General group research; The Design Theory and Methodology group conducts research on the cognitive, social and emotional determinants of designing, the design process and its outcome. This involves research on individual, as well as on team aspects of the ‘human’ characteristics of designing. 

Goals of the project

The aim of our research is to support designers to better understand and implement more efficiently and effectively the most adequate principles, practices and procedures of design across the diverse social contexts they might work in.

This entails a deliberate intention to encourage designers to adopt a reflective approach to how they think and behave when designing, what sort of problems they encounter, the use/misuse/non-use of design methods, the role of intuition, how they engage in creative thinking processes and so forth. Ultimately, we want to equip designers to develop the ability to think critically (and creatively) about the intricacies of design processes and thus to improve their own approaches.

What visitors can expect on 13 September:

This project explores how different types of stimuli, designers come across during problem solving activities, influence their creative processes. We are particularly interested in investigating to what extent designers might be unconsciously hindered when trying to devise novel ideas.

Partners

• ETH Zurich
• DTU Copenhagen