Developing a Coding Scheme to Analyse Creativity in Highly-constrained Design Activities

This work is part of a larger project which aims to investigate the nature of creativity and the effectiveness of creativity tools in highly-constrained design tasks. This paper presents the research where a coding scheme was developed and tested with a designer-researcher who conducted two rounds of design and analysis on a highly constrained design task.

This paper shows how design changes can be coded using a scheme based on creative ‘modes of change’. The coding scheme can show the way a designer moves around the design space, and particularly the strategies that are used by a creative designer to skip from one ‘train of solutions’ to new avenues.

The coding scheme can be made more robust by: ensuring design change is always coded relative to a reference design; tightening up definitions of ‘system’, ‘element’ and ‘function’; and using a matrix to develop a more complete set of codes. A much larger study with more designers working on different types of highly-constrained design task is needed, in order to draw conclusions on the modes of change and their relationship to creativity.