Exploring the usability and creativity enhancement of augmented reality in additive manufacturing-based product design

Augmented Reality (AR), a technology that overlays digital content onto the physical environment, holds promise for enhancing creativity and usability in product design education. However, despite the advantages of Additive Manufacturing (AM) in enabling complex and customizable designs, designers often struggle to grasp its abstract principles. Grounded in theories of immersive learning and multimodal visualization, this study investigates whether integrating AR visualization can facilitate better understanding and stimulate creativity in AM education. A controlled experiment was conducted with 34 master's students in product design, randomly assigned to either an AR-based learning group or a traditional card-based learning group. Participants engaged with AM principles through either an interactive AR application featuring manipulable 3D cube models or static information cards. Usability perceptions and creativity of design outputs were assessed respectively through structured questionnaires and expert evaluations by five domain specialists. Mann–Whitney U tests, appropriate for non-normally distributed data, revealed that the AR group reported significantly higher usability ratings and produced more original design outcomes compared to the card-based group. These findings demonstrate that AR-based educational tools can directly improve the usability and creative engagement of students in learning AM principles. This study contributes to advancing the understanding of how immersive technologies can be effectively integrated into design education to foster both practical skills and innovative thinking.