Research Methodology for the Internal Observation of Design Thinking through the Creative Self-formation Process

Since the external observation of creative design thinking fails to grasp the designer’s inner ‘self’, this study aims to propose a method for internal observation which can be elicited during creative design thinking by extending ‘reflections’ and ‘poietiques’. This method comprises three stages: (1) the creative design practice, (2) writing of reports on the designer’s practice by the designer and a third person (art researcher), and (3) writing of another report by the designer after examining both the reports from the second stage. We applied this method to a space-designing project. The three reports were analysed, both quantitatively and qualitatively, and many observations that were not included in the previous two reports were identified in the third report. After these analyses, we confirmed that the sense of ‘self’ was formed in the third stage and that our method of internal observation was feasible.