Journal of Integrated Design and Process Science

In order to explore thinking in technological innovation by using modal logic, a technology is analyzed to be a set of action propositions and a technological innovation is regarded to form a new set of such propositions by deliberating each action proposition and then introducing new ones. An action proposition is indispensable if regarded as necessary no matter how the technology involved is innovated. An action proposition is feasible if workable but replaceable in terms of achieving some effect(s). Hence, a technological innovation constitutes a balance between indispensability and feasibility. Logics containing the operators of indispensability and feasibility can be used to draw inferences regarding technological innovation. Broadly speaking, logical systems provided in this paper are design logic.

Understanding the central characteristics of product design before studying the sketches of products is an essential task. It is well established in design research that sketches are the most important communication tool in the conceptual stage of the design process. However, recent studies have shown that the interaction between functionality and aesthetics influences the customer’s emotional connection with the product. Furthermore, sketch segmentation has been considered a fundamental step towards the understanding of sketches, and this problem has never been tackled from a design perspective. This paper presents a novel perspective on the problem of product sketch segmentation by proposing two different segmentation procedures. First, a low-level segmentation procedure is proposed, in which Gestalt theory was applied to group the sketch elements into larger components based only on their visual arrangement and no prior-knowledge is required on the product. Second, a high-level segmentation process is proposed considering the prior-knowledge of the functional aspects of the product representation on the grouping of the sketch elements. Results of the two procedures applied to the same sketches indicated that the low-level segmentation procedure, which requires less cognitive burden, can lead to components with specific well-defined functions as obtained through the high-level segmentation procedure.

Designers usually spend non-negligible efforts in performing comprehensive design space explorations, but important information exchanged in conceptual design sessions is often lost, even about the rationale behind the preferred solutions. As a part of a broader investigation concerning the impact of knowledge coming from previously performed design tasks, this paper describes an experiment aimed at assessing the impact on the design outcomes of two representations used to share existing design information. In particular, the authors compared a function structure, together with a morphological chart, against a hierarchically organized tree of problems and solutions. The design experiment has been performed with a sample composed by 35 engineering students, which have been opportunely subdivided in three groups. The experiment has been structured in three phases and the acknowledged literature metrics for assessing idea generation effectiveness have been applied to assess the design outcomes produced by students. Obtained results show that providing information with the two investigated representations leads to potential advantages in terms of Variety of devised concepts. Moreover, additional analysis of the results highlight that the considered representations lead to different idea-generation paths.

The collaboration with designers represents an opportunity to adopt a design approach to innovation (e.g. Burns, 2006). However, in the context of the debates around designers as external innovation consultant, research has paid little attention to what really happens when designers meet non-designers in innovation processes. We clarify and extend on this literature by drawing on the concept of enthusiasm. We present the concept of the designer as enthusiast, which is used to analyze data from an educational program with four parallel running innovation processes. Through the study it became clear that besides the influence on creativity and innovation, designers as enthusiasts influence the belief in a more open innovation approach and trust in designers as an innovation consultant only if they can demonstrate innovation competencies and may benefit from developing an understanding of innovation group’s previous experience with collaborative approaches.