Hence design iterations are avoided by using this design methodology. The proposed design method is based on STARI architecture, and a novel initialization mechanism is proposed in this paper. Low frequency global clock is used to synchronize the communication and PLLs are used to provide high frequency working clocks.

This thesis introduces Kongjian Yu?s design approach in terms of industrial heritage conservation in connection to transformation and urban design. The approach is examined respectively on two cases from China and USA. The thesis give a brief introduction to current achievement in conservation research and general profile of industrial conservation practice. Based on case and theory study, Yu?s design approach is carefully applied to an industrial area Nyhamnen in Malmö and a design proposal is produced.