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Improvement of the industrial design process by the creation and usage of intermediate representations of technology, "TechCards"

This paper describes a design method that was created and used in an international telecommunication company for the design of new technological applications. The value of this design method is its adaptation, as a research design method to an industrial context and the creation of a visual and tangible tool that optimizes the collaboration between the members of multidisciplinary teams.
 As designers working with technical specialists in the research laboratory of this company, we had to respond and combine two requirements that came from different perspectives: the Technology Push factors and the cultural and social users' behaviors and needs, the Pull factors. We had to understand the technological bricks that the project wanted to promote and use them in the design scenarios of a technical demonstrator. For this purpose and for the amelioration of the communication between designers, human centered specialists and technical specialists, we proposed an easy-to-understand illustration of the technology, the TechCards.
 These cards are intermediate representations that help a multidisciplinary team share a common knowledge of technology. Besides their role in the technology comprehension, the card format, its layout and its image, have proven to introduce a playful and engagement effect among the members of the project team. The TechCards were also used to stimulate the creative process and to validate the design scenarios. In the case of an international project, they have confirmed to be a useful tool for working with other teams from abroad.