A Model of Creative Design Using a Genetic Metaphor

In a very loose and metaphorical way, creativity or innovation in design could be seen to correspond to natural evolution. Design styles and knowledge evolve over time. New designs and corresponding design knowledge are based on existing designs and design knowledge. If invention or discovery takes place by combining ideas (Goldberg, 1989), we can view creative design as a juxtaposition of designs or design styles that have worked well in the past. Such a juxtaposition can occur in a computational sense given a representation of designs and a set of operators for combining and changing designs. We present a model in which a generalized representation of previous designs is coupled with the genetic metaphor to provide a basis for creative design.