Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T09:37:19.219Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Representing analogies to influence fixation and creativity: A study comparing computer-aided design, photographs, and sketches

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 April 2015

Olufunmilola Atilola  and
Julie Linsey
Olufunmilola Atilola
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Julie Linsey*
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
*
Reprint requests to: Julie Linsey, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 801 Ferst Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30332-0405, USA. E-mail: julie.linsey@me.gatech.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Many tools are being developed to assist designers in retrieving analogies. One critical question these designers face is how these analogues should be represented in order to minimize design fixation and maximize idea generation. To address this question, an experiment is presented that compares various representations' influence on creativity and design fixation. This experiment presents an effective example (analogue) as computer-aided design (CAD), sketch, or photograph representations. We found that all representations induced fixation, and the degree of fixation did not vary significantly. We also found that CAD representations encourage engineering designers to identify and copy the key effective features of the example. CAD and photo representations also produced a higher quality of design concepts. Results from this experiment offer insights into how these various representations may be used in examples during idea generation; CAD representations appear to offer the greatest advantages during the idea generation process. The results from this experiment also indicate that analogical databases of effective design examples should include CAD and photolike images of the analogue rather than sketches.

Keywords

AnalogyDesign FixationDesign RepresentationSketching
Type
Special Issue Articles
Information
AI EDAM , Volume 29 , Issue 2: Analogical Thinking , May 2015 , pp. 161 - 171
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Ahmed, S., & Wallace, K. (2003). Evaluating a functional basis. Proc. 2003 ASME Design Engineering Technical Conf., pp. 901–907, Chicago, September 2–6.Google Scholar
Arkes, H.R., & Blumer, C. (1985). The psychology of sunk cost. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 35(1), 124–140.Google Scholar
Benyus, J.M. (1997). BIOMIMICRY: Innovation Inspired by Nature. New York: William Morrow.Google Scholar
Brandis, J. (2012). The Full Belly Project. Accessed at http://www.thefullbellyproject.org on March 5, 2012.Google Scholar
Brown, V., Tumeo, M., Larey, T.S., & Paulus, P.B. (1998). Modeling cognitive interactions during group brainstorming. Small Group Research 29(4), 495–526.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cardoso, C., & Badke-Schaub, P. (2011). The influence of different pictorial representations during idea generation. Journal of Creative Behavior 45(2), 130–146.Google Scholar
Cardoso, C., Badke-Schaub, P., & Luz, A. (2009). Design fixation on non-verbal stimuli: the influence of simple vs rich pictorial information on design problem solving. Proc. ASME Int. Design Engineering Technical Conf. & Computers and Information in Engineering Conf., San Diego, CA, August 30–September 2.Google Scholar
Casakin, H., & Goldschmidt, G. (1999). Expertise and the use of visual analogy: implications for design education. Design Studies 20(2), 153–175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chan, J., Fu, K., Schunn, C., Cagan, J., Wood, K., & Kotovsky, K. (2011). On the benefits and pitfalls of analogies for innovative design: ideation performance based on analogical distance, commonness, and modality of examples. Journal of Mechanical Design 133(8), 081004.Google Scholar
Christensen, B.T., & Schunn, C.D. (2005). The relationship of analogical distance to analogical function and pre-inventive structure: the case of engineering design. Creative Cognition: Analogy and Incubation 35(1), 29–38.Google Scholar
Christiaans, H.H. (1992). Creativity in design: the role of domain knowledge in designing. PhD Thesis. Delft University of Technology.Google Scholar
Christiaans, H.H. (2002). Creativity as a design criterion. Communication Research Journal 14(1), 41–54.Google Scholar
