Innovations in Design Through Transformation: A Fundamental Study of Transformation Principles

Abstract

The act of creating a new product, system, or process is an innovation; the result of excogitation, study and experimentation. It is an inductive and/or deductive process. The inductive process involves studying systems that exist, for example, in nature, patents and products, and inducing from the behavior of these systems elemental features for innovating novel products. The deductive process involves deducing such aspects from hypothetical concepts and situations where systems or products could exist. By the application of a combined inductive and deductive approach, this paper reports on a methodology for the creation of innovative products with a broader functional repertoire than traditional designs. This breed of innovative products is coined as transformers, transforming into different configurations or according to different states. Current design theory lacks a systematic methodology for the creation of products that have the ability to transform. This paper identifies analogies in nature, patents, and products along with hypothesizing the existence of such products in different environments and situations. Transformation design principles are extracted by studying key design features and functional elements that make up a transforming product. These principles are defined and categorized according to their roles in general transformations. The principles and categorizations are then validated and applied to conceptualize transforming products as part of an innovative design process.

Design Fixation From Initial Examples: Provided Versus Self-Generated Ideas

“…In a report from an international workshop on design fixation research, Crilly and Cardoso [22] pointed out that induced "fixation is a good context for studying the effectiveness of creativity tools." A wide range of over 170 different concept generation techniques have been identified (Smith, 1998), including analogical thinking [55], morphological analysis [56], Synectics [57], questioning [58], lateral thinking [59], conceptual combination [60], Scamper [61], transformation principles [62], and TRIZ [63]. However, few of these strategies have been empirically validated for their effectiveness in improving the diversity of designs generated [64].…”

Design Principles: Literature Review, Analysis, and Future Directions

“…A (transformation) principle is a guideline that, when embodied, singly creates a transformation." Weaver et al [11] Singh et al [12] Glegg [2] "Principles of engineering design can be divided into three distinct types:…”

“…Change the physical dimensions of an object to bring about an increase/decrease in occupied volume primarily along an axis, in a plane or in three dimensions." [12] 4.2 Guideline. As discovered in the literature addressing the definitions and characteristics of principles, we find similar content for definitions and characteristics of guidelines.…”

“…Facilitator is a term found in a series of related works that study the design of transformers [10][11][12]. As stated by the authors, "a Transformation Facilitator is a design archetype that helps or aids in creating mechanical transformation.…”

“…As stated by the authors, "a Transformation Facilitator is a design archetype that helps or aids in creating mechanical transformation. Transformation Facilitators aid in the design for transformation but their implementation does not create transformation singly" [10][11][12]. This term harkens to the recommendation of Maier and Rechtin [41]: to create associated heuristics, one is tempted to add a conditional statement-in that there are corollaries and associations among them as well, in addition to being potentially descriptive rather than prescriptive.…”