Chapter Iv What’s in a Diagram That a Computer Should Understand

To better understand how drawings are used in design, this chapter and the next one describe controlled protocol studies of designers conducted by the author. Specifically, these chapters attempt to answer two questions: 1) What different activities and drawings consistently appear in the conceptual stages of design? and 2) How are symbols and drawing conventions associated with different design activities. The ultimate goal is to determine how one might identify design contexts and intentions simply by looking at a designer’s drawing – the benefit being that one could then use diagrams to access appropriate design information automatically.