Exploring the Utility of Product Dissection for Early-Phase Idea Generation

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine A. Toh ◽  
Scarlett R. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Early Phase ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Creative Thought ◽  
Design Creativity ◽  
Research Gap ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Early Phases

Product dissection is a tool widely used in industry and academia as a means to understand components of existing products and identify opportunities for design. Dissection activities have the potential to impact design creativity because dissection is performed in the early phases of design, which is arguably the most influential phase of the design process. However, researchers have only just begun to explore the relationship between dissection and creativity, and thus little research to date has identified how variations in dissection activities impact creativity. Therefore, in this paper we respond to this research gap by presenting the results of a controlled experiment developed to understand how the type and number of products dissected and the structure and medium of the dissection task (electronic versus physical) impacts creativity. Our quantitative findings (from ANOVAs) are paired with qualitative analysis (interview results) to provide rationale for our results and insights into their cognitive underpinnings. The results from this study indicate that the structure of the dissection activity, the medium of dissection, and the number of products dissected impacts the variety of the generated concepts while the analogical distance and number of products impacts design novelty. These findings are used to develop recommendations for the alteration of dissection methods for inspiring creative thought in engineering design.

scholarly journals Visual Inspection or Product Dissection? The Impact of Designer-Product Interactions on Engineering Design Creativity

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine A. Toh ◽  
Scarlett R. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Visual Inspection ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Solution Space ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Controlled Study ◽  
Creative Thought ◽  
Design Creativity ◽  
Product Interaction ◽  
The Impact

Designers commonly interact with products in the early phases of design in order to understand the solution space and gain inspiration for new designs. Although designer-product interaction methods such as visual inspection and product dissection are recognized as a pivotal component of the engineering design process, little data is available on how these practices affect idea generation or when these activities are most useful for inspiring creative thought. Therefore, the current study was developed to understand the impact of these activities on creative idea generation. During our controlled study, fifty-nine undergraduate engineering students were instructed to either visually inspect or physically dissect an example milk frother and then generate ideas for a new, innovative design. These concepts were then evaluated for their novelty, variety, quality and quantity. Our analysis (ANOVA) revealed that participants who physically dissected the example frother produced ideas that were more novel but of lower quality than those that simply inspected the frother. Our results provide insights on the impact of designer-product interactions on creativity and we use these findings to develop recommendations for the use and alterations of these practices for improving creativity in engineering design.

Guidelines for Engineering Design Creativity: Design of Experiments

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salvador M. Rodriguez ◽  
Miguel Mendoza ◽  
Rafael Gonzalez ◽  
Noe Vargas Hernandez ◽  
Gu¨l Okudan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Design Of Experiments ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Creative Process ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
Extensive Experience ◽  
Planning Stage ◽  
Design Creativity

Experiments in engineering design creativity have the general objective of increasing the understanding of the creative design process, for example, experiments on the use of brainstorming, or a new ideation method or software to increase idea generation. This type of experiments is most of the time difficult to perform. In general, the difficulty is derived from the nature of the experiment which involves human subjects in a creative process solving design problems. The subjects, creative process, method involved, and design problem, each brings an abundance of variables some of which are qualitative (e.g. subject’s personality). Based on the extensive experience running engineering design creativity experiments, the authors present a review of major issues related to the design of experiments (DOE) of engineering design creativity experiments. First, an overview of creativity experimentation is presented; this includes the identification of key elements: subject, design process, treatment, controls, output and environment. Second, an overview of the design of experiment (DOE) steps is presented: hypothesis, factors, responses, etc. Third, for each step in the DOE the authors identify typical issues related to engineering design creativity. Each issue is analyzed, referred to other experiments in the literature, and a series of practical recommendations are made. The scope of the paper is limited to engineering design creativity experiments, more specifically, when the assessment is performed on the outcome. Also, the focus is on the “conceptual model” (i.e. planning stage) of DOE. Future papers will focus on the execution of the experiment and the assessment process. The authors hope that these guidelines help designologists improve the relevance, significance, and accuracy of creativity experiments.