Clark-Carter, D. (1997). Doing Quantitative Psychological Research: From Design to Report. London: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Connors, C. (2008). Jock Brandis makes life better with peanuts. Accessed at http://blog.makezine.com/2008/12/10/jock-brandis-makes-life-b/ on March 6, 2012.Google Scholar
Contero, M., Varley, P., Aleixos, N., & Naya, F. (2009). Computer-aided sketching as a tool to promote innovation in the new product development process. Computers in Industry 60(8), 592–603.Google Scholar
Coskun, H., Paulus, P.B., Brown, V., & Sherwood, J.J. (2000). Cognitive stimulation and problem presentation in idea-generating groups. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice 4(4), 307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dugosh, K.L., & Paulus, P.B. (2005). Cognitive and social comparison processes in brainstorming. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 41(3), 313–320.Google Scholar
Eckert, C., Stacey, M., & Earl, C. (2005). References to past designs. Studying Designers 5, 3–21.Google Scholar
Fu, K., Cagan, J., & Kotovsky, K. (2010). Design team convergence: the influence of example solution quality. Journal of Mechanical Design 132(11), 111005.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gazette, L. (2009). MHS class mixes physics & helping Malawi farmers. Accessed at http://www.larchmontgazette.com/news/mhs-class-mixes-physics-peanuts-helping-malawi-farmers on March 5, 2012.Google Scholar
Goel, A.K. (1997). Design, analogy, and creativity. IEEE Expert 12(3), 62–70.Google Scholar
Goel, V. (1995). Sketches of Thought. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldschmidt, G. (1994). On visual design thinking: the vis kids of architecture. Design Studies 15(2), 158–174.Google Scholar
Goldschmidt, G., & Smolkov, M. (2006). Variances in the impact of visual stimuli on design problem solving performance. Design Studies 27(5), 549–569.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grenier, A.L. (2008). Conceptual understanding and the use of hand-sketching in mechanical engineering design. Masters Thesis. University of Maryland, College Park.Google Scholar
Hannah, R., Joshi, S., & Summers, J.D. (2012). A user study of interpretability of engineering design representations. Journal of Engineering Design 23(6), 443–468.Google Scholar
Helms, M., Vattam, S.S., & Goel, A.K. (2009). Biologically inspired design: process and products. Design Studies 30(5), 606–622.Google Scholar
Hirtz, J., Stone, R.B., & McAdams, D.A. (2002). A functional basis for engineering design: reconciling and evolving previous efforts. Research in Engineering Design 13(2), 65–82.Google Scholar
Jansson, D., & Smith, S. (1991). Design fixation. Design Studies 12(1), 3–11.Google Scholar
Jonson, B. (2002). Sketching now. International Journal of Art & Design Education 21(3), 246–253.Google Scholar
Jonson, B. (2005). Design ideation: the conceptual sketch in the digital age. Design Studies 26(6), 613–624.Google Scholar
Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1979). Prospect theory: an analysis of decision under risk. Econometrica 47(2), 263–291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kavakli, M., & Gero, J.S. (2001). Sketching as mental imagery processing. Design Studies 22(4), 347–364.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kavakli, M., & Gero, J.S. (2002). The structure of concurrent cognitive actions: a case study on novice and expert designers. Design Studies 23(1), 25–40.Google Scholar
Kiriyama, T., & Yamamoto, T. (1998). Strategic knowledge acquisition: a case study of learning through prototyping. Knowledge-Based Systems 11(7), 399–404.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kokotovich, V., & Purcell, T. (2000). Mental synthesis and creativity in design: an experimental examination. Design Studies 21(5), 437–449.Google Scholar
Kudrowitz, B.M., & Wallace, D. (2013). Assessing the quality of ideas from prolific, early-stage product ideation. Journal of Engineering Design 24(2), 120–139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larkin, J.H., & Simon, H.A. (1987). Why a diagram is (sometimes) worth ten thousand words. Cognitive Science 11(1), 65–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leclercq, P., & Heylighen, A. (2002). 5.8 analogies per hour. Proc. Artificial Intelligence in Design'02, pp. 285–303. Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
