Abstract
In recent years, analogies have been widely used in the design process as an effective means of accelerating product innovation. This study investigates the spontaneous use of analogies in conceptual design. We used the protocol approach to analyse differences in designers' use of analogies during the three stages of the conceptual design process (exploration, development and forming). The findings show that designers' analogy tasks and design tasks differ significantly in the proportion of design processes involving analogy. Their distribution also reflects the more frequent use of analogies in the exploratory and developmental phases of the designer's design process. This will provide theoretical support for designers to make better use of analogies in conceptual design and for analogical design education.
Keywords
conceptual design; analogy; design process; design problem
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2023.568
Citation
Lu, H., Zhang, H., Lei, J.,and Zhu, Y.(2023) Differences in the use of analogies by designers at different stages of conceptual design, in De Sainz Molestina, D., Galluzzo, L., Rizzo, F., Spallazzo, D. (eds.), IASDR 2023: Life-Changing Design, 9-13 October, Milan, Italy. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2023.568
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Differences in the use of analogies by designers at different stages of conceptual design
In recent years, analogies have been widely used in the design process as an effective means of accelerating product innovation. This study investigates the spontaneous use of analogies in conceptual design. We used the protocol approach to analyse differences in designers' use of analogies during the three stages of the conceptual design process (exploration, development and forming). The findings show that designers' analogy tasks and design tasks differ significantly in the proportion of design processes involving analogy. Their distribution also reflects the more frequent use of analogies in the exploratory and developmental phases of the designer's design process. This will provide theoretical support for designers to make better use of analogies in conceptual design and for analogical design education.