The Maker Space Pants: Size Range Design using the Functional, Expressive, and Aesthetic Needs Model

Abstract

The purpose of this undergraduate summer fellow project was to investigate the user-needs for Maker Pants at a U.S. eastern university and design a solution that will specifically address safety as well as all functional, aesthetic and expressive user- needs. The results suggest that, within the Maker Space user pool, each size has slightly different design needs regarding functionality and fit. Proportionally grading the design details up and down in size does not meet the short size user-needs appropriately, an issue that becomes imperative in the case of safety features. This study expands the range of scholarship using the FEA framework, highlighting how the functional apparel design process for multiple sized items needs iterative evaluations and a large pool of users for each size created. These results could be used by apparel designers to improve the functionality of large scale sized functional apparel.