How Are Design Ideas Studied over Time?

TY - CONF

T1 - How Are Design Ideas Studied over Time?

AU - Biskjaer, Michael Mose

AU - Frich, Jonas

AU - Halskov, Kim

AU - Nouwens, Minke

AU - Dalsgaard, Peter

PY - 2024/6/24

Y1 - 2024/6/24

N2 - Developing ideas is crucial in creative design processes and has attracted substantial research interest. However, no systematic overview of the various research approaches to studying design ideas exists. This paper presents a review of a corpus of research literature on design ideas and contributes an overview of prevailing methodological approaches for studying design ideas as they emerge and evolve over time. We find that these studies a) typically examine the development of design ideas during short sessions, b) often use controlled experiment setups, and c) rarely explore the relationship between initial design ideas and design process outcomes. We discuss this state of research and advocate the need to supplement current research approaches with methods that address more dimensions of idea development processes. This includes the temporal micro-scale to better understand the emergence of ideas and the macro-scale to illuminate how creative design ideas evolve beyond initial ideation sessions.

AB - Developing ideas is crucial in creative design processes and has attracted substantial research interest. However, no systematic overview of the various research approaches to studying design ideas exists. This paper presents a review of a corpus of research literature on design ideas and contributes an overview of prevailing methodological approaches for studying design ideas as they emerge and evolve over time. We find that these studies a) typically examine the development of design ideas during short sessions, b) often use controlled experiment setups, and c) rarely explore the relationship between initial design ideas and design process outcomes. We discuss this state of research and advocate the need to supplement current research approaches with methods that address more dimensions of idea development processes. This includes the temporal micro-scale to better understand the emergence of ideas and the macro-scale to illuminate how creative design ideas evolve beyond initial ideation sessions.

KW - Empirical methods

KW - Micro and macro temporality

KW - Study design

KW - Review

U2 - 10.21606/drs.2024.546

DO - 10.21606/drs.2024.546

M3 - Paper

T2 - The 2024 Design Research Society (DRS) Conference

Y2 - 24 June 2024 through 28 June 2024

ER -