IT-Based Tools to Support New Product Design: A Case Study of a Design Consultancy Firm - Information Technology and Product Development - page 71

by either referring to case-based design solutions (Domeshek, 1992) or by applying
existing design knowledge to retrieve information from the designer's own resources
(Fischer, 1997; Nakakojin, 1999).
Ideas can be generated by a wide range of intuitive and systematic creative
problem-solving techniques. The techniques are designed to stimulate the mind into
generating additional ideas. Besides brainstorming, techniques may include mind
mapping, attribute listing, the use of checklists, and various forms of analogy-based
techniques (i.e., based on other systems). In addition, support for more systematic
approaches based on techniques such as morphological analysis is also available.
Ideas can be generated by association, by analogy, by exploration, or by transforma-
tion (Diehl, 1987). Software tools exist which support all of these, although they are
disconnected (Dartnall, 1994; Gardner, 1985). Figure 4.4 describes the mechanism
behind the brainstorming tools included in the environment.
Fig. 4.4 Architecture of the brainstorming tools
Figure 4.4 shows both tools using a TRIZ-based database combined with appro-
priate sorting algorithms, which allows users access to relevant third party online
resources while brainstorming. The user is able to brainstorm using either the mind
mapping or Post-it note tool to extend their original ideas, the software locating
related sources using the integrated agent.
At Studio Levien it is standard practice to gather information from multiple
sources so as to inform the design process. The designers use key words to search
visual repositories, such as Google Images and Picsearch, which provide images
that are used to assist the creative process. The virtual design environment provides
a more sophisticated set of tools to accomplish this task by searching multiple visual
repositories simultaneously.