The Roles of Features and Abstraction in Mechanical Design

1994 ◽  
Author(s):  
LeRoy E. Taylor ◽  
Mark R. Henderson
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Design Research ◽  
Mechanical Design ◽  
Product Modeling ◽  
Product Models ◽  
Mechanical Products ◽  
Unique Framework ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract This paper describes the roles of features and abstraction mechanisms in the mechanical design process, mechanical designs, and product models of mechanical designs. It also describes the relationship between functions and features in mechanical design. It is our experience that many research efforts exist in the areas of design and product modeling and, further, that these efforts must be cataloged and compared. To this end, this paper culminates with the presentation of a multi-dimensional abstraction space which provides a unique framework for (a) comparing mechanical engineering design research efforts, (b) relating conceptual objects used in the life cycle of mechanical products, and (c) defining a product modeling space.

scholarly journals THE CREATIVITY MATRIX: AN EXTENSION TO AXIOMATIC DESIGN

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brad Crowell ◽  
Peter Gregson
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Psychology ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Axiomatic Design ◽  
Synthesis Methods ◽  
Creative Design ◽  
Design Decisions ◽  
Good Design ◽  
Design Creativity ◽  
Analysis And Synthesis

Axiomatic Design helps a designer to make good design decisions. However, this addresses only one part of design. Prior to selecting a proposed design, the designer must synthesize options for further consideration. Within engineering design, creativity and expertise have been left to the competency of the designer and called the “art of engineering design”. To achieve a truly creative design process that addresses both analysis and synthesis, methods based on theories from Cognitive Psychology must be included. The resulting Creative Axiomatic Design process addresses both synthesis and analysis, enhancing creativity and expertise to inspire innovation and alternative perspectives on the design problem.

Can Design Teams Be Empathically Creative? A Simulation-Based Investigation on the Role of Team Empathy on Concept Generation and Selection

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Alsager Alzayed ◽  
Scarlett R. Miller ◽  
Jessica Menold ◽  
Jacquelyn Huff ◽  
Christopher McComb
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Computational Simulation ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
First Year ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Design Activities ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Research on empathy has been surging in popularity in the engineering design community since empathy is known to help designers develop a deeper understanding of the users’ needs. Because of this, the design community has been invested in devising and assessing empathic design activities. However, research on empathy has been primarily limited to individuals, meaning we do not know how it impacts team performance, particularly in the concept generation and selection stages of the design process. Specifically, it is unknown how the empathic composition of teams, average (elevation) and standard deviation (diversity) of team members’ empathy, would impact design outcomes in the concept generation and selection stages of the design process. Therefore, the goal of the current study was to investigate the impact of team trait empathy on concept generation and selection in an engineering design student project. This was accomplished through a computational simulation of 13,482 teams of noninteracting brainstorming individuals generated by a statistical bootstrapping technique drawing upon a design repository of 806 ideas generated by first-year engineering students. The main findings from the study indicate that the elevation in team empathy positively impacted simulated teams’ unique idea generation and selection while the diversity in team empathy positively impacted teams’ generation of useful ideas. The results from this study can be used to guide team formation in engineering design.

The Impact of Example Modality and Physical Interactions on Design Creativity

2014 ◽  
Vol 136 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine A. Toh ◽  
Scarlett R. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Controlled Study ◽  
First Year ◽  
Design Creativity ◽  
Physical Interactions ◽  
2D And 3D ◽  
The Impact

Interacting with example products is an essential and widely practiced method in engineering design, yet little information exists on how the representation (pictorial or physical) or interaction a designer has with an example impacts design creativity. This is problematic because without this knowledge we do not understand how examples affect idea generation or how we can effectively modify or develop design methods to support example usage practices. In this paper, we report the results of a controlled study with first year engineering design students (N = 89) developed to investigate the impact of a designer's interaction with either a two-dimensional (2D) pictorial image or a three-dimensional (3D) product (through visual inspection or product dissection activities) and the resulting functional focus and creativity of the ideas developed. The results of this study reveal that participants who interacted with the physical example produced ideas that were less novel and less functionally focused than those who interacted with the 2D representation. Additionally, the results showed that participants who dissected the product produced a higher variety of ideas than those that visually inspected it. These results contribute to our understanding of the benefits and role of 2D and 3D designer-product interactions during idea development. We use these findings to develop recommendations for the use of designer-product interactions throughout the design process.