Liikkanen, L.A., & Perttula, M. (2010). Inspiring design idea generation: insights from a memory-search perspective. Journal of Engineering Design 21(5), 545–560.Google Scholar
Linsey, J., Clauss, E.F., Kurtoglu, T., Murphy, J.T., Wood, K.L., & Markman, A.B. (2011). An experimental study of group idea generation techniques: understanding the roles of idea representation and viewing methods. Journal of Mechanical Design 133(3), 031008.Google Scholar
Linsey, J., Green, M.G., Murphy, J., Wood, K.L., & Markman, A.B. (2005). Collaborating to success: an experimental study of group idea generation techniques. ASME Int. Design Engineering Technical Conf. Computers and Information in Engineering Conf., Long Beach, CA, September 24–28.Google Scholar
Linsey, J., Markman, A., & Wood, K. (2012). Design by analogy: a study of the WordTree method for problem re-representation. Journal of Mechanical Design 134(4), 041009.Google Scholar
Linsey, J., Tseng, I., Fu, K., Cagan, J., Wood, K., & Schunn, C. (2010). A study of design fixation, its mitigation and perception in engineering design faculty. Journal of Mechanical Design 132(4), 041003.Google Scholar
Macomber, B., & Yang, M. (2011). The role of sketch finish and style in user responses to early stage design concepts. Proc. ASME Int. Design Engineering Technical Conf. & Computers and Information in Engineering Conf., Washington, DC, August 28–31.Google Scholar
Mak, T., & Shu, L. (2004). Abstraction of biological analogies for design. CIRP Annals—Manufacturing Technology 53(1), 117–120.Google Scholar
McKoy, F.L., Vargas-Hernández, N., Summers, J.D., & Shah, J.J. (2001). Influence of design representation on effectiveness of idea generation. Proc. ASME Int. Design Engineering Technical Conf. Computers and Information in Engineering Conf., Paper No. DETC2001/DTM-21685, Pittsburgh, PA.Google Scholar
Menezes, A., & Lawson, B. (2006). How designers perceive sketches. Design Studies 27(5), 571–585.Google Scholar
Nelson, B.A., Wilson, J.O., Rosen, D., & Yen, J. (2009). Refined metrics for measuring ideation effectiveness. Design Studies 30(6), 737–743.Google Scholar
Nourish-International. (2007). Universal nut sheller production facility. Accessed at http://nourishinternational.org/projects/uganda4.php on March 5, 2012.Google Scholar
Perttula, M., & Liikkanen, L. (2006). Exposure effects in design idea generation: unconscious conformity or a product of sampling probability?Proc. NordDesign (Jonsson, M., & Unnporson, R., Eds.), pp. 42–55. Reykjavik, Iceland.Google Scholar
Perttula, M., & Sipilä, P. (2007). The idea exposure paradigm in design idea generation. Journal of Engineering Design 18(1), 93–102.Google Scholar
Purcell, A.T., & Gero, J.S. (1992). Effects of examples on the results of a design activity. Knowledge-Based Systems 5(1), 82–91.Google Scholar
Purcell, A.T., & Gero, J.S. (1996). Design and other types of fixation. Design Studies 17(4), 363–383.Google Scholar
Qian, L., & Gero, J.S. (1996). Function–behavior–structure paths and their role in analogy-based design. Artificial Intelligence for Engineering, Design Analysis and Manufacturing 10(4), 289–312.Google Scholar
Robertson, B., & Radcliffe, D. (2009). Impact of CAD tools on creative problem solving in engineering design. Computer-Aided Design 41(3), 136–146.Google Scholar
Robertson, B.F., Walther, J., & Radcliffe, D.F. (2007). Creativity and the use of CAD tools: lessons for engineering design education from industry. Journal of Mechanical Design 129(7), 753–760.Google Scholar
Schmidt, L.C., Hernandez, N.V., & Ruocco, A.L. (2012). Research on encouraging sketching in engineering design. Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing 26(3), 303–315.Google Scholar
Schumann, J., Strothotte, T., Laser, S., & Raab, A. (1996). Assessing the effect of non-photorealistic rendered images in CAD. Proc. SIGCHI Conf. Human Factors in Computing Systems: Common Ground, pp. 35–41, Vancouver, April 13–18.Google Scholar
Sen, C., Caldwell, B.W., Summers, J.D., & Mocko, G.M. (2010). Evaluation of the functional basis using an information theoretic approach. Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing 24(1), 87–105.Google Scholar
Shah, J.J. (1998). Experimental investigation of progressive idea generation techniques in engineering design. Proc. ASME Int. Design Engineering Technical Conf. & Computers and Information in Engineering Conf., Atlanta, GA, September 13–16.Google Scholar
