The appearance of creative behaviour in later stage design processes

Creativity is widely seen as an important subject in the study of the engineering design process. Through analysis using a previously presented framework and coding scheme, this paper presents two studies on creative designer behaviour within later design stages. Through the studies, one being longitudinal and the other a laboratory experiment, two creative approaches have been identified based on whether designers are more often creative when developing the knowledge and variables available for the design, or the design output itself. This individual difference correlates significantly with the designers’ creative style as measured by an independent creative style test. This data demonstrates the variation in designer behaviour that appears even when completing identical tasks. By understanding the creative behaviour and approaches followed by designers, it will be possible to develop specific and particularly appropriate methods of designer support, dependent on the stage of the design process and particular approach of the designer.