The research objective of this EArly concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) is to create a framework for a web based holistic ideation system that invites users at large to attempt to solve their design problems using the tool. The goal is to collect massive amounts of data from diverse set of users over an extended period of time to explore deeper issues and solution strategies employed by real designers. As part of an ongoing project the investigators have created a framework for holistic ideation by mixing and matching disparate ideation mechanisms matched to diverse ideation states commonly encountered in design. This is transformative in two ways: it builds a bridge between intuitive and logical approaches and it creates an entirely new mode of research for design creativity. But for this approach to bear fruit, massive amounts of data need to collected and analyzed to determine ideations paths, use and user scenarios and corresponding level of effectiveness. The Testbed will provide a uniform and structured way of collecting data on creative design which will lead to a better understanding of creative processes and the influence of thinking styles and problem complexity on these processes through empirical studies conducted at a fine granularity level (ideation mechanisms). A holistic approach will introduce students to both logical/experiential and intuitive strategies which has a greater probability of acceptance. Studying ideation paths in conceptual design has not been previously explored and researched in a formal manner. The main impediment is the lack of a proper foundation for characterizing such paths. The holistic ideation framework will facilitate several different ideation methods/strategies and track success rates based on ideation paths using heat maps employed today by companies such as Google.
If successful, this research has the potential for impacting design practice, design research and engineering education. This project explores the feasibility of new software to support people in being more creative and evaluates their performance through user studies. Such systems will become partners rather than tools. Through user interaction, they will sense the ideation state and suggest possible strategies at a given state. In this role the tool becomes a virtual facilitator with virtual group members that generate provocative stimuli and contribute technical insights. Particularly for novices, such as engineering students, it is important to provide access to experiential knowledge through a multitude of resources. Results will be broadly disseminated through conferences and journals, as well as through the developed website.
OVERVIEW The long term aim of this research is to develop a framework for holistic design ideation by integrating both intuitive and experiential creativity methods. That requires an understanding of different mental states that designers go through in design ideation, as well as, structured representations of design knowledge. Towards that goal, this exploratory research undertook preliminary design and implementation of pilot computer tool consisting of a variety of knowledge-bases, databases and design repositories that the designer can choose from as his ideation state evolves. Detailed development and design experiments using the Testbed were left for future projects for which regular grants will be sought. Conceptual design of engineered artifacts requires both problem formulation/re-formulation and generation of alternative ideas. This grant allowed us to explore an organizational framework to support reformulation and ideation in a multi-tool environment. We did exploratory investigation of alternative mechanism for incorporating known cognitive strategies, such as provocative stimuli, analogical reasoning random or deliberate connections between sub-solutions. A web implementation of the tool makes it available to the design community for education and experimentation (Holistic ideation: http://ideationspace.com/) NOTE: The web name "MyDesignSpace’ was already assigned to some other part; therefore, we registered under a modified name "IdeationSpace". Intellectual Merit One outcome of this research is the development of an effective and flexible framework for problem formulation and structuring. the second is the combination of diverse methods to create a holistic ideation testbed for future studies in design thinking. The criteria were that it should give designers freedom to decompose and formulate and re-formulate the design problem anyway they want; to store and organize solutions in association with the chosen problem structure; to allow multiple framing to co-exist. This was achieved by what we term as "Evolutionary, Cascading Morphological Charts". In our Cascading Evolutionary Morphological Charts (CEMC), "Cascading" indicates multiple linked charts that it could support alternative decompositions; any higher level sub-problem found in the main chart can be used to create a whole new morph chart with a finer decomposition of a sub-task. "Evolutionary" indicates the dynamic nature of the charts needed to support reframing and restructuring, in which sub-problems and sub-solutions evolve in parallel until the final chart is made. Another deviation is that the morphological structure is not solely created for functions, but any aspect of the problem. Through our preliminary studies, we have demonstrated the power of using computers to enhance human creativity. During ideation with the interactive aid, we can identify symptoms of common creativity blocks, which, with additional research, could lead to suggestion of appropriate ideation method. The ideation and post-ideation processes are inter-laced. In the beginning of this stage, the Testbed identifies the position of the designer in the design space by answering a few questions from which the values for the characterization indicators are determined. According to the combination of values given for these indicators, the Testbed could potentially identify the creativity block that the designer faces and an unblocking strategy that is needed to remove the particular block. The set of ideation methods suggested to the user is obtained from the unblocking mini-strategy that is embedded in each ideation method. After an idea is generated, the ideas are evaluated in the evaluation module using the given effectiveness metrics. The output of this framework is a documentation of the function structure, characterization of ideation state, ideation method chosen, ideas generated, evaluation results and also the details given by the designer regarding the strategies used. Broader Impacts Conceptual design is a critical stage of product development in which key decisions about system configuration are made. This stage provides a unique opportunity for designers to create innovative products. Promoting the use of design archives and personal experience, creativity in this stage is augmented through effective use of ideation methods. The pilot tool is available to the academic community and the public at large. The Testbed is available to students for learning design conceptualization methods. The Testbed was used to teach conceptual design in an undergraduate class (mae342) and a graduate class (mae540) at ASU. It is available to the general public and eleven subject by subject training videos are posted on YouTube. The Figures show screenshots of the current implementation.
