Development of a User-Centered Computational Environment for Conceptual Design

The earliest stage of the design process, known as conceptual design, is crucial to the overall effectiveness of the end product. Of particular importance is the search of the design space for ideas and concepts, which is restricted because of limitations in designers' information-processing capabilities. One way to overcome this restriction is to implement computational intelligence to support and extend the search and exploration process. In this article, we report the outcome of a series of multidisciplinary workshops that identify seven key topics necessary for the future development of a generic user-centered computational environment to support conceptual design.