Information Processing and Storage during the Design Process

Abstract

One of the characteristics of problem solving within the domain of industrial design engineering is the typical strategy that designers use in their information gathering. First, every designer will (consciously or unconsciously) build up a personal archive of his own, partly stored in long-term memory and partly based on external sources. When the designer has some knowledge on the topic he often tends to rely on what he already knows and/or simply reacts on already existing solutions. He understands incoming information to the extent that it conforms to his knowledge structure or ways of knowing. Information is filtered and modified by the existing knowledge structure so that it fits with someone’s understanding of things. Sometimes, the designer can even be blocked by past experience. Second, in making use of external sources designers mainly look for technical information, while user-related information is often difficult to find or is given low priority. And if there is any user information at all, it is often confined to physical data, see [1]. Third, much of the external information is not very accessible, such as catalogues, directives, database software programs, picture collections etc. These sources often have a static, invariable and biased character and through this nature might be an impediment for use.

¹The authors wish to thank Gijs Verrest and Els Fonteyne for their help with the database, the experiments and statistical matters.