Comparing Designs

Abstract

A formalism for modelling stylistic change in design is expanded by showing how comparisons and transformations of different styles, or languages, of designs can be used as the basis for comparisons and transformations of the different designs in those languages. The designs in a language are represented by decompositions consisting of the shapes and the spatial relations used to compose them. Different designs are compared by matching comparable shapes and relations in their decompositions. Relationships between different designs are elucidated further by showing, shape-by-shape, how one design can be transformed into another design. A simple measure of the similarity of different designs is also suggested.