Design Heuristics: Cognitive Strategies for Creativity in Idea Generation

2011 ◽  
pp. 35-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seda Yilmaz ◽  
Colleen M. Seifert ◽  
Richard Gonzalez
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Strategies ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Design Heuristics

Cognitive heuristics in design: Instructional strategies to increase creativity in idea generation

2010 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Yilmaz ◽  
C.M. Seifert ◽  
R. Gonzalez
Keyword(s):  
Personal Development ◽  
Design Education ◽  
Divergent Thinking ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Cognitive Strategies ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Problem Space ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Design Heuristics ◽  
First Year College Students

AbstractThis paper explores the use of heuristics as cognitive strategies invoked during the process of design. Heuristics are reasoning processes that do not guarantee the best solution, but often lead to potential solutions by providing a simple cognitive “shortcut.” We propose that designers use specific design heuristics to explore the problem space of potential designs, leading to the generation of creative solutions. We test whether design heuristics can be taught to novices, and suggest their use will facilitate the design process at multiple levels of instruction. In the present empirical study, we evaluate a set of six instructional heuristics and validate their effectiveness with product concepts generated by novice designers. Six hundred seventy-three drawings were created by 120 first-year college students under four instructional conditions. Drawings were coded according to their content, use of heuristics, creativity, and practicality. The most creative concepts emerged from the experimental conditions where heuristics were introduced. Heuristics appeared to help the participants “jump” to a new problem space, resulting in more varied designs, and a greater frequency of designs judged as more creative. Our findings suggest that simple demonstration of design heuristics may, at times, be sufficient to stimulate divergent thinking, perhaps because these heuristics are readily grasped and contextual application is not required. Based on these findings, a conceptual model for design education emphasizing the importance of using a variety of heuristics is proposed. This model suggests that learning can be enhanced through exposure to a variety of design heuristics, and can supplement formal education and foster personal development in design learning.

scholarly journals How do designers generate new ideas? Design heuristics across two disciplines

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seda Yilmaz ◽  
Shanna R. Daly ◽  
Colleen M. Seifert ◽  
Richard Gonzalez
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Strategies ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Design Concepts ◽  
Design Heuristics ◽  
Frequent Use ◽  
New Ideas ◽  
Industrial Designers ◽  
Protocol Study ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Design Heuristic

Research supports the central role cognitive strategies can play in successful concept generation by individual designers. Design heuristics have been shown to facilitate the creation of new design concepts in the early, conceptual stage of the design process, as well as throughout the development of ideas. However, we know relatively little about their use in differing disciplines. This study examined evidence of design heuristic use in a protocol study with 12 mechanical engineers and 12 industrial designers who worked individually to develop multiple concepts. The open-ended design problem was for a novel product, and the designers’ sketches and comments were recorded as they worked on the problem for 25 min and in a retrospective interview. The results showed frequent use of design heuristics in both disciplines and a significant relationship to the rated creativity of the concepts. Though industrial designers used more heuristics in their concepts, there was a high degree of similarity in heuristic use. Some differences between design disciplines were observed in the choice of design heuristics, where industrial designers showed a greater emphasis on user experience, environmental contexts, and added features. These findings demonstrate the prevalence of design heuristics in individual concept generation and their effectiveness in generating creative concepts, across two design domains.

Exploration of the Timing of Introduction of Design Heuristic Cards to Early Design Brainstorming Sessions by Interdisciplinary Student Teams

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abimelec Mercado Rivera ◽  
José E. Lugo
Keyword(s):  
Design Thinking ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Control Treatment ◽  
Early Design ◽  
Design Heuristics ◽  
Student Teams ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Experimental Treatments ◽  
The Individual ◽  
College Of Engineering

Abstract This research focuses on improving the outcome of idea generation sessions of interdisciplinary student teams working in the early design stages of a product or solution by measuring the effect of incorporating Design Heuristics Cards at different points of ideation sessions that adhere to the brainstorming guidelines. Using the design thinking methodology, an open-ended challenge was given to the participating teams for a Brainstorming exercise divided into a fifteen-minute individual segment followed by a thirty-minute team ideation segment. Three experimental treatments were designed where Design Heuristics Cards were introduced at different points of the ideation exercise: the start of the individual ideation segment, the start of the team ideation segment, or the second half of the team ideation segment. A fourth control treatment did not introduce the cards at any point but used the Brainstorming guidelines throughout. The metrics observed were Fluency, Novelty, Feasibility, and Market Fit of the ideas generated by the students. Eighty-four students participated in the experiment, with 58.3% being from majors in the College of Engineering, 28.6% from majors in the College of Business Administration, 7.1% from majors in the College of Arts and Sciences, and 6.0% from majors in the College of Agriculture. No significant difference was found among the experimental treatments; however the results are not considered final due to the explorative nature of the study. Recommendations are made on future work and possible improvements to the experiment.

