Creativity in Innovation Design: the roles of intuition, synthesis, and hypothesis

Abstract

In a highly technologically-advanced mature society, a shift in focus occurs from quantitative to qualitative innovation. This paper discusses this shift from the perspective of design. We address these future topics by showing our views or opinions, as well as by referring to some theories and arguments that have appeared up to the present in this regard. Concretely, we postulate that the design process comprises the stages of intuition or gut feeling, followed by analysis or synthesis, finally leading to the design outcome. Assuming that one of the factors that determines design creativity is whether the purpose or goal of a design is inside or outside of the design process, we also examine the aspects of these conditions. We then suggest the idea of an Innovation Design process model composed of two cycles: analytical design creation and synthetic design creation. In the former, a design solution is explored to fulfill a purpose or goal pre-assigned to a product from outside, leading to quantitative innovation. In the latter, hypothesization starting with an intuition or gut feeling leads to the design of a breakthrough product, leading to qualitative innovation. Finally, we present an outline of the design school (workshop) conducted based on these thoughts.

Design thinking, fast and slow: A framework for Kahneman’s dual-system theory in design

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