Title: Concurrent consideration of product usability and functionality: Part II - customising and validating design guidelines for a consumer product (Mountain Touring Bike)

Authors: Aniket Arora; Anil Mital

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0072, USA. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0072, USA

Abstract: The purpose of the second part of the paper was to develop integrated design guidelines for a specific consumer product. For our study, a Mountain Touring Bike (MTB) is used as an example. The procedures and the generic guidelines described in the first part of the paper were applied in developing design guidelines for the bike. A rigorous analysis was carried out to determine and evaluate the importance of different relevant design dimensions. A series of statistical tests were conducted in order to test the hypotheses that the guidelines do ensure the usability and functionality of the product.

Keywords: product usability; product performance; product functionality; design guidelines; design dimensions; reliability; design validation; product design; consumer products; customer requirements; product development; customisation; MTBs; mountain touring bikes; bicycle design.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPD.2012.047353

International Journal of Product Development, 2012 Vol.16 No.1, pp.1 - 16

Received: 14 Apr 2010
Accepted: 24 Aug 2011
Published online: 30 Dec 2014 *

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