Inside Designer's Head: How Design Solutions are Evolved in Real World Situations

摘要

Concept generation is the most creative and complicated stage in design process. This paper investigates how concepts for new products are developed, screened and selected in a real world context. It is based on an empirical in depth study of product development in six SMEs in the UK, using a modified action research methodology, using 'designer as researcher'. The study monitors in detail all design decision making through the NPD process, however this paper focuses on the concept development stage. Two main activities were identified in this stage: developing and screening concept. It is generally considered that the essences of these two activities are sequential and comprise of divergent and convergent thinking (Liu et al., 2003). However this study illustrates an iterative loop process which consists of the two styles of thinking resulting in a design decision making process in this stage that suggests it is more complicated than other stages of the NPD process. The study also indicates that different models of design decision-making are adopted that are 'situationally' dynamic. In this study the designer/researcher classified concept designs into four groups: Bad, General, Good and Great concept. Following this classification the empirical data revealed six scenarios of outcome, depending on the combinations of four types of concept. Four models of design decision-making have been identified for coping with different scenarios. Implications of these findings for understanding the dynamic process of design decision-making in real world situation are discussed.