Intelligent Support for Problem Formalisation in Design

Engineering design is a kind of human activity that makes use of many different knowledge sources. Basically, this may be well-structured explicit, domain specific knowledge or tacit, implicit and experience-based knowledge. Both types of knowledge have their particular roles in design, and thus in knowledge-based design support systems. In this paper several issues concerning knowledge-based design support systems are reviewed and discussed. Paper begins with a brief introduction of a design process and highlights its creative features. Further some justifications to the support of a creative design from a cognitive point of view are made. Paper concludes with the identification of required features of an intelligent support system and suggests that knowledgelevel models may serve as a core for maintenance and capture of design knowledge during a design process.