Composition and construction in experts' and novices' weaving design

Abstract The purpose of this study was to analyze qualitative differences between novices' and experts' design processes and investigate the relationships between visual and technical designing in depth. Four participants, two professional weaving designers and two graduate students of textiles, participated in the protocol-analysis study. The results of the study indicated that the basic difference between experts and novices in their approach to weaving design is the novices' tendency to structure the process in a serial fashion around the visual elements of the task whereas experts were able to continuously consider the visual and technical elements of weaving in a parallel way during the design process.