An Engineering-to-Biology Thesaurus for Engineering Design

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacquelyn K. S. Nagel ◽  
Robert B. Stone ◽  
Daniel A. McAdams
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Biological Information ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Functional Modeling ◽  
University Of Toronto ◽  
Engineering Designs ◽  
Design Activities

Engineering design is considered a creative field that involves many activities with the end goal of a new product that fulfills a purpose. Utilization of systematic methods or tools that aid in the design process is recognized as standard practice in industry and academia. The tools are used for a number of design activities (i.e., idea generation, concept generation, inspiration searches, functional modeling) and can span across engineering disciplines, the sciences (i.e., biology, chemistry) or a non-engineering domain (i.e., medicine), with an overall focus of encouraging creative engineering designs. Engineers, however, have struggled with utilizing the vast amount of biological information available from the natural world around them. Often it is because there is a knowledge gap or terminology is difficult, and the time needed to learn and understand the biology is not feasible. This paper presents an engineering-to-biology thesaurus, which we propose affords engineers, with limited biological background, a tool for leveraging nature’s ingenuity during many steps of the design process. Additionally, the tool could also increase the probability of designing biologically-inspired engineering solutions. Biological terms in the thesaurus are correlated to the engineering domain through pairing with a synonymous function or flow term of the Functional Basis lexicon, which supports functional modeling and abstract representation of any functioning system. The second version of the thesaurus presented in this paper represents an integration of three independent research efforts, which include research from Oregon State University, the University of Toronto, and the Indian Institute of Science, and their industrial partners. The overall approach for term integration and the final results are presented. Applications to the areas of design inspiration, comprehension of biological information, functional modeling, creative design and concept generation are discussed. An example of comprehension and functional modeling are presented.

scholarly journals Scenarios as springboards in design of CSCW

1994 ◽  
Vol 23 (488) ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne Bødker ◽  
Ellen Christiansen
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Change Process ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Design Tools ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Point Of Departure

Our point of departure is that the relationship between social science, cooperative working and technology is not as much a matter of differences in understanding, as it is a matter of how to accomplish change. This chapter outlines an approach to design of CSCW where change is addressed in terms of ''expansion of the work practice''. To facilitate the change process as a process of expansion, scenarios are used as springboards. Creation and use of scenarios are supported by a conceptual ''toolbox''. The foundation for this toolbox is an understanding of the design process as ``abductive thinking'' consisting of idea generation and systematic reflection, and an understanding of design tools inspired from activity theory. As design processes may involve different communities of practice, we discuss the role of scenarios as boundary objects.

How Do You Create Ideas When You Are Excited, Calm, Upset or Fatigued? – The Relationship between Mood State and Creativity

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (3-2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fasiha, M. Y. N.
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Mood State ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Mood States ◽  
Design Task ◽  
The Relationship

Design process is a process an engineer goes through in devising a solution of a problem. The process requires both knowledge and creativity. Idea generation during the conceptualization stage of design process is the process in which creativity is most utilized by designers. Many factors affect the creativity of the created ideas including the mood states of the designers. The aim of this study is to identify how the creative nature of designers at the beginning stage of design in which the process of ideation is applied, is affected by their mood states. For that purpose, a number of student designers are first induced into several mood states before given a design task. The task applied is on designing a solution for improving the use of a commonly used artefact. The creativity of the idea is evaluated based on the fluency, originality, and expansion. As the result, the ‘positive activating mood’ is found to be effective for higher level of creativity. 

How Engineering Design Students’ Creative Preferences and Cognitive Styles Impact Their Concept Generation and Screening

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie Heininger ◽  
Hong-En Chen ◽  
Kathryn Jablokow ◽  
Scarlett R. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Risk Tolerance ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Engineering Design Process ◽  
Individual Traits ◽  
The Impact

The flow of creative ideas throughout the engineering design process is essential for innovation. However, few studies have examined how individual traits affect problem-solving behaviors in an engineering design setting. Understanding these behaviors will enable us to guide individuals during the idea generation and concept screening phases of the engineering design process and help support the flow of creative ideas through this process. As a first step towards understanding these behaviors, we conducted an exploratory study with 19 undergraduate engineering students to examine the impact of individual traits, using the Preferences for Creativity Scale (PCS) and Kirton’s Adaption-Innovation inventory (KAI), on the creativity of the ideas generated and selected for an engineering design task. The ideas were rated for their creativity, quality, and originality using Amabile’s consensual assessment technique. Our results show that the PCS was able to predict students’ propensity for creative concept screening, accounting for 74% of the variation in the model. Specifically, team centrality and influence and risk tolerance significantly contributed to the model. However, PCS was unable to predict idea generation abilities. On the other hand, cognitive style, as measured by KAI, predicted the generation of creative and original ideas, as well as one’s propensity for quality concept screening, although the effect sizes were small. Our results provide insights into individual factors impacting undergraduate engineering students’ idea generation and selection.

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