ECollage and FEA Model as Catalysts for Idea Generation

This paper presents a collaborative, future visioning concept design project on the theme of ‘performance wear’, conducted at the University of Helsinki for second-year student craft teachers. The concepts were designed by groups of 3-4 students. As one aspect of the project, the students made digital collages (eCollages) to present their concepts, without any prior technical training in eCollage. The students were required to use the FEA consumer needs model for apparel design (Lamb & Kallal, 1992) which describes aspects of such design through three dimensions – functional, expressive and aesthetic – when considering what performance clothing could be like in a future scenario. We describe the outcomes of the concept design process from three perspectives:1) What kind of eCollages the groups made and how they used ICT in their collages, 2) How the use of eCollages enriched the concept presentations. 3) How the three dimensions of the FEA model were utilised and presented in the eCollages and group presentations. Three sets of data were used in this study: the eCollages, written descriptions of the concepts, and video data of group presentations, held at the final meeting of the course. The results suggest that, at least in design-oriented higher education, open-ended design tasks utilising a digital eCollage presentation format can be successfully conducted without priortechnical training given to students. How students utilised and represented the dimensions of the FEA model in their eCollages and group presentations was particularly interesting. All groups used the model in same hierarchical manner – while the order of the three dimensions varied, the way in which these were treated was constant. They emphasised one of the dimensions, a second dimension was used as a subsidiary element, and the third dimension seemed to be almost incidental to the process of all groups.