Influence of a hybrid digital toolset on the creative behaviors of designers in early-stage design

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of this research was to investigate how diversification of the repertoire of digital design techniques affects the creative behaviors of designers in the early design phases. The principal results of practice-based pilot experiments on the subject indicate three key properties of the hybrid digital tooling strategy. The strategy features intelligent human-machine integration, facilitating three different types of synergies between the designer and the digital media: human-dominated, machine-dominated, and a balanced human-machine collaboration. This strategy also boosts the cognitive behaviors of the designer by triggering divergent, transformative and convergent design activities and allowing for work on various abstraction levels. In addition, the strategy stimulates the explorative behaviors of the designer by encouraging the production of and interaction with a wide range of design representations, including physical and digital, dynamic and static objects. Thus, working with a broader range of digital modeling techniques can positively influence the creativity of designers in the early conception stages. Highlights The hybrid digital toolset positively affects the creative behaviors of designers. The toolset boosts the cognitive and visual thinking behaviors. The toolset features intelligent human-machine synergies. The toolset aids interactions with the design representations. The toolset supports early-stage conceptual architectural design.