The effects of physical prototyping and group work on the reduction of design fixation

Youmans, Robert J.

doi:10.1016/j.destud.2010.08.001

Cited by 137 publications

(109 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…It is observed that as the novice designers build and test their models, they make changes to These results are also in agreement with the prior study conducted by Youmans (2011). He demonstrates that novice designers who build and test physical models of their ideas fixate less.…”

Section: 3mitigation By Testing Hypothesissupporting

confidence: 81%

“…Contradicting these results, and as discussed previously, Youmans (2011) shows that novice designers who build physical models during idea generation fixate less. A more recent study shows that the design fixation associated with physical models can be explained using the cost (in terms of money, time or effort) sunk into the building process Linsey 2011, Viswanathan and.…”

Section: Effects Of Physical Models In Design Cognitionmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…As explained above, different experiments on the use of defixation warnings and alternate problem representations produce conflicting results regarding their effectiveness in reducing fixation. As shown by Youmans (2011) physical models are effective in leading designers to ideas without undesirable features. The study presented here explores this argument further in a more realistic design setting.…”

Section: Prior Efforts To Mitigate Design Fixationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When designers fixate, they reproduce features from familiar or presented examples (Jansson and Smith 1991, Purcell and Gero 1992, Purcell and Gero 1996, Dahl and Moreau 2002, Linsey, Tseng et al 2010, Youmans 2011. Design fixation restricts the solution space where designers look for their ideas, therefore hindering the generation of novel ideas.…”

Section: Design Fixationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, a follow-up study shows that these defixation materials are not equally effective for novices . Youmans (2011), based on his controlled study with novice designers, shows that physical models can help in the mitigation of design fixation. The participants are given a simple design problem and an example containing a few undesirable features.…”

Section: Prior Efforts To Mitigate Design Fixationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A study on the role of physical models in the mitigation of design fixation

Viswanathan

Atilola

Esposito

et al. 2014

Journal of Engineering Design

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Designers implement a variety of models and representations during the design process, yet little is known about the cognitive impacts of various representations.This study focuses on how physical models can assist novices in mitigating design fixation to undesirable features. During idea generation, designers tend to fixate on examples they encounter or their own initial ideas. The first hypothesis states that designers tend to duplicate features of provided examples. The second hypothesis states that this fixation can be mitigated with appropriate warnings. The last hypothesis is that building and testing physical models can help designers in mitigating fixation. To investigate these theories, a quasi-experiment is conducted as Copying these flawed features creates more complicated and less effective designs.However, through the physical testing of their designs, participants identify and fix the design flaws. These results indicate that existing designs and experiences have the potential to limit innovation and that designers need to be trained with effective methods for mitigating design fixation. Building prototypes can help designers in identifying the flawed features and in reducing design fixation; hence the use of physical models in engineering design needs to be encouraged.

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Section: 3mitigation By Testing Hypothesissupporting

confidence: 81%

Section: Effects Of Physical Models In Design Cognitionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Section: Prior Efforts To Mitigate Design Fixationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Design Fixationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Prior Efforts To Mitigate Design Fixationmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

A study on the role of physical models in the mitigation of design fixation

Viswanathan

Atilola

Esposito

et al. 2014

Journal of Engineering Design

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Disruptive Technology and Economic Issues

TEULIER,

BAGIEU

2023

Building Information Modeling

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Design Fixation in the Wild: Design Environments and Their Influence on Fixation

Youmans

2011

Journal of Creative Behavior

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Many studies of design fixation ask designers to work in controlled laboratory or classroom environments, but innovative design work frequently occurs in dynamic, social environments. The two studies reviewed in this paper investigated how three independent variables likely to be present in many design environments affect design fixation. The first study found that working with physical prototypes significantly reduced fixation effects, and that working in groups can reduce fixation effects under certain conditions. The second study found that brief interruptions in designers' thought processes during the initial states of the design process also reduce fixation effects. I conclude by discussing what the data from both studies may indicate about the theoretical causes of fixation effects, and what designers might do to prevent fixation from affecting their creative output.

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The effects of physical prototyping and group work on the reduction of design fixation

Cited by 137 publications

References 40 publications

A study on the role of physical models in the mitigation of design fixation

A study on the role of physical models in the mitigation of design fixation

Disruptive Technology and Economic Issues

Design Fixation in the Wild: Design Environments and Their Influence on Fixation

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