Better Design through Shared Knowledge via Design Heuristics

Heuristics are rules formulated as simple rules of thumb intended to simplify the achievement of certain goals. Such heuristics promise far-reaching advantages in the context of product development with regard to acquisition, transfer and representation of knowledge to achieve predefined objectives (e.g., DFX objectives). A format for describing design heuristics in a standardized way have already been developed by the authors. In this paper we present the requirements analysis for an app that shall help designers, students, and researchers alike to record and find heuristics for product development. These requirements were deducted from 28 interviews with design experts from industry and higher education. Since the application has already been developed following the study, central functions of the tool will be exemplified using two actual use cases from the app. In addition, potentials of the app with regard to broader KBES integration are discussed.