Design Jigsaw: Exploring a Computational Approach to Assembling Ideas in the Design Production Process

Abstract

Idea generation in the design production process often occurs within brainstorming sessions. Linking ideas is the key mechanism in the process of producing design. Through linking ideas, a graph-like knowledge is achieved in representing the individual memories, with the nodes and arcs being the ideas and the links between ideas respectively. The design process is similar to doing a jigsaw. Using the jigsaw metaphor, a cognitive study is applied to the design tool DIM (Dynamic Idea Map) to explore computational jigsaw mechanisms. Thereafter, a computational framework called Design Jigsaw is developed to support students in assembling vast ideas effectively and reveals the construction of meaning in the graph-like knowledge structure of design thinking