Topic 3:
Modelling
Modelling is an essential tool for the designer. The various modelling tools and approaches help designers explore and communicate their thinking and inquiry.
Designers use conceptual modelling to assist their understanding by simulating the subject matter they represent. Designers should consider systems, services and products in relation to what they should do, how they should behave, what they look like and whether they will be understood by the users in the manner intended.
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Graphical models can take many forms, but their prime function is always the same—to simplify the data and present it in such a way that understanding of what is being presented aids further development or discussion. Designers utilize graphical modelling as a tool to explore creative solutions and refine ideas from the technically impossible to the technically possible, widening the constraints of what is feasible.
Designers use physical models to visualize information about the context that the model represents. It is very common for physical models of large objects to be scaled down and smaller objects scaled up for ease of visualization. The primary goal of physical modelling is to test aspects of a product against user requirements. Thorough testing at the design development stage ensures that an appropriate product is developed.
As technologies improve and the software becomes more powerful, so do the opportunities for designers to create new and exciting products, services and systems. Greater freedom in customization and personalization of products has a significant impact on the end user. The ability to virtually prototype, visualize and share designs enhances the whole design cycle from data analysis through to final designs.
The growth in computing power has had a major impact on modelling with computer-aided manufacture. Rapid software and hardware developments allow new opportunities and exciting new technologies to create dynamic modelling of ever-greater complexity. Models can be simulated by designers using software, tested and trialled virtually before sending to a variety of peripheral machines for prototype manufacture in an ever-increasing range of materials. The ease of sending this digital data across continents for manufacture of prototypes has major implications for data and design protection.
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