Research on technology based collaboration and its effects in industrial design processes

Since design is a multidisciplinary and mediator area, it requires working in collaboration with other disciplines. Information and communication technologies (ICT) have become an important part of our daily lives as a result of the innovations brought by the ever-changing and developing digital age. With the introduction of these technologies into our lives, the industrial design process and the products that are the outputs of this process have changed and continue to change. Accordingly, it will be possible for different designers to work in interaction at different locations, regardless of time and place. In this way, it is foreseen that the active transfer of the works from one place to another will become a solution to prevent possible problems in the design processes. The ability to access the desired data at any place and time with internet access, brings the cloud technology to the forefront. The aim of this study is to reveal the present and future effects of cloud-based technologies and collaboration, industrial designer and design process, which emerged with the development of cloud technologies and allow many designers to work on the same project simultaneously. In addition to the literature review for the cloud-based collaboration in industrial design processes, semi-structured interviews with 10 companies operating in the sector were conducted. With the effect of developing digital technology on design processes, the design and work flow processes of companies operating in the field of industrial design were analyzed. It has been observed that although companies have knowledge about cloud technologies, these technologies are not included much in the design and workflow processes. Furthermore, concerns about the security of cloud technology arising from the lack of full knowledge of cloud technology and the distance of the design world to cloud technologies are another discussion topic. According to this study, it is important for industrial design to examine the advantages of using cloud technologies in the design sector and the business models for this and the studies to be carried out in this field.