Exploring Designing Styles Using a Problem-Solution Division

This paper presents a measurement-based exploration of designing styles within the context of different design disciplines and tasks based on the design cognition of small design teams. Twelve final-year industrial design and twelve mechanical engineering design students were recruited to form teams of two. Each team undertook two conceptual product design tasks with different classes of requirements. Protocols of conversations and observations of design activities were then examined using an ontologically-based coding scheme. A problemsolution index was proposed to classify design sessions into problem-focused and solution-focused designing styles. Results suggest that industrial design student teams have a designing style that is more focused on the design problem than mechanical engineering student teams. The same design team may change its relative focusing on problem or solution in response to different classes of design requirements.