Creative Stimulation in Conceptual Design

Conceptual design is a process of creating functions, forms and behaviors. Although cognitive processes are utilized in the development of new ideas, conventional methodologies do not take human cognition into account. However, it is conceivable that if one could determine how cognitive processes are stimulated, then more effective conceptual design methods could be developed. In this paper, we develop a Cognitive Model of Creative Conceptual Design to capture the relationship between the properties that stimulate cognitive processes and the design operations that facilitate cognitive processes. Through cognitive modeling, protocol analysis, and cognitive experiments, this research showed that designers exhibit patterns of creative design behavior, and that these patterns can be captured and instilled into the design process, to promote creativity.