Comparing Ideation Techniques for Beginning Designers

2016 ◽  
Vol 138 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shanna R. Daly ◽  
Colleen M. Seifert ◽  
Seda Yilmaz ◽  
Richard Gonzalez
Keyword(s):  
Design Problem ◽  
Morphological Analysis ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
First Year ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Design Heuristics ◽  
Engineering Design Problem ◽  
Consensual Assessment Technique ◽  
Initial Idea

Concept generation techniques can help to support designers in generating multiple ideas during design tasks. However, differences in the ways these techniques guide idea generation are not well understood. This study investigated the qualities of concepts generated by beginning engineering designers using one of three different idea generation techniques. Working individually on an open-ended engineering design problem, 102 first year engineering students learned and applied one of three different ideation techniques—design heuristics, morphological analysis, or individual brainstorming (using brainstorming rules to generate ideas working alone)—to a given design problem. Using the consensual assessment technique, all concepts were rated for creativity, elaboration, and practicality, and all participants' concept sets were rated for quantity and diversity. The simplest technique, individual brainstorming, led to the most concepts within the short (25 minute) ideation session. All three techniques produced creative concepts averaging near the scale midpoint. The elaboration of the concepts was significantly higher with design heuristics and morphological analysis techniques, and the practicality was significantly higher using design heuristics. Controlling for number of concepts generated, there were no significant differences in diversity of solution sets across groups. These results demonstrate that the use of design heuristics does not limit the creativity of ideation outcomes, and helps students to develop more elaborate and practical ideas. Design heuristics show advantages in the initial idea generation phase for beginning engineering students. These findings point to specific strengths in different ideation techniques, and the value of exposing beginning designers to multiple techniques for idea generation.

Design Heuristics in Innovative Products

2016 ◽  
Vol 138 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Seda Yilmaz ◽  
Colleen Seifert ◽  
Shanna R. Daly ◽  
Richard Gonzalez
Keyword(s):  
Design Theory ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Ease Of Use ◽  
Product Concept ◽  
Design Heuristics ◽  
Award Winning ◽  
Content Analysis Method ◽  
Innovative Products ◽  
Current Design ◽  
Novel Design

Current design theory lacks a systematic method to identify what designers know that helps them to create innovative products. In the early stages of idea generation, designers may find novel ideas come readily to mind, or may become fixated on their own or existing products. This may limit the ability to consider more and more varied candidate concepts that may potentially lead to innovation. To aid in idea generation, we sought to identify “design heuristics,” or “rules of thumb,” evident in award-winning designs. In this paper, we demonstrate a content analysis method for discovering heuristics in the designs of innovative products. Our method depends on comparison to a baseline of existing products so that the innovative change can be readily identified. Through an analysis of key features and functional elements in the designs of over 400 award-winning products, 40 heuristic principles were extracted. These design heuristics are outlined according to their perceived role in changing an existing product concept into a novel design, and examples of other products using the heuristics are provided. To demonstrate the ease of use of these design heuristics, we examined outcomes from a classroom study and found that concepts created using design heuristics were rated as more creative and varied. The analysis of changes from existing to innovative products can provide evidence of useful heuristic principles to apply in creating new designs.

scholarly journals Supporting Novice Engineers in Idea Generation using Design Heuristics

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Murphy ◽  
Shanna Daly ◽  
Seda McKilligan ◽  
Colleen Seifert
Keyword(s):  
Idea Generation ◽  
Design Heuristics

Extending Design Heuristics From Mechanical Engineering to a Biomedical Projects Course

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin Woo Lee ◽  
Anastasia K. Ostrowski ◽  
Shanna R. Daly ◽  
Aileen Y. Huang-Saad ◽  
Colleen M. Seifert
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Biomedical Engineering ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Instructional Tools ◽  
Design Heuristics ◽  
Award Winning ◽  
Individual Concepts ◽  
Applied Design ◽  
Support Students

Research in design has led to emergence of instructional tools to support students in generating multiple candidate concepts. Design Heuristics was developed through empirical studies of professional engineers and award-winning products, and have been shown to support student engineers in generating creative and diverse concepts. We hypothesized that they could be beneficial to student designers in biomedical engineering. In this qualitative classroom study, we examined how graduate students in a biomedical engineering design course applied Design Heuristics to generate individual concepts for their design projects. Our analysis showed that students were able to apply Design Heuristics in their biomedical engineering projects, and that the heuristics supported idea generation in a variety of biomedical engineering design contexts.

