Analysis of Cognitive Processes of a Designer as the Foundation for Support Tools (original) (raw)
Related papers
Sketch as a Tool of Visual Ideation from the Design Perspective
Sketch as a Tool of Visual Ideation from the Design Perspective, 2022
This manuscript examines and explains the role of sketching as part of the creative design process, especially during its concept phase, when the new idea/solution is formed. The main focus of the study is the visual form of ideation, known as “sketching." This thesis also presents examples of practical ideation sketching techniques, analyses them, proposes the scientific explanation of mental mechanics behind them, and provides the perspective of cognitive psychology. Opening research includes a review of the current understanding and positioning of ideation sketching and the literature that covers the given subject. It validates these findings with an online survey, followed by interviews with twenty experienced professionals in the field of car and entertainment design. This research is intended primarily for students and creative practitioners of disciplines such as design or architecture; however, the content can likely be beneficial in a broader context despite the resources and examples typical for these disciplines. Last but not least, the work concludes with a critical evaluation of the research results, addresses the lack of shared understanding and terminology, and proposes a systematic approach to ideation sketching at the level of practical exercises and formal education. Keywords: Design, ideation, sketching, concept, design research, research for design, creative cognition, cognitive psychology, creativity, education, art
In this paper we are exploring design behavior in the early creative phase and have addressed the questions, 'While solving a problem, why is there a need to quickly represent the ideas? And subsequently, why a mental activity like design thinking quickly ends up in sketches? Design thinking often leads to visualization and later to its quick representations. The limited cognitive resource that Short Term Memory (STM) works with demands that we ration it carefully to different mental activities involved in design problem solving. We tried to develop a model of these activities in two stages. We prefer to quickly represent ideas externally to conserve limited cognitive resource, which otherwise would have been expended in holding the ideas in STM and work with them. External representations, particularly visual representation like notes, diagrammes, sketches and mock-‐ups work as extensions of STM. They have key role in idea generation. As a prelude to the future posts, we concluded the discussion by touching other possible forms of representation. It is clear that sketching as a form of representation helps designers to overcome limitations of STM. We referred to them as thinking sketches,
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 ...
Conceptual Design Ideation: The Influence of Sketch Ability
Proceedings of iasdr 2015
We examine the role of sketching in conceptual design ideation through a comparative analysis a novice designer and a non-designer’s work in response to a typically ill-defined design problem. Results show the designer’s conceptual activity as characterised by significantly increased appositional reasoning; reasoning between design problem and solution ideation. In contrast, the activity of the non-design participant indicated significantly increased reasoning towards problem definition, with little evidence of solution ideation. Our findings indicate an ability to sketch as probable cause for both the novice designer’s increased solution-focused activity and iteration between problem definition and solution ideation. Implications for sketching’s potential as catalyst for abductive reasoning and appositional bridge-building between problem definition and solution ideation are briefly discussed.
Sketching constitutes an essential work tool for designers. On the first hand, sketches allow to externalize ideas, being then very economic cognitively. If they help to process information very quickly, sketches are also an integral part of the thinking process, without which the designer would not be able to access originality and novelty: in particular, the fact that some sketches bring new insights to the designer seems to play an important role for the emergence of ideas. Our research project aims to clarify how architects use sketches to reach generative effects by analyzing their design strategies and the way their drawings can support these strategies. We especially focus on the role of knowledge in comparison to concepts. Three sequences of sketches were analyzed thanks to the C-K design theory: two sequences of thinking sketches and one sequence of talking sketches. We show that most drawings refer to both knowledge and concepts. Moreover, our study reveals that architects...
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.
2006), To sketch or not to sketch? That is the question, Design Studies
2016
Abstract: In this paper we question whether sketching is essential for conceptual designing. In order to test this hypothesis, we conducted think-aloud experiments with expert architects. They were engaged in two separate design processes: where they were not allowed sketch, and where they were allowed to sketch. The comparison of design activities in two conditions was based on a protocol analysis. The results show that there is no significant difference between sketching and not sketching based on three assessments: design outcome, cognitive activity and idea links. This case study shows that sketching is not an essential activity for expert architects in the early phases of conceptual designing.
Visible ideas: information patterns of conceptual sketch activity
Design Studies 19 (1998) pp. 431–453
2 Wallace, K M Product development and design research Keynote speech, ICED 97 Conference, Tampere, Finland (1997) T he present engineering design environment is typified by shortening life cycles and growing product complexity. These two factors among many others have resulted in a cumulative increase in the amount of knowledge to be considered during design. In addition, greater accountability in terms of product liability is putting pressure on engineers to change their working practices 1,2 .