Considering cognitive biases in design: an integrated approach

Abstract

Design is a dynamic, decision-driven process, often guided by intuition and experience. It can be susceptible to cognitive biases, systematic deviations in information processing and decision making, which have been recognized as influential factors affecting expert judgment in multiple domains. Although some studies in the design field have investigated and proposed methods to address specific biases, such as the confirmation bias, there is currently no comprehensive approach in the literature to make designers aware of the various biases that may manifest during the design process. The main contribution of this article is to provide designers with a broad overview of the biases that may be involved within the three principal areas of design cognition: problem formulation, concept generation and concept evaluation. It also proposes a novel and workable methodology to facilitate designers' recognition and mitigation of biases through metacognition, while favoring the implementation of more specific correction strategies.