Analogy seeded mind-maps: A simple and quick design-by-analogy method

Abstract

Recent research has investigated methods based on design-by-analogy meant to enhance concept generation. While these methods are promising, they can be cumbersome and difficult to apply in engineering classrooms. This paper presents Analogy Seeded Mind-Maps, a new method to prompt generation of analogous solution principles drawn from multiple analogical domains. The method begins with identifying a primary functional design requirement such as "eject part." We then use this functional requirement "seed" to generate a WordTree, which is a graph of grammatically analogical synonyms. We randomly select a set of 10-15 words from each WordTree list and use the resulting word list to populate the first-level nodes of a mind-map, with the functional requirement seed as the central hub. The word list and resulting mind-map then serve as visual tools that are utilized during the concept generation process. The effectiveness of the tool in generating concepts has been evaluated in separate studies utilizing student design teams working on a wide variety of projects in both the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA), a small academic community, and at The University of Texas at Austin, a large public research university setting. In our evaluation of the method, designers first used the word list (10-15 words from WordTree) to individually generate solutions and then performed team concept generation using the analogically seeded mind-map. The total quantity of concepts was measured. Additionally, the effect of word familiarity and the number of definitions of word were investigated for their effect on the quantity of concepts generated. It was found that the Analogy Seeded Mind-Map method allowed students to generate a large number of concepts in a relatively short amount of time with only brief introduction and explanation of the method.