A new model of conceptual design based on Scientific Ontology and intentionality theory. Part I: The conceptual foundation

A new model of conceptual design based on Scientific Ontology and intentionality theory. Part II: The process model

“…Need A (design) need refers to a subjective desire of a person to change a problematic conceptual environment into a desirable one. (Chen et al, 2015) Function A function of a desired system refers to an imagined abstract action on an objective environment, which is expected to change the objective environment from a problematic state into a desirable one or to prevent the environment from changing into an undesirable state. (Chen et al, 2013) An abstract principle refers to a combination of some action classes and (or) some behavior classes for achieving a desired function.…”

“…Before elaborating the new process model of conceptual design, it is necessary to give a brief introduction to the conceptual foundation developed in the preceding paper (Chen et al, 2015), so that it is convenient for the readers to understand our work presented here. Table 1 is a summary of the primary concepts and their definitions developed before.…”

“…A s mentioned in the preceding paper (Chen, Zhang, Xie, & Zhao, 2015), it is significant for engineering design community to have a conceptually explicit and logically coherent model of conceptual design, since it can not only allow design lecturers to teach students explicit knowledge about conceptual design, but also can help design researchers improve their understandings about conceptual design, which can further serve as a theoretical foundation for the development of effective approaches or software tools for supporting conceptual design practices. Nevertheless, since the existing models of conceptual design (e.g., Gero, 1990;Pahl & Beitz, 1996;Suh, 2001;Umeda et al, 1996) rely too much on intuition and experience, they are still ambiguous and fragmented.…”

“…In a previous issue of Design Studies, we have reported the conceptual foundation of this model (Chen et al, 2015), which has been developed based on the Scientific Ontology (Bunge, 1977(Bunge, , 1979 and an intentionality theory (Jacob, 2010). Based on this explicit conceptual foundation, the new design model will elaborate how a conceptual design process can transform a concept (i.e., need) in the intentional world into a concept (i.e., solution) in the objective world (Kroes, 2002;Vermaas & Dorst, 2007).…”

Design Thinking: A Model Development Based On Archived Documents

“…Therefore, design proceeds from a conceptual description of a need to a concrete design solutions for problems created by the needs (Rosenman and Gero, 1998). Today, it is widely accepted that engineering design activities are also determined by needs (Chen, et al, 2015). However, Cross (1982, 224) mentions that "design problems are not the same as the 'puzzles' that scientists, mathematicians and other scholars set themselves.…”