Adaptation of Sources of Inspiration in Knitwear Design

Abstract

In an experimental study of designing by adaptation, professional and student knitwear designers were videotaped designing sweaters based on a Persian rug or a 19th century tapestry. The designers used a range of source-triggered and goal-directed adaptation strategies to create adaptations ranging from the closest possible translations into the medium to radical transformations of abstract characteristics. While each strategy sometimes led to each type of adaptation, the source-triggered strategies were predominant for the easy-to-adapt source (the rug) and typically led to close adaptations; while the goal-directed strategies were more common for the more difficult source (the tapestry), and more often led to more radical transformations of the source. The professional designers made more use of goal-directed strategies than the student designers. The study supports the view that creative behavior can usefully be described in terms of consistent patterns resulting from both task demands and from cognitive capacities and learned skills.

Change as little as possible: creativity in design by modification

“…For example, Nagai and Taura (2006), Bonnardel and Marmèche (2004) and Linsey et al (2008) provided designers with stimuli and asked them to generate ideas that build on them, with the assumption that those that are more closely related to the sources are less creative. Eckert and Stacey (2003) provided expert and novice knitwear designers with a source of inspiration to analyse the differences between their approaches. They found that experts used their professional context, e.g.…”

Inspired and Inspiring Textile Designers

“…Each of Eckert and Stacey's (2003a) possible transformations were apparent in our research: (a) literal adaptation, (b) conscious simplification, (c) abstraction, (d) modification to source, and (e) association and deviation. Each of Eckert and Stacey's (2003a) possible transformations were apparent in our research: (a) literal adaptation, (b) conscious simplification, (c) abstraction, (d) modification to source, and (e) association and deviation.…”

“…Some inspirational sources are clearly connected to the final outcome, while others are connected to the creative process itself. These included (a) literal adaptation, (b) conscious simplification, (c) abstraction, (d) modification to source, and (e) association and deviation (Eckert and Stacey, 2003a). Sources of inspiration facilitate thinking, referencing, and practicing within the design process.…”

“…Available literature has examined the thought processes of designers, design processes in general, and inspirational sources for design in retrospect, such as Blanchard, Feather, and Wilson (1991) who looked at inspiration sources of depression-era quilts. Eckert and Stacey's (2000, 2003a, 2003b research on inspirational sources among knitwear designers provided a framework toward the study of inspirational sources as well as the research design; Goldschmidt's (1995) research on linkography supplied structure to data analysis; while Strickfaden and Heylighen's (2010) research on sociocultural capital and Strickfaden's (2006) design process milieu theory provided lenses for interpretation. Researchers continue to reinforce the idea that inspirational sources are vital to the creative process of textile design as means of eliciting new ideas, facilitating future reference points, inspiring design, and seeking new sources of inspiration (Dazkir, Mower, Reddy-Best, & Pedersen, 2013;Mete, 2006).…”

Teaching the novice programmer: A study of instructional sequences and perception

“…Garland and Barry (1992) in a recall study involving play diagrams presented to football experts, non-experts, and novices concluded that skilled performance required an immediate linkage of perceived patterns with conceptual categories in long-term memory. Eckert and Stacey (2003) concluded that garment designers first sought out patterns and then created memory units based on those patterns. Complex memories such as faces and stories could be reconstructed by combining a few key details in the pattern that stand out with stereotype elements filling in the remaining details.…”