Background

Stella Boess has been an assistant professor for user research and design for interaction at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering of the TU Delft (NL) since 2002. Having graduated in product design (Dipl. Des.) at the HDK Saar (G) in 1994, she gained professional experience in industrial design consultancy and user research for design, both employed and independently. From 1997 to 1998 she was a research associate at Staffordshire University (UK) and continued as a remote part-time PhD student there, receiving the PhD degree in 2003 for an investigation into the experience of designing bathrooms for older people. Stella’s research interest lies in developing insights about the relationship between usage research and design: what helps designers to work with usage information (and what does not). Research can inform design through group sessions, in-context observation and interviewing, probes, observation in the usability lab, design-oriented qualitative analysis, research results workshops and communication, and generative transfer into the design process. Stella furthermore investigates product meaning through the concept of usecues. Current independent work comprises self-initiated and commissioned projects that also investigate these topics.

Involvement

Within this project Stella Böβ will continue her research regarding research in and for design. Areas of investigation are particularly how product meaning is used by designers in designing and by users in product use, and the various ways that human-product interaction can be represented throughout the design process.