Investigating the Use of 3D Solid-Modeling Tools in the Early Idea Generation Stage of Product Design: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

The vast intervention of CAD tools and ubiquitous availability of computers has changed the culture of product design and has given birth to a new generation of engineers and designers. It has become a necessity in today’s fast moving technology-driven world and an integral part of the designer’s work environment. Initially, the application of CAD was mainly restricted to later stages of design, but in recent years, it has seen increased attention in the idea generation stage. The paper illustrates an exploratory study conducted with five professional product designers who were given a design task to be performed in limited time. The data used for the analysis was the visual data recorded during the design exercise and verbal data from the interviews. The visual data was recorded with the help of video camera and desktop recording software. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants to collect supportive data for the analysis and were audio recorded. The video recording of the whole activity was transcribed and tabulated, and occurrences of study parameters were mapped visually. This also helped establish a method to analyze a design activity with the visual mapping of study parameters. Supportive verbal data from the interview helped qualify some of the findings and cover the missing points that were difficult to identify in the time-bound exercise or through observation. The qualitative analysis of the study helped identify visualization as the strongest enabler offered by the use of CAD in the early idea generation stage. It also indicated the other enablers as confidence building, faster process and ease of prototyping. The most evident barrier identified through the study was circumscribed thinking. Circumscribed thinking occurs when ideas get limited or affected by the skill level of the designer (Robertson and Radcliffe in Comput Aided Des 41:136–146, 2009 [1]). The study also throws light on how CAD is used in the process when the design brief requires functional or problem-solving exploration versus formal exploration. It was observed that during formal explorations, considerable time was spent on exploring how to model, leaving lesser time for design exploration and decision. The study helped understand how designers accommodate CAD in their exploratory process in combination with other tools like sketching and physical modeling. It strengthens the view that CAD has become an integral part of the design environment and is extensively used even in the idea generation phase of design.