Feasibility Evaluation of Integrating Usability Engineering Issues in a Design for Multi-X Collaborative Framework

Design for manufacturing, design for assembly, and, in general, design for X, are methods helping an effective generation of industrial products. In parallel with the development of these methods, the research about usability engineering has generated many important results, both from the design, and the evaluation and testing points of view. The research described in this paper aims at evaluating the feasibility of the integration of two new usability methods, the design for innovative usability DFIU -, and the integrated method for usability evaluation and testing IMUET -, in an existing design for X named design guidelines collaborative framework DGLs-CF -. Indeed, the DGLs-CF is a design for multi-X method, given that it covers both the manufacturing and the verification phases of the industrial product lifecycle. All these methods are currently under development by the author’s research group. To evaluate this feasibility, the first task of the research aims at describing and classifying the components of the three methods. Next, these components are semantically related to each other. Finally, the last activity verifies the compatibility between the components of the two usability methods and the data structures of the DGLs-CF to check the feasibility from the implementation point of view. The result of this research will consist of precise indications both for the development of a design for multi-X collaborative framework covering homogeneously the design, manufacturing, verification, and use phases of the industrial product lifecycle, and to be used as a reference for researchers interested in considering the integration of usability issues in their design tools, methods, and processes.