Inspiration choices that matter: The selection of external stimuli during ideation

67Citations
Citations of this article
91Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

Abstract

Inspiration is a widely recognized phenomenon in everyday life. However, researchers still know very little about what the process of inspiration entails. This paper investigates designers' approaches when selecting inspirational stimuli during the initial phases of a design process.We conducted a think-aloud protocol study and interviews with 31 design Masters students while generating ideas for a design problem. The results indicate that searching for and selecting stimuli require different levels of cognitive effort, depending on whether there is unlimited or limited access to stimuli. Furthermore, three important stages of the inspiration process were identified: keyword definition, stimuli search and stimuli selection. For each of these stages, we elaborate on how designers define keywords, which search approaches they use and what drives their selection of stimuli. This paper contributes to an understanding of how designers can be supported in their inspiration process in a more detailed manner.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Gonçalves, M., Cardoso, C., & Badke-Schaub, P. (2016). Inspiration choices that matter: The selection of external stimuli during ideation. Design Science, 2. https://doi.org/10.1017/dsj.2016.10

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free