Form innovation: investigating the use of generative design tools to encourage creativity in product design

In a competitive market, where engineering design skills are mandatory, the capacity to be creative, and make innovative forms, represents the distinctive element that can offer the added value for that specific product. The product's aesthetics, in fact, play an ever more decisive role especially where different products have similar functions and performances. In this context, the paper investigates the adoption of Generative Design (GD) as a tool for creating new concepts and encourage creativity in product design. Since GD automatically explores a large number of solutions in search of the best functional forms, this could offer designers the opportunity to focus on the aesthetic aspects by using its results as a trigger to explore new forms. To this end, the paper presents a pilot experiment in which, using generative design tools, some conceptual furniture design solutions have been generated. In particular, the paper compares the design concept of stools made, with and without the support of generative design, by students enrolled in the last year of the Master's Degree in mechanical engineering. The concepts have been evaluated in terms of design creativity, with particular reference to novelty and aesthetics, by involving the general public and a group of experts.