Skip to main content
Book cover

Design Computing and Cognition '12 pp 79–94Cite as

Exploring Designing Styles Using a Problem–Solution Division

Abstract

This paper presents a measurement-based exploration of designing styles within the context of different design disciplines and tasks based on the design cognition of small design teams. Twelve final-year industrial design and twelve mechanical engineering design students were recruited to form teams of two. Each team undertook two conceptual product design tasks with different classes of requirements. Protocols of conversations and observations of design activities were then examined using an ontologically-based coding scheme. A problem–solution index was proposed to classify design sessions into problem-focused and solution-focused designing styles. Results suggest that industrial design student teams have a designing style that is more focused on the design problem than mechanical engineering student teams. The same design team may change its relative focusing on problem or solution in response to different classes of design requirements.

Keywords

  • Design Sessions
  • Engineering Design Students
  • Small Design Team
  • Design Knowledge
  • Mixed Teams

These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • DOI: 10.1007/978-94-017-9112-0_5
  • Chapter length: 16 pages
  • Instant PDF download
  • Readable on all devices
  • Own it forever
  • Exclusive offer for individuals only
  • Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout
eBook
USD   259.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • ISBN: 978-94-017-9112-0
  • Instant PDF download
  • Readable on all devices
  • Own it forever
  • Exclusive offer for individuals only
  • Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout
Softcover Book
USD   329.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
Hardcover Book
USD   399.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
Learn about institutional subscriptions
Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

References

  1. Goel V, Pirolli P (1992) The structure of design problem spaces. Cogn Sci 16(3):395–429

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  2. Dorst K (2010) The nature of design thinking. In: Dorst K, Stewart S, Staudinger I, Paton B, Dong A (eds) Design thinking research symposium (DTRS) 8: interpreting design thinking, pp 131–139. University of Technology Sydney, 19–20 Oct 2010

    Google Scholar 

  3. Lawson BR (1979) Cognitive strategies in architectural design. Ergonomics 22(1):59–68

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  4. Darke J (1979) The primary generator and the design process. Des Stud 1(1):36–44

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  5. Schön DA (1992) Designing as reflective conversation with the materials of a design situation. Knowl-Based Syst 5(1):3–14

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  6. Schön DA (1991) The reflective practitioner: how professionals think in action, Paperback edn. Ashgate, Aldershot, UK

    Google Scholar 

  7. Dorst K, Cross N (2001) Creativity in the design process: co-evolution of problem–solution. Des Stud 22(5):425–437

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  8. Maher ML, Tang H-H (2003) Co-evolution as a computational and cognitive model of design. Res Eng Design 14(1):47–64

    Google Scholar 

  9. Restrepo J, Christiaans H (2004) Problem structuring and information access in design. J Des Res 4(2). doi: 10.1504/JDR.2004.009842

  10. Kruger C, Cross N (2006) Solution driven versus problem driven design: strategies and outcomes. Des Stud 27(5):527–548

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  11. Lloyd P, Scott P (1994) Discovering the design problem. Des Stud 15(2):125–140

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  12. Gero JS (1990) Design prototypes: a knowledge representation schema for design. AI Mag 11(4):26–36

    Google Scholar 

  13. Gero JS, Kannengiesser U (2004) The situated function-behaviour-structure framework. Des Stud 25(4):373–391

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  14. Gero JS, McNeill T (1998) An approach to the analysis of design protocols. Des Stud 19(1):21–61

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  15. Pourmohamadi M, Gero JS (2011) Linkographer: An analysis tool to study design protocols based on FBS coding scheme. In: 18th international conference on engineering design (ICED’11), Copenhagen, Denmark, 15–18 Aug

    Google Scholar 

  16. Gero JS (2010) Generalizing design cognition research. In: Dorst K, Stewart SC, Staudinger I, Paton B, Dong A (eds) DTRS 8: interpreting design thinking, pp 187–198

    Google Scholar 

  17. Jiang H, Yen CC (2010) Understanding senior design students’ product conceptual design activities: a comparison between industrial and engineering design students. In: The 2010 design research society (DRS) international conference “Design & Complexity”, Montreal, Canada, 7–9 July, CD un-numbered

    Google Scholar 

  18. McDonnell J, Lloyd P (eds) (2009) About: designing: analysing design meetings. CRC Press, Boca Raton

    Google Scholar 

  19. Keinonen T (2006) Introduction to concept design. In: Keinonen T, Takala R (eds) Product concept design: a review of the conceptual design of products in industry. Springer, Berlin, pp 1–31

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  20. Dorst K (2003) The problem of design problems. In: Cross N, Edmonds E (eds) Expertise in design, design thinking research symposium 6, pp 135–147

    Google Scholar 

  21. Purcell T, Gero JS, Edwards H, McNeill T (1996) The data in design protocols: the issue of data coding, data analysis in the development of models of the design process. In: Cross N, Christiaans H, Dorst K (eds) Analysing design activity. Wiley, Hoboken, NJ, pp 225–252

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The second author’s contribution to this work is funded by the US National Science Foundation under grant numbers CMMI–0926908 and IIS-1002079. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Hao Jiang & Ching-Chiaun Yen

  2. Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study, Fairfax, VA, USA

    John S. Gero

Authors
  1. Hao Jiang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. John S. Gero
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ching-Chiaun Yen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hao Jiang .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study, Fairfax, Virginia, USA

    John S. Gero

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this paper

Cite this paper

Jiang, H., Gero, J.S., Yen, CC. (2014). Exploring Designing Styles Using a Problem–Solution Division. In: Gero, J. (eds) Design Computing and Cognition '12. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9112-0_5

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9112-0_5

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-017-9111-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-017-9112-0

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)