Boat design deriving from ethnographic study: a transdisciplinary approach to Malaysian fishing boat design.

The goal of the project is to further the positivist discourse of design by ascertaining whether ethnographic analysis contributes to the design process. To this end, the project provides 1) a culturally appropriate conceptual fishing boat design and 2) an industrial design case study.
This project identifies mechanistic and non-mechanistic design elements and presents the results of thematic analysis. This project develops a 40 GRT (gross register ton), Malaysian Class B fishing boat design based primarily upon ethnographic study of stakeholders, which includes fishermen, boat builders, designers and owners. The design concept is evaluated by fishermen regarding perceived performance as a fishing boat, aesthetics, safety, and comfort. The concept boat is compared with the visual stereotype of a traditional Malaysian fishing boat and a Western style, deck forward design. The conceptual design is evaluated with a creative product analysis matrix (CPAM) followed by a questionnaire based evaluation by fishermen.
This project is intended for students and practitioners of industrial design interested in culturally appropriate design. It provides insights into design methodology and ethnographic methods for developing an understanding of indigenous design sensitivities of a client or end user. This study provides an example of product development that integrates the designer’s creativity with the stakeholders’ requirements and material culture. This project also demonstrates the technique of superimposing photographs via computer aided design (CAD) drawings to develop a visual stereotype. Moreover, this project demonstrates the benefit of employing visual models in charcoal and clay in ethnographic fieldwork.

Submitted to Middlesex University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Professional Studies.