Research Conclusion .1 Research Contributions

Figure5.8: The questionnaire results about the interdisciplinary practice in fashion education

5.2 Research Conclusion

• The “Design Plus X” strategical thinking approach facilities new strategy for interdisciplinary practical fashion education, it offered an integrated new design thinking approach based on multidiscipline crossover.

• "DPX" with the whole process of design research development as a carrier, multidisciplinary fields will crossover comprehensively, and by enforcing the consistency of Design Plus X, a new integrated concept for design practice within practical education, overemphasis on formal reorganization in design education can be resolved, and a core capacity for innovation that centers on reform of method and function will be cultivated.

• Based on DPX thinking approach, it brings a fresh set of attitudes, aspirations, and capacities. It provides the expertise, sets new standards that others will rise to, and contributes to the development of capable and creative designers. It is encourage designer from different way to thinking problem, mix knowledge break discipline bound to solve issues of fashion design field. The integration of multiple domains is encouraged in order to respond to the need for societal wellbeing.

• We apply the KS to support smart clothing design research work from designer perspective, promote research and education in the field of Knowledge Science based on Fashion Design and Smart Clothing Design. The research works will contribution to develop KS into design for Human Life.

Second, DPX: humanities-oriented research, conception of commercial strategies and plans for technological realization will be incorporated into practical education, and practical training about integrated solutions related to product design and services will be conducted. This thesis contains two case studies. One project is" Designing Comfortable Smart Clothing: for Infants’ Health". The other one is "Fashionable Experience for Blind Children—Design Research of Intelligent Glove Featuring Perception of Chromatic Color". The thesis has made many practical researches in the

experimental stage and explained the two case studies with the DPX thinking approach. By applying DPX approach, designers have made some innovative products. They have achieved good results on design works. The main contributions of the practice summarized as follows:

• Based on “DPX” thinking approach, we design the experiment of smart clothing for infants’ health monitoring. In the action research, we provide the new methods to solve the problem, and address both comfort and sensor accuracy of smart clothing development in the real world application. The combination of state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms and simple pertinent features improved measurement accuracy between 10% and 300%, based on various important evaluation measures. This not only constitutes a significant achievement but also encourages further study of the proposed strategy for interdisciplinary practical fashion education.

• Based on “DPX” thinking approach, we design the intelligent glove for blind children. We have broken a natural limitation. We possibly cannot only observe things through our eyes but also perceive things through temperature through the painting process. A chromatic-color element is combined with a temperature element. The temperature is used to perceive chromatic color, the chromatic-color is sufficiently utilized, and better perception and expression of things are realized. Thus, blind persons can be brought out from the dark world and be enabled to perceive the multicolored world just like a normal person.

5.2.2 Suggestions for Further Research

With the rapid development of science and technology, the design has evolved from the tangible and intangible design to the design of the system, and then to the design of the complex adaptive system. This evolution also brings about changes in the designers’ responsibilities. Designers need more comprehensive knowledge to become participants in the work system. Designers should know more about technical information. On the one hand, they should break the knowledge boundary between art

and science. On the other hand, they should make self cognition on these two knowledge areas. As fashion designers, we should make full use of information science to build a new relationship between human and clothing for the future world.

Clothing will become the carrier of technology and become the interface of human interaction with the world. This is also the vision of the “DPX”.

The “X” in “DPX” means the knowledge of different fields. With the development of science and technology, X has been developing dynamically. Research content can become more complex. It is suggested that designers should create more innovative, experimental and new fields for smart clothing. Designers should make efforts on thoroughly recording experimental procedures and results and making tacit knowledge clearer. The knowledge creation process should be developed into a model of thinking. The model could become a very useful tool in the process of research and development of smart clothing.

Most of today’s design challenges require analytic and synthetic planning skills that can’t be developed through the practice of contemporary design professions alone.

Professional design practice involves advanced multi- disciplinary knowledge that presupposes interdisciplinary collaboration and a fundamental change in design education. This knowledge isn't simply a higher level of professional education and practice. It is a qualitatively different form of professional practice. It is emerging in response to the demands of the information society and the knowledge economy to which it gives rise.

We already face the challenges of future design education. If, on the one hand, these challenges are not evenly distributed, neither are the skills or capacities that design schools need to meet them. The design education we need today is increasingly similar to the requirements of professional education in engineering—or, perhaps better said, it is increasingly similar to the requirements of education in health care and medicine. To succeed, outstanding professional design requires a foundation based on science and on research. To serve human beings, outstanding professional

designers must master an art of human engagement based on ethics and on care.

Design education must foster such skills and knowledge.