ANALYZING THE ROLE OF PROBLEM FINDING IN THE CREATIVE DESIGN WITH REGARD TO THE EFFECT OF PRIOR KNOWLEDGE IN THE DESIGN PROCESS

Statement of the problem. Despite many researches in the field of design process, there is still mostly the main reliance of the design process on 'solving the problem', and designers are evaluated based on their ability to provide the solution. In fact, creativity is defined in 'quality of the solution'. Results. However, what is less discussed is the 'problem -finding'. considering that the design problem - unlike problems in other fields - is vague and ill-defined, and is not predetermined; Also, as prior knowledge of the designer is so effective in all stages of the design process and can hinder creativity, due to the desiner's reference to his own previous experience, so problem finding should be considered as one of the important abilities of a designer. In this regard, students should also be taught to be creative in the problemfinding phase, and teachers should not provide the design problem in a completely defined and fixed way. Conclusions. This research believes that creativity does not occur only in the ideation phase, and the problem finding should be considered as an integral and essential part of the creative design process, whether in professional contexts or education. If the designer can find a novel problem, or see the existing problems from a new angle, it can be expected that there will be no fixation, and creativity will happen in the design.