Design Cycle

Overview

The "Design Cycle" is how researchers describe the design process for products and research studies. Knowing where in the design cycle a project currently is can help researchers and developers understand which ergonomic performance assessment methods are best used for their research question.

Design Waterfall

Before the design cycle, people used what was known as the "waterfall" model when looking at design. It typically had 5 components: Requirements, Design, Implementation, Verification, and Maintenance. This model can be seen in the image below. As you can see, it is called the waterfall model because it looks like a waterfall, in that one thing leads to another in a progressive manner. However, once moved on to the next step, you cannot go back to a previous step, as you cannot go back up a waterfall. This inflexibility in ability to return to previous steps is what led designers and researchers to look for a new model of design.

Design Cycle

The current model of design is more circular than linear, as it allows for recursion on previous steps. Models of the design cycle differ depending on who you ask, but they typically have some version of these 4 sections: Investigate, Plan, Create, and Evaluate. The circular model of design allows for movement between the four sections (except for between "investigate" and "create", as you should always plan or evaluate before creation). This model is greatly improved from the waterfall model and is what is used by the majority of researchers and designers today.