Design problems are not of a kind: differences in the effectiveness of visual stimuli in design problem solving (original) (raw)

On visual design thinking: the vis kids of architecture

Design studies, 1994

Designers invariably use imagery to generate new form combinations which they represent through sketching. But they also do the reverse: they sketch to generate images of forms in their minds. Common belief regards such activity as non-rational. In contrast, we assert that interactive imagery through sketching is a rational mode of reasoning, characterized by systematic exchanges between conceptual and figural arguments. Cognitive science, strongly dominated by a linguistic paradigm, has yet to recognize the paramount role of visual reasoning in many instances of problem solving; and in design tool-making, computational and otherwise, we must learn to optimize rather than bypass intuitive visuality.

Analysis of a blindfolded architect’s design session

Visual and Spatial Reasoning in Design III, Key Centre of Design Computing and Cognition, University of Sydney, 2004

Abstract: Architects deal with visual/spatial features and organization of larger scale real world elements than other domains. The use of mental imagery in the architectural design process is the key issue to transform and mimic the spatial aspects of the environment. Depending on the focus of the design process, the use of imagery could relate directly to visuo-spatial aspects, or could be about manipulating functions and concepts in an abstract manner since no externalization is involved. The research reported here concerns what ...

Sketching across design domains

2004

Earl 79 SESSION THREE 103 Critiquing freehand sketching: A computational tool for design evaluation Yeonjoo Oh, Ellen Do and Mark Gross 105 Analysis of a blindfolded architect's design session Zafer Bilda and John S Gero 121 SESSION FOUR 137 Qualitative representation and reasoning in design: A hierarchy of shape and spatial languages

Visual and Spatial Representation and Reasoning in Design

This chapter explores the perception and modeling of style in design relating to visuo-spatial representation and reasoning. We approach this subject via cognitive and contextual considerations significant to the role of style during designing. A designer's ability to represent and reason about design artifacts visually and spatially allows meaningful 'chunks' of design information to be utilized relative to the designer's task and context. Central to cognitive and contextual notions of style are two issues, namely the level of semantic interpretation, and the comparative method's degree of contextual sensitivity. This compound problem requires some explicit and cognitively plausible ordering principle and adaptive measure capable of allowing for dependencies in reasoning about similarities. This chapter first investigates the perception of style in relation to these modeling requirements before demonstrating and testing their implementation. We then discuss style in relation to design tasks and how they can be supported via the classification and retrieval of designs from large databases of visuo-spatial information.

What do architects and students perceive in their design sketches? A protocol analysis

Design Studies, 1997

The present research aims at examining what information architects think of and read off from their own freehand sketches, and at revealing how they perceptually interact with and benefit from sketches. We explored this in a protocol analysis of retrospective reports; each participant worked on an architectural design task while drawing freehand sketches, and later reported what she/he had been thinking of during the design task. This research lies within the scope of examinations of why freehand sketches as external representation are essential for crystallizing design ideas in early design processes.

VISUAL REASONING IN THE DESIGN PROCESS The differences between expert and novice

2014

Abstract: In design studies, information-processing and reflection-in-action paradigms were mainstreams in describing designing. This study however took the viewpoint of the visual design reasoning theory where abstract, conceptual knowledge and perceptually-based knowledge were interlinked. The major purpose was examining the design process using visual design reasoning to discover the essential features of design activities. The minor purpose was to demonstrate the differences between a novice and an expert result from the dissimilar abilities of visual reasoning. Retrospective protocol analysis and DCOCS were utilized to explore the interactions between physical drawing and goal-setting. Two main findings were: visual reasoning occupied significant portion of the design process, and to continuously apply visual reasoning is the essential ability of an experienced designer. The idea of visual reasoning was discussed. 1.

Sketching interpretation in novice and expert designers

Visual and Spatial Reasoning in Design, 1999

Abstract. This paper focuses on the differences in visual reasoning between a novice and an expert architectural designer during the conceptual design process. The cognitive actions of each designer while sketching were categorized into four main groups (each consisting of a number of sub-groups): physical, perceptual, functional, and conceptual. Based on this analysis, we found that the expert differs markedly from the novice in productivity in terms of the number of sketches and the number of alternative ideas. We focused on the ...

The roles of sketching in design: Mapping the tension between functions in design sketches

Nordic Design Research Conference

This paper examines how the role of sketching in design process has been disseminated previously through a review of prior perspectives into the field. We identify that the studies of design sketching has been dominated by two perspectives: studies into what is known as 'visual thinking' (Goldschmidt 1991, Schön & Wiggins 1992, Tversky et al. 1999), which examines the designers reflective conversation with the sketch, and a second perspective on sketching as way of 'visual communication' with others in the design process (Lugt 2005, Schütze 2003, Buxton 2010). We raise the question of whether it is reasonable to combine the two different roles of sketching to form a more intertwined relationship-seeing the two as sides of the same coin. Based on the terminology of Olofsson & Sjöflen (2005) four functions are identified as being representative for the different roles sketching can take in the design process: investigative, explorative, communicative, and persuasive. We appropriate these categories into a tension field, reflecting how the role of the same sketch may change over the course of time in the design project, based upon the type of knowledge required to gain from the sketch at a given time.