Comparing the Effects of Design Interventions on the Quality of Design Concepts as a Reflection of Ideation Flexibility

2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Henderson ◽  
Kathryn Jablokow ◽  
Shanna Daly ◽  
Seda McKilligan ◽  
Eli Silk ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Style ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Design Concepts ◽  
Design Heuristics ◽  
Problem Framing ◽  
Academic Standing ◽  
Design Ideas ◽  
The Given

Many tools, techniques, and other interventions have been developed to support idea generation within the design process. In previous research, we explored the separate effects of three such design interventions: teaming, problem framing, and design heuristics. In the teaming intervention, participants discussed a design prompt together but recorded their own ideas separately. In problem framing, multiple versions (framings) of each design prompt were used to elicit different solutions. In design heuristics, participants used specially designed cards to prompt new ways of thinking about the given design problem. In the current work, we compared the effects of these three interventions on students' design ideas with respect to one idea attribute in particular—quality. In total, 1088 design concepts were collected from 171 undergraduate students in engineering and industrial design from two universities. Individual cognitive style was also assessed using Kirton's Adaption–Innovation inventory (KAI). Six metrics taken from the design literature were used to assess the quality of each concept, namely: acceptability, applicability, clarity, effectiveness, implementability, and implicational explicitness. Paired t-tests and Pearson correlations were used to assess differences in quality between concepts generated with and without the three interventions; in addition, secondary effects were sought based on the cognitive styles and academic standings of the participants. Statistically significant differences were observed in design concept quality for the teaming and design heuristics interventions over the full sample and for some subgroups separated by cognitive style and academic standing. These results have implications for how educators teach design interventions and how students choose and apply interventions to affect the quality of their own design solutions.

scholarly journals Design Fixation From Initial Examples: Provided Versus Self-Generated Ideas

2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Keelin Leahy ◽  
Shanna R. Daly ◽  
Seda McKilligan ◽  
Colleen M. Seifert
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
The Other ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Design Tools ◽  
Design Fixation ◽  
Design Heuristics ◽  
Scale Experiment ◽  
Initial Concept ◽  
Provided Examples

Abstract Jansson and Smith (1991, “Design Fixation,” Des. Stud., 12(1), pp. 3–11) demonstrated that design fixation occurs when an example solution is provided along with a design problem. After seeing an example concept—even with its flaws pointed out—new designs often share its features. In Jansson and Smith’s studies, a control group saw no example and showed less fixation to the example provided only in the other group. However, another source of fixation from an initial example may arise in the control group from the designer’s own first-generated concept. We conducted a large-scale experiment with beginning engineers to investigate whether design fixation occurs even without seeing a provided example. Half of the participants saw an example solution and half were given no example; instead, they generated their own initial design. Next, all students were individually brainstormed ideas for 30 min. We analyzed both groups’ concepts for fixation on the first solution they saw—either the example provided or their own initial concept. The results showed that the students provided with an example concept experienced less fixation on the initial example than those in the control group, whose concepts were evaluated for similarity to their own initial concept. To consider whether fixation on initial examples (provided or self-generated) might be mitigated, we asked these students to complete a second (30 min) idea generation phase using Design Heuristics for idea inspiration. The results showed that both groups experienced less fixation during the second-generation phase. These findings suggest that fixation on first solutions occurs in individual idea generation arising from both provided examples and self-generated concepts. However, more divergent idea generation can be facilitated through the use of design tools, such as Design Heuristics, to mitigate the consequences of design fixation.

Comparing the Effects of Design Interventions on the Quality of Design Concepts As a Reflection of Ideation Flexibility

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Henderson ◽  
Kathryn Jablokow ◽  
Shanna Daly ◽  
Seda McKilligan ◽  
Eli Silk
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Style ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Design Work ◽  
Design Concepts ◽  
Design Heuristics ◽  
Problem Framing ◽  
Design Ideas

Various interventions (i.e., methods and tools that guide design work) have been developed to support successful idea generation in a design process. Our previous research explored the impacts of three such design interventions: cognitive-style based teaming, problem framing, and design heuristics. In this work, we looked across these interventions to compare their effects on students’ design ideas. In particular, 966 design ideas collected from 152 undergraduate students in engineering and industrial design from two Midwestern universities were analyzed to investigate their quality with and without each design intervention. Statistically significant differences were observed for the teaming and problem framing interventions. This study has implications for design educators in how design interventions might be used to affect students’ design solutions.

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