COLLABORATIVE DESIGN
Reinventing the
DRAWING BOARD
Although 2D and 3D technologies are revolutionising design engineering, signifi cant
improvements are yet to be made, especially in the area of collaborative remote design
involving multi-disciplinary teams
Over the last two decades,
great changes have taken
place in low-cost connectivity,
processing power and 3D
software. These changes have enabled
new ways of working and a capability
to handle higher levels of complexity
demanded in a fast-changing world. The
changes have been so rapid that it is easy
to forget where we are and how we got
there – and what constraints exist to which
we have become habituated.
Academic research (Norman 1995.
Ernesto Ario et Al. 2000) would have it
that, as the design environment becomes
more complex, the heart of intelligent
design no longer lies in a single mind, but
in groups of minds, interacting with tools
and artefacts to deliver solutions. These
solutions can frequently be delivered
by travel to meetings or by remote
collaboration media. The media must allow
immediate creative decision-making that
delivers a common understanding, as
though the participants were sitting around
the same table.
The principles of 2D drafting still
remain important, even with the technically
allowable progression to 3D. Historically,
drawing boards were used, delivering
signifi cant benefi ts as a communication
medium and an innovation medium by the
application of collaborative knowledge,
socialising around the drawing board and
infl uencing the design.
FAR-FLUNG COLLABORATION
“Some of these benefi ts have been
taken for granted, but, in the world of
remote multi-disciplinary teams, many
of these factors again become highly
signifi cant,” points out Jocelyn Lomer
CEng MIET, general manager, nuVa. “New
communication media now available can
integrate the benefi ts of paper, electronic
paper and, 2D concept design and 3D
CAD, as well as the social benefi ts of the
drawing board, enabling collaboration with
far-fl ung teams – all in a unifi ed solution!”
Although 2D and 3D technologies
are revolutionising design engineering,
signifi cant improvements are yet to
be made, especially in the area of
collaborative remote design involving multidisciplinary
teams, he adds. “While, with
3D CAD models, we are able to share the
model itself, we are not readily able to
share the model within a ‘natural meeting’
environment.” But what exactly is that and
how does it impact design?
“Any number of words might still not
describe precisely what a natural meeting
is,” he responds, “since people have
natural collaborative meetings all the time
and we are habituated to what happens
at such meetings. “It is pertinent to reexamine
this from a whole new level and
the gains that can emerge when it is put
into action.” The image shown on page 20
illustrates a natural meeting better than
any explanation can, adds Lomer.
“Here, we can see that the multidisciplinary
team sits around the ‘campfi re
and draws pictures in the sand’, in the
same way our ancestors did, bouncing
ideas off people and things. The fact is
that, due millions of years of evolution,
both the human body and mind have
evolved in a certain way and this still
pertains at a natural meeting today.”
Collaboration at Advanced Engineering.
www.ied.org.uk 19
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