Creativity and Design Method in Idea Generation: The Comparison between Intuitive Approach vs Structured Approach

Abstract

In order to come up with creative ideas, designers have adopted several design methods in the process of idea generation. However, few studies have been conducted about which design method is more efficient for increasing creativity. Therefore, we selected two design methods, Brain Writing and S.C.A.M.P.E.R that are opposite to each other in terms of approach. An experiment was designed in a way that given the same design brief three groups of designers came up with design ideas: one group used brain writing, another S.C.A.M.P.E.R, and the other no particular design method. The design ideas generated from the experiment were assessed by three design experts to judge the ideas in terms of creativity. The results indicate that there is no significant difference in ideas between three groups in terms of creativity while a radical way is more efficient in terms of the quantity of ideas. The limitations and further study are discussed in the end.