Retrospective and Prospective of the Study of Design Creativity

Abstract: Design creativity is a special type of imaginative capacity that plays an important, albeit still little understood, role in design activity. This paper returns to the primary sources to inform a critical review of the early studies of creative reasoning that have heavily influenced what we know and how we know it. It does this to inductively and reflectively formulate a prospective for the future study of design creativity that emphasizes a designerly outlook, facilitation skills, associative reasoning, the unearthing of assumptions, methodological awareness, types and stages of design ideas, design briefs, and purpose of ideation. A rethinking of the premises underlying the study of creative ideation has the potential to transform how we study, teach, and support the creative aspects of design practice in the twenty-first century and beyond.