THE INFLUENCE OF DESIGN BRIEF INFORMATION ON CREATIVE OUTCOMES BY NOVICE AND ADVANCED STUDENTS

This study centers on using different types of brief information to support creative outcomes in architectural and engineering design and its relation to design expertise. We explore the influence of design briefs characterized by abstract representations and/or instructions to frame design problems on the creativity of concept sketches produced by novice and advanced students. Abstract representations of problem requirements served as stimuli to encourage associative thinking and knowledge transfer. The Ishikawa/Fishbone Diagram was used to foster design restructuring and to modify viewpoints about the main design drives and goals. The design outcomes generated by novice and advanced engineering/architecture students were assessed for their creativity using a pairwise experimental design. Results indicated that advanced students generated more novel design solutions while also contributing the most useful solutions overall. Implications for creativity in design education and professional practice are presented. Educational programs aimed at promoting creativity in the design studio may find it helpful to consider that the way design briefs are constructed can either promote or inhibit different aspects of design creativity.

Future tense can reduce present bias in infrastructure design

Design professionals (N = 261) were randomly assigned to either a future or present-framed project description before recommending design attributes for an infrastructure project. The future condition led designers to propose a significantly longer infrastructure design life, useful life to the community, and acceptable return on financial investment. The findings suggest that using future framing when soliciting sustainable design expertise can be a straightforward and inexpensive way to lessen present bias.

A Study of the Relevance between Service Design and Consumer-Perceived Value Based On Social Marketing in Cultural and Creative Industry

Due to the democratization and liberalization of national policies, which have promoted global economic development, and coupled with advances in information technology, dramatic changes have occurred in economic development. Among them, global cultural flows have far-reaching and wide-ranging impacts on countries worldwide. The interactive relationship between culture and the economy has enabled the cultural industry to grow rapidly. As the structure of industry and people's lifestyles and ideologies have changed, the development of design expertise has also transformed from tangible objects to the intangible world. Additionally, with the advent of the information society, emphasis has gradually been placed on interactive design, experience design, and service design. Intangible service design may become an important source of innovation and core competitiveness with future corporate value. The research object of this study is the average consumer in Fujian Province, China. Questionnaires were issued and collected by email. A total of 400 questionnaires were sent out, and 314 valid questionnaires were returned; thus, the recovery rate was 79%. The findings of this research include the following. (1) Social marketing significantly and positively affects service design. (2) Service design significantly and positively affects consumer-perceived value. (3) Social marketing significantly and positively affects consumer-perceived value. Based on these results, recommendations are made with the expectation of helping the development of cultural and creative industries to turn toward sustainable development.

Design at hackathons: new opportunities for design research

Hackathons are short-term events at which participants work in small groups to ideate, develop and present a solution to a problem. Despite their popularity, and significant relevance to design research, they have only recently come into research focus. This study presents a review of the existing literature on the characteristics of designing at hackathons. Hackathon participants are found to follow typical divergence–convergence patterns in their design process throughout the hackathon. Unique features include the initial effort to form teams and the significant emphasis on preparing and delivering a solution demo at the final pitch. Therefore, hackathons present themselves as a unique setting in which design is conducted and learned, and by extension, can be studied. Overall, the review provides a foundation to inform future research on design at hackathons. Methodological limitations of current studies on hackathons are discussed and the feasibility of more systematic studies of design in these types of settings is assessed. Further, we explore how the unique nature of the hackathon format and the diverse profiles of hackathon participants with regards to subject matter knowledge, design expertise and prior hackathon experience may affect design cognition and behaviour at each stage of the design process in distinctive ways.