A scale development of industrial designer ability index through quality function deployment and grey relational analysis methods

In recent years, the design and development capabilities, which provided products with vitality and value, had become one of the key factors in transforming and upgrading enterprises. Also, the industrial design ability had become a powerful weapon in enhancing business competitiveness. This study aimed at developing a self-assessment scale to evaluate the pre-service capabilities of industrial design students and it was found to be useful also in analyzing the ability levels of professional designer after the self-assessment scale was established. According to the literature review and interviews with experts, this study summarized the categories and indicators of professional abilities of industrial designers. Next, grey relational analysis was applied for analyzing these categories and indicators, then the weight between these indicators were determined through the method of quality function deployment, and finally, these indicators were further transferred into questions to become a pre-service self-assessment scale with 70 items, named industrial design ability index questionnaire. The industrial design ability index assessment scale was validated using 211 college students ranging from freshman to senior year. The industrial design ability index score shows a direct relationship between designer skills and years in school from freshman to senior year and verified that the industrial design ability index is able to assess the level of experiences of an industrial designer.