Investigating the correlation between visual representation flow, physical prototyping, and designers' creativity

• Published in: DESIGN JOURNAL
• Main Authors: Isa, Siti Salwa; Liem, Andre; Steinert, Martin; Jamaludin, Nor Lelawati
• Format: Article; Early Access
• Language: English
• Published: ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD 2024
• Subjects: Art
• Online Access: https://www-webofscience-com.uitm.idm.oclc.org/wos/woscc/full-record/WOS:001271392400001

This study aims to explore how prototypes, sketches and CAD models supported designers during the designers during the early ideation, idea development in the engineering design process flow. Using a mixed-methods study, the designer's roles and contributions were evaluated with respect to the achieved design quality. 81 Professional industrial designers were observed and interviewed after participating in five workshop sessions. After exploring different permutations of sketching, prototyping and CAD modelling, results indicate that starting with 'Prototyping' in the early ideation stage contributed significantly to more ideas of higher quality, broadening the ideation space. Using CAD modelling too early in the engineering design process constrains ideation and prematurely limits solution spaces.