Shah, J.J., Kulkarni, S.V., & Vargas-Hernandez, N. (2000). Evaluation of idea generation methods for conceptual design: effectiveness metrics and design of experiments. Journal of Mechanical Design 122(4), 377–384.Google Scholar
Shah, J.J., Smith, S.M., & Vargas-Hernandez, N. (2003). Metrics for measuring ideation effectiveness. Design Studies 24(2), 111–134.Google Scholar
Shu, L., Ueda, K., Chiu, I., & Cheong, H. (2011). Biologically inspired design. CIRP Annals—Manufacturing Technology 60(2), 673–693.Google Scholar
Stacey, M., Eckert, C., & McFadzean, J. (1999). Sketch interpretation in design communication. Proc. Int. Conf. Engineering Design, Munich, Germany, August 24–26.Google Scholar
Suwa, M., & Tversky, B. (1997). What do architects and students perceive in their design sketches? A protocol analysis. Design Studies 18(4), 385–403.Google Scholar
Thilmany, J. (2006). Pros and cons of CAD. Mechanical Engineering Magazine 128(9), 38.Google Scholar
Tversky, B., Suwa, M., Agrawala, M., Heiser, J., Stolte, C., Hanrahan, P., Phan, D., Klingner, J., Daniel, M.P., & Lee, P. (Eds.). (2003). Sketches for Design and Design of Sketches. Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
Ullman, D.G., Wood, S., & Craig, D. (1990). The importance of drawing in the mechanical design process. Computers & Graphics 14(2), 263–274.Google Scholar
Vattam, S., Helms, M.E., & Goel, A.K. (2007). Biologically-Inspired Innovation in Engineering Design: A Cognitive Study. Technical Report. Georgia Institute of Technology, Graphics, Visualization, and Usability Center.Google Scholar
Vattam, S.S., Helms, M.E., & Goel, A.K. (2008). Compound analogical design: interaction between problem decomposition and analogical transfer in biologically inspired design. Proc. Design Computing and Cognition ‘08, pp. 377–396. Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
Vattam, S.S., Helms, M.E., & Goel, A.K. (2009). Nature of creative analogies in biologically inspired innovative design. Proc. 7th ACM Conf. Creativity and Cognition., pp. 255–264, Berkeley, CA, October 26–30.Google Scholar
Veisz, D., Joshi, S., & Summers, J. (2012). Computer-aided design versus sketching: an exploratory case study. Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing 26(3), 317–335.Google Scholar
Vincent, J.F., & Mann, D.L. (2002). Systematic technology transfer from biology to engineering. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 360(1791), 159–173.Google Scholar
Viswanathan, V., & Linsey, J. (2013a). Design fixation and its mitigation: a study on the role of expertise. Journal of Mechanical Design 135(5), 051008.Google Scholar
Viswanathan, V., & Linsey, J. (2013b). Examining design fixation in engineering idea generation: the role of example modality. International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation 1(2), 109–129.Google Scholar
Viswanathan, V., & Linsey, J. (2013c). Role of sunk cost in engineering idea generation: an experimental investigation. Journal of Mechanical Design 135(12), 121002–121012.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Viswanathan, V., & Linsey, J. (2014). Spanning the complexity chasm: a research method to move from simple to complex engineering systems. Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing 28(4), 369–384.Google Scholar
Vogel, S. (2000). Cats’ Paws and Catapults: Mechanical Worlds of Nature and People. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Westmoreland, S., Ruocco, A., & Schmidt, L. (2011). Analysis of capstone design reports: visual representations. Journal of Mechanical Design 133(5), 051010.Google Scholar
Wiley, J. (1998). Expertise as mental set: the effects of domain knowledge in creative problem solving. Memory & Cognition 26(4), 716–730.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilson, J.O., Rosen, D., Nelson, B.A., & Yen, J. (2010). The effects of biological examples in idea generation. Design Studies 31(2), 169–186.Google Scholar
Yang, M.C. (2009). Observations on concept generation and sketching in engineering design. Research in Engineering Design 20(1), 1–11.Google Scholar
Yang, M.C., & Cham, J.G. (2007). An analysis of sketching skill and its role in early stage engineering design. Journal of Mechanical Design 129(5), 476–482.Google Scholar
Youmans, R.J. (2011). The effects of physical prototyping and group work on the reduction of design fixation. Design Studies 32(2), 115–138.Google Scholar