Exploring the Use of a Full Factorial Design of Experiment to Study Design Briefs for Creative Ideation

Abstract

Coming at the start of the design process, the information contained in design briefs influences the framing of the designer’s perspectives of the design problem and the creativity of the design outcomes. This study investigates four types of information in design briefs: quantitative requirements, a visual example (video), a physical example and contextual information. Creativity studies typically use a one-variable-at-a-time approach that cannot collect data on interaction effects, thus this study explores the use of a full factorial Design of Experiment to study both the main effects and the two-way interaction effects. Creativity is measured according to three metrics: novelty, appropriateness, and usability. The results suggest that providing no additional information in the design brief results in high novelty scores and low appropriateness and usability scores, the main effect of providing a video example results in high appropriateness and usability scores but low novelty scores, and physical-contextual briefs have reasonably high novelty and usability scores. Methodological limitations and suggestions for improvements are discussed extensively.