A structure for representing problem formulation in design

Much study has been done on the process of design and problem formulation is believed to play a major role in a creative design of high quality. Yet, it has gained less attention. We propose a taxonomy for representing the design problem space in order to show how a problem is formulated. We call this static representation the problem map which can provide a basis for comparing how different designers perceive a problem. It can also help demonstrate the co-evolution of problem and solution. Our study is based on the design of a model aircraft by an expert and a group of novice designers. The proposed structure shows a richer map of attended attributes and relations for the expert and more attributes left in vacuum for the novices.

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