A fix for fixation? rerepresenting and abstracting as creative processes in the design of information systems

  • Authors:

  • Doris Zahner;Jeffrey v. Nickerson;Barbara Tversky;James e. Corter;Jing Ma

  • Affiliations:

  • Stevens institute of technology, castle point on hudson, hoboken, new jersey, usa;Stevens institute of technology, castle point on hudson, hoboken, new jersey, usa;Teachers college, columbia university, new york, new york, usa;Teachers college, columbia university, new york, new york, usa;Stevens institute of technology, castle point on hudson, hoboken, new jersey, usa

  • Venue:
  • Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing
  • Year:
  • 2010

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Abstract

Fixation prevents the associations that are bridges to new designs. The inability to see alternative solutions, or even to see how to map known solutions onto current problems, is a particularly acute problem in the design of software-intensive systems. Here, we explored two related ways of liberating fixated thinking: abstracting and rerepresenting. Although both techniques helped designers generate original ideas, not all the added ideas fit the problem constraints. We discuss ways the results might be used to generate reflective design aids that help designers to first generate original ideas and later prune them.