Natural language processing in-and-for design research

Abstract We review the scholarly contributions that utilise natural language processing (NLP) techniques to support the design process. Using a heuristic approach, we gathered 223 articles that are published in 32 journals within the period 1991–present. We present state-of-the-art NLP in-and-for design research by reviewing these articles according to the type of natural language text sources: internal reports, design concepts, discourse transcripts, technical publications, consumer opinions and others. Upon summarising and identifying the gaps in these contributions, we utilise an existing design innovation framework to identify the applications that are currently being supported by NLP. We then propose a few methodological and theoretical directions for future NLP in-and-for design research.