Teaching Creative Design by Integrating General Design Theory and the Pahl and Beitz Methodology
The design methodology developed by Pahl and Beitz (P&B) is one of the most widely taught design methodologies. However, this methodology is not easy to correctly exercise for non-experienced designers such as students. At TU Darmstadt in Germany, a method was developed to make students to realize the background philosophy of P&B, to reduce misunderstanding and misuse of the method, and to help them to arrive at creative design. At TU Delft in the Netherlands, an experienced designer who works on designing mechanical medical devices developed a method to generate creative designs. Although independently developed, these two methods share some commonality and have a potential to improve design education towards creative design. This paper is an attempt to give a theoretical explanation why these two methods facilitate creative design based on General Design Theory.