Understanding the creative mechanisms of design thinking: An evolutionary approach

Katja Thoring, Roland M. Müller

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

53 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this article, we analyse the concept of design thinking with its process, the team structure, the work environment, the specific culture, and certain brainstorming rules and techniques. The goal of this work is to understand how the creative mechanisms of design thinking work and how they might be improved. For this purpose, we refer to the idea of creativity as an evolutionary process, which is determined by generation (i.e., recombination and mutation), selection, and retention of ideas. We evaluate the design thinking process in terms of its capabilities to activate these mechanisms, and we propose possible improvements. This paper contributes to a better understanding of creative design processes in general and the design thinking process in particular, and will serve as a foundation for further research about creative mechanisms.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the DESIRE'11 Conference on Creativity and Innovation in Design
Pages137-147
Number of pages11
DOIs
StatePublished - 2011
Externally publishedYes
Event2nd Conference on Creativity and Innovation in Design, DESIRE'11 - Eindhoven, Netherlands
Duration: 19 Oct 201121 Oct 2011

Publication series

NameProceedings of the DESIRE'11 Conference on Creativity and Innovation in Design

Conference

Conference2nd Conference on Creativity and Innovation in Design, DESIRE'11
Country/TerritoryNetherlands
CityEindhoven
Period19/10/1121/10/11

Keywords

  • creative education
  • design thinking
  • evolutionary creativity
  • innovation methods

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