Diverse Characteristics in Design Problem Solving : A Case Study of Disciplinary Comparisons

Design problems nowadays require the abilities of creative solution generation through transformations of diverse information acquired from an understanding of problem context and user needs. Thus, college education should increasingly address general problem solving abilities beyond disciplines as society and industry demand. In this paper, the design problem solving characteristics of students of three different disciplines ? psychology, engineering and industrial design ? have been identified from their experimental design activities in an idea generation test and design task test. For the idea generation test, disciplinary characteristics have been identified for idea expression type, sketch communication and idea directions. For the design task test, disciplinary differences have been studied for analogical reasoning types used, solution direction and viewpoint of design description. The specific observed characteristics are explained together with the evaluation criteria used. Research to identify disciplinary characteristics in design problem solving may help make the currently developing problem solving education commonly applicable to a wide variety of disciplines. In interdisciplinary design situations, this research may contribute in guiding the roles of design team members with different disciplinary backgrounds in composing creative design teams.