A design inquiry into the role of design process in fostering creative exploration of ideas and concepts: An exploratory study of design projects of engineering students

Abstract

Creativity forms the base for innovation. Thus, facilitating thinking outside of one’s expertise and allowing the scope of exploration to build new knowledge becomes the challenge. Creative thinking often results from transferring problem solutions from one industry or domain to another through fusion of knowledge that has not been connected before. In the idea generation process, external sources of information are tapped to exploit multiple resource domains facilitating divergent exploration. While developing solutions, one is only able to notice a limited section of the environment due to constraints of limited cognitive abilities and established thinking patterns [1]. To analyse this, an exploratory study was conducted with undergraduate engineering students and their application of the generative design process in coming up with design solutions for given design tasks. Results demonstrated that divergent & convergent thinking stimulated opportunity identification and solution generation, thus improving the originality and diversity of ideas. Kulogun et al mentions, "To perceive, interpret and communicate the world and the facts differently is an important goal of design education and can only be obtained through creative thinking" [2]. This study aims to identify the generative stage of the creative process and help enable opportunities for creative ideation. The study suggests that design education in non-design disciplines can enhance creative exploration and facilitate innovative problem-solving solutions. The generative framework can further help define pedagogic interventions for teaching design process to large classes of non-design students.