The Impacts of Design Heuristics on Concept Generation for a COVID-19 Brief

Xiaoneng Jin, Hua Dong and Mark Evans
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Xiaoneng Jin: College of Design and Innovation, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
Hua Dong: Brunel Design School, Brunel University London, Uxbridge UB8 3PH, UK
Mark Evans: School of Design and Creative Arts, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3TU, UK

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 11, 1-20

Abstract: Design heuristics (DHS) as a tool can help boost designers’ creativity in early conceptual design phases. We have developed a set of DHS for digital innovation (DHS10). There are numerous studies on DHS impacts/outcomes in the recent years. However, little research has been conducted to identify whether DHS has lasting benefits on designers’ ideation performance. This paper explores whether DHS10 can help designers achieve more creative ideas based on different design briefs, and if DHS has lasting impacts on or benefits for students. An empirical study was conducted with two groups (i.e., 32 students who learned DHS10 five weeks ago, and 24 students who studied DHS10 instantly). They were asked to address an open-ended design brief on COVID-19 and generate as many innovative ideas as possible. The results suggest DHS has impacts on students who learned DHS just now and five weeks ago. The effect is stronger on those who just learned DHS10. We suggest that DHS10 be provided for ideation as it provides texts and visual stimuli for designers. DHS10 also has the potential to help students understand digital innovation and generate ideas accordingly.

Keywords: design heuristics; conceptual design; industrial design; design cognition; creativity; design methods and tools; design for COVID-19; design innovation; education for industrial design engineering (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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