| This research identifies the need for an appropriate tool to facilitate remote design interactions, which remain poorly supported by currently available telecommunication software applications. Digitally mediated distance communication has become a common strategy for enabling distributed design collaboration that is cost-effective, efficient and flexible. However, existing tools do not provide a transparent means of communicating design information, and remain, at best, an awkward and crude substitute for face-to-face design collaboration. The primary argument of this thesis is that existing tools cannot adequately convey (1) the context of design graphics; (2) the dynamics of communication patterns; (3) instant and rich visual expressions, or (4) group awareness information, all of which are critical aspects of a typical design discussion. The hypothesis of the thesis is that comprehensive and systematic design criteria for remote design interactions need to be identified in order to create an optimal communication space that reflects a genuine understanding of the interplay among these missing components. Telepinup System---a prototype tool---has been developed on the basis of the identified criteria and evaluated in actual use situations to validate the effectiveness of the user interface. The scenarios the prototype was designed for are design pinup and desk crit discussions applicable to both educational environments in distance learning and the design industry for internal design collaboration among remote project teams. |
