Definition
What-if design is an integrative design support method that supplies designers with information on the potential (hidden) effects of design decisions (van Houten and Lutters 2006).
Theory and Application
What-if design focuses on an elaborate ambition: the support of product development stakeholders – commonly addressed as design engineers in this text – by actually taking over routine tasks. With a support system based on what-if design, design engineers can spend less time on basic knowledge work and focus on what they do best: find creative solutions for the more challenging problems (Lutters et al. 2004). Consequently, what-if design aims at proactively supporting the design engineer in knowledge work that is considered routine or knowable in a specific field.
The basic approach for what-if design is the explication and exploration of potential consequences of design decisions to supply design engineers with information on the potential (hidden) effects of their...
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de Lange, J. (2019). “What-If” Design. In: Chatti, S., Laperrière, L., Reinhart, G., Tolio, T. (eds) CIRP Encyclopedia of Production Engineering. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-53120-4_6473
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-53120-4_6473
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