Studies on the Use of Variations of ‘Brainstorming’ in Creative Design Situations

Abstract

To favor creative design activities, we elaborated variations of the seminal ‘brainstorming’ technique to be used in early design. In contrast to the classical brainstorming’, these techniques are (1) used in individual situations, and (2) they aim to lead participants to adopt either a focus on the evocation of ideas (as in the classical brainstorming technique) or on the evocation and management of constraints related to the design problem. To analyze the effects of these two techniques of brainstorming, we conducted three studies with respectively students in design (study 1), future generalist teachers (study 2), and future teachers specialized in creative activities (study 3). Depending on the experimental groups, in each study, participants were provided with instructions that are intended to stimulate them either to look for numerous and various ideas (CQFD groups), or to analyze constraints related to the design problem at hand (CQHD groups), or else with no specific instruction (control groups). In a second phase, in all the studies, the participants’ creative productions were submitted to ‘judges’, consisting of teachers specialized in creative activities, who had to evaluate them with regard to various criteria. Scores on the creative performances show that the conditions to enhance creative performances depend on the participants’ background and specialty. Thus, students in design benefit the most from instructions focused on constraints related to the design problem whereas students consisting in future generalist teachers and future teachers specialized in creative activities benefit the most from instructions focusing on the evocation of ideas.