Industrial Design Student User Interviews: Confidence, Objectives, & Gender

Abstract

This paper presents a case study and research investigation into how Industrial Design (ID) students’ confidence and interview objectives within user interview processes are correlated with gender. The study examines the design process and outcomes produced in a semester-long senior industrial design studio at the University of Kansas (KU) in which students developed and tested innovative concepts for men’s and women’s lacrosse protective equipment. The mixture of gender demographics amongst the class and lacrosse players provided a unique opportunity to observe how male and female interviewers perceive user research and their primary interview objectives. Throughout the product development process, user interviews provide crucial strategic insights to the user’s needs and preferences - this in turn provides an outline for the designer to refer to when making design decisions, ensuring that the product remains aligned with the core needs of the user. Therefore, it is important to understand how students learn and perceive user interview processes to produce designers who possess the ability to conduct user interviews and drive product development with the focus and design intent of the user’s core needs. The influence that confidence plays on students' and professionals’ perceptions of their own worth and skill has been established in previous research (Mastrella et al. 2023) However, the lens of how gender in ID affects this confidence and subsequent implications has not yet been cross examined with the ID user interview process to see how gender as a variable affects the learning and development of ID students’ user interview skillsets.

Keywords: Industrial Design, Student, User Interview, Insights, Gender

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1008014