Design Problem-Solving with External Representations

Abstract

To develop a product out of a set of given variables and operators, complex information processing and the application of problem-solving strategies is needed. Unfortunately, these complex requirements on human problem-solving abilities are confronted with the designer’s cognitive and creative limitations resulting from a restricted working-memory capacity. To overcome these limitations and to foster a creative and innovative product development, suitable supporting systems are needed. Their development should be based on a profound understanding of the cognitive actions and perceptual processes that are involved in design problem-solving. Thereby, a permanent exchange between internal thinking, reasoning and decision making steps and external writing, sketching and verbalisation steps takes place. The most challenging question in this context is how external representations should be configured and how interaction with these representations should be implemented to efficiently combine mental and motor actions. Another interesting question is, whether virtual environments are helpful for design problem-solving by providing information-rich, interactive visualisations in a 3D manner. To answer these questions and to deduce cognitively based guidelines for the development of design support systems, several experiments in virtual environments are planned in a laboratory setting.