Multiattribute interaction design: An integrated conceptual design process for modeling interactions and maximizing value

Integrated design synthesizes combinations of options to take advantage of interactions that maximize multidisciplinary value. As resources become further constrained, options more numerous and goals increasingly complex, it is more critical and more challenging for design teams to find these integrated solutions. Theory proposes the integration of transformation, flow, and value (TFV) views as necessary to support such integrated design. This paper develops requirements for these views that encourage creative, flexible, and yet systematic integrated conceptual design processes. It then illustrates how these requirements are only partially satisfied by current design management systems and introduces a new framework, Multi-Attribute Interaction Design (MAID) to fill this void by systematically guiding design teams to explicitly consider the potential interactions of options and the resulting value of design solutions. We demonstrate the use of MAID on two industry case studies, illustrating how the integrated TFV views can lead teams to discover and record more interactions and higher value solutions than current practice.