Promoting the Elicitation of Usability and Accessibility Requirements in Design Thinking: Using a Designed Object as a Boundary Object

The design thinking approach places the customer up front, with an emphasis on building empathy with users, observing their behavior, and drawing conclusions about what people want and need. When manifested in multidisciplinary teams, this approach leverages design processes and promotes realization of the required user experience, including usability and accessibility requirements. In this positional paper, a new approach to the technological evolution occurring in our complex world is proposed, which requires knowledge integration and the linking of diverse disciplinary fields. Many scholars are already working on improving methodologies that enable multidisciplinary integration. People with different professional backgrounds, however, often have different value systems and professional practices, which can lead to misunderstanding and conflict. Drawing on the current body of literature in the areas of design thinking approach, agile frameworks, and creativity, this paper discusses the potential of using a design product developed in a multidisciplinary team, as a boundary object that "glues together" the various disciplines represented in the team. The proposal follows a study conducted during multidisciplinary learning events at Shenkar College, in which multidisciplinary teams of students from engineering, design, and art faculties created design products together. The study revealed that engineers and designers have different design practices, which at times conflict and may lead to frustration, lack of engagement, and process inefficiency. The pro-posed approach aims at overcoming the observed results and fosters enhanced processes that encompass the different perspectives. We demonstrate this approach using a design object created in a multidisciplinary team.