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Brainstorming vs. Creative Design Reasoning: A Theory-Driven Experimental Investigation of Novelty, Feasibility and Value of Ideas

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Design Computing and Cognition '14

Abstract

In industrial settings, brainstorming is seen as an effective technique for creativity in innovation processes. However, bulk of research on brainstorming is based on an oversimplified view of the creativity process. Participants are seen as idea generators and the process aims at maximizing the quantity of ideas produced, and the evaluation occurs post-process based on some originality and feasibility criteria. Design theories can help enrich this simplistic process model. The present study reports an experimental investigation of creativity process within the context of real-life design ideation task. Results lead to the rejection of the classical ‘quantity breeds quality’ hypothesis. Rather, we observe that successful groups are the ones who produce a few original propositions that hold great value for users while looking for ways to make those propositions feasible.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    It should be noted, however, that their score on feasibility is average (fifth) and thus, their being second in overall is mostly due to the compensatory nature of the averages (e.g. a bad score can be compensated by a good one, and vice versa).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris, Paris, France

    Akin O. Kazakci & Armand Hatchuel

  2. Grenoble Ecole de Management, Grenoble, France

    Thomas Gillier

  3. Electricité de France (EDF), Paris, France

    Gerald Piat

Authors
  1. Akin O. Kazakci
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  2. Thomas Gillier
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  3. Gerald Piat
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  4. Armand Hatchuel
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Akin O. Kazakci .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science and School of Architecture, University of North Carolina, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

    John S. Gero

  2. University College London, Bartlett School of Architecture, London, United Kingdom

    Sean Hanna

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© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Kazakci, A.O., Gillier, T., Piat, G., Hatchuel, A. (2015). Brainstorming vs. Creative Design Reasoning: A Theory-Driven Experimental Investigation of Novelty, Feasibility and Value of Ideas. In: Gero, J., Hanna, S. (eds) Design Computing and Cognition '14. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14956-1_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14956-1_10

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-14955-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-14956-1

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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