Conference Agenda

Mental Imagery is a focus for design cognition research, with most research focusing on visual mental imagery, it has been highlighted that mental imagery encompasses more aspects than visual, including emotion known as multimodal mental imagery. So as researchers and educators we need to understand the cognitive process and how to best stimulate it. This paper looks at design students use of visual and emotional mental imagery and its impact on their ability to produce creative outcomes during the ideation stage of the design process.

This study explores the construction, characterization, and measurement of the design space using a novel approach that centres on First Occurrences (FOs) and Re-Occurrences (ROs) as metrics. Expert architects' cognitive behaviours during the design process were investigated empirically to gain insights into design space evolution. Findings reveal a consistent generation and revisiting of ideas, signifying an ongoing development of the design space. Future research should incorporate diverse methodologies and broader participant sample for a more comprehensive understanding.

This research aims to explore the existence of metacognition during the use of text-to-image generators in the design ideation stage. We recruited five participants with a design background to use Midjourney as an ideation tool and to produce three sketches at the end of their task. Through semi-structured interviews and retrospective verbalization, we collected data on their thought processes. The qualitative analysis revealed clear indications of metacognitive engagement, such as monitoring and evaluating, which opens the path for future research into the impact of AI on design cognition.

The relationship between culture and creativity has sparked the interest of researchers for decades. Although researchers have attempted to establish a connection between culture and creativity, the precise relationship between the two remains ambiguous. The current paper examined extant literature on the subject matter and synthesized the relations between culture and creativity in ideation over the past twenty years. The present study expounds upon the utilized samples, measures implemented to assess creativity and culture, and the study results.

Problems, solutions, and design itself have been framed as spaces in design research. Visualising the design space and how designers explore it, can give insight into the design process. This paper reports on a novel method for creating Design Space Visualisations (DS-Viz) that generates 2D and 3D representations of design spaces. We show how DS-Viz can be used to investigate designer behaviour, design processes and outcomes using a game-based design activity as an example. We discuss DS-Viz implications for design research highlighting potential benefits to design education and practice.

Understanding team diversity has become essential for modern-day organisations. This study explores the impact of knowledge diversity in design teams through computational simulations. By analysing design space characteristics, we study how diverse teams perform compared to less diverse counterparts. Results reveal that highly diverse teams exhibit increased efficiency, quicker convergence, and larger but sparser design spaces. This work contributes to understanding the impact of knowledge diversity in design teams and sets the stage for future systematic studies of diversity.