The Complementary Roles of Intuition and Logic in Creative Design Ideation

The interaction between intuitive (practice-based) and logical (theory-based) ways of thinking about creatively solving design problems is the focus of this project. Thirty-nine industrial design students were exposed to both intuitive and logical design approaches to resolving briefs during a 1-day workshop. The intuitive approach encouraged an open and informal take on idea development grounded in past-experience, whereas the logical approach emphasized structured and sequential problem analysis. In a within-subjects design, half the students adopted an intuitive approach in the morning and a logical one in the afternoon to solve design briefs, whereas the reverse applied to the other half. Students rated their experiences on five 7-point scales after 30 min into the session and on a different set of 10 scales at the end of the 2-hr session, and their design proposals were assessed by experts. Results showed that the intuitive approach energized participants and stimulated idea generation after 30 min, but teamwork was challenging. The logical approach lent confidence to the students and was easier to adopt, but only after applying an intuitive approach in the morning session. Students found it more challenging to complete their proposals after 120 min in the logical condition. Proposals by students in the intuitive condition comprised mostly images, while those created in the logical condition were highly verbal. Critical self-evaluation by students was reflected in higher ratings of proposals by the judges.