| dc.description.abstract | Many designers find computer-based tools are not as effective during the
early stages of design as manual sketching. However, to abandon the computer in
these conceptual stages denies designers the computer‟s capability to translate and
supplement imaginative design thinking. Recent design studies address conceptual
design. What is the impact of computer-based drawing and sketching on designers‟
cognition and productive reasoning?
This research focuses on the relationship between the characteristics of
sketching using the drawing environment of the computer and the productivity of the
conceptual design phase. I provide a theoretical framework that identifies and clarifies
both sketching and productivity. Previous specialized studies are selective and
sometimes only descriptive in defining this relationship. A review of these studies
reveals a gap in our understanding of those aspects of sketching that relate to
visualization, imagination and the generation of design ideas. The thesis addresses
three objectives: (i) to build a comprehensive theoretical framework that on one hand
defines the characteristics of sketching that might affect the generation of design
ideas, and on the other hand defines the productivity of conceptual design and its
indicators; (ii) to apply this framework in a practical study; and (iii) to extract
implications for the relationship.
To address the problem of computer-based sketching, I indentify the
continuity within the dynamic field of images usually generated while designers
sketch as the most effective characteristic of the computer sketching process. I
establish a measure of continuity defined by (i) the degree of ease in projecting design
images, (ii) the degree of continuity of displaying images due to changing the status
of the design objects and due to navigation around the objects, (iii) the degree of
provision of a holistic view (i.e., the total view of the design objects on the computer
screen). Then I define productivity within this framework in terms of the cognitive
operations of dialogical reinterpretation. When sketching, designers seem to perform
key operations such as interpreting, reframing and restructuring. I present the case that
a process rich with these cognitive operations is productive. The study makes use of
the fields of free hand sketching, literature, cognitive psychology and Gestalt theory.
Four indicators emerge from this study: the occurrence of pattern discovery,
conceptual reinterpretation, alternation of thinking, and restructuring.
I identify key variables that define the degree of continuity of the dynamic
field of images which relate to designer‟s performance to verify their relationship with
productivity. I study ten design participants who are given a design task that involves
sketching with various CAD systems. The study involves 21 hours of recorded video
analyzed using a method adapted from Goldschmidt's “linkography” tool for
representing design protocols. I identify where patterns of relationships between
variables exist, and where they do not apply. Not all the selected variables of
continuity of the dynamic field of images, nor all the indicators of productivity in the
conceptual design phase, support these patterns of relationships. This indicates that
there is a special group of characteristics of sketching that maintain the pace of
continuity within the dynamic field of images can improve the productivity in the
conceptual phase. | en_US |
