Developing a visual representation to characterize moment-to-moment concept generation in design teams

Abstract

Concept generation, an activity in which a number of design concepts are generated for further evaluation through prototyping and testing, is an important stage in the engineering design process. In design practice and design education, concept generation is often conducted in teams. During this activity, designers interact with one another to generate a number of design concepts. Prior research has either looked into the inter-relations between concepts generated, or into identifying specific interpersonal response behaviors in teams. There is a lack of explanation of how design concepts are generated moment-to-moment from the interpersonal interactions between designers. This paper presents the development of a visual notation called the Interaction Dynamics Notation for representing moment-to-moment concept generation through interpersonal interactions. This notation was developed through a video-observation study conducted with two engineering design teams engaged in a concept generation activity. Collective improvization was used to bridge concept generation and interpersonal behaviors into a single point of view for developing the notation. The validity of the notation is discussed in comparison with Linkography. The notation is shown to be effective in revealing patterns of interaction previously unfamiliar to design research.

Keywords:

• visual representation
• interpersonal behaviors
• concept generation