How the type of methodology used, when working in a natural environment, affects the designer's creativity

Abstract

The study of the mechanisms linked to creativity has become a topic of great interest in various scientific fields in recent decades. One area in which a particularly large amount of research has been conducted is on the positive effect of natural environments on creativity. Yet, none of these studies have focused on the interaction that may arise with the design method used. That is, they consider the empowering effect of nature on creativity to be something general, without taking into account other factors that may influence it, such as the type of methodology used. This paper therefore aims to go a step further and investigate how the type of design methodology used—intuitive or logical—in a simulated natural environment affects the designer’s creativity. The analysis of both the design process and its outcomes shows that the main differences in the way of working with design methodologies occur mainly in the case of intuitive methodologies, helping designers to improve the quality of their outcomes.