Virtual reality environment-based collaborative exploration of fashion design

Driven by rapid advances in digital technology, virtual reality environments (VREs) have emerged as a new collaborative design tool. In this study, we present an experimental investigation of cognitive characteristics of VRE-based collaborative conceptual exploration in fashion design. Eight graduate students participated in two empirical experiments in which they collaboratively developed design concepts using a VRE and an online teleconferencing environment (OTE). The collected data were analysed according to a coding scheme to investigate the cognitive patterns involved in the process of collaborative exploration. The results indicate that collaborative exploration via VRE elicited more external representation-related cognitive activity linked to conceptual evaluation and enhanced interaction with a given design tool. They also show that OTE-based collaborative exploration was associated with a conceptual cognitive process model with a sequential flow of steps, which did not produce specific joint environment-related changes. In contrast, the VRE-based approach induced a flexible mental flow of various cognitive behaviours. This research contributes to the theoretical and empirical understanding of VRE needed to develop a methodological framework for VRE-based fashion design collaboration and related education.