Session: DTM-02: Design Methods and Practice

Paper Number: 142785

142785 - Concept Chaining Patterns During Ideation Using Digital Tablets 

Digital tablets are becoming increasingly popular as a sketching tool, in part because they allow designers to store many sketches in one place and to easily switch between types of sketching tools. Their impact on concept evolution patterns has been minimally explored in a qualitative manner but not quantitatively. We present the results of a controlled human subjects study that investigates how the use of tablets (iPads) may influence concept evolution patterns when compared to pen and paper sketching during an engineering design concept generation problem. 

We explore two main research questions. First, whether or not tablet use for sketching, as opposed to paper and pen sketching, is linked with more concept chaining (sequential iteration on a concept). We hypothesize that ideation on tablets will be linked with more concept chaining due to sketching features on the tablet such as copy and paste. Second, we ask whether or not concept chaining patterns will be different for design prompts that have multiple functional requirements. Here, we hypothesize that the concept chaining patterns for the primary functional requirement of a multi-component prompt will be consistent with the patterns of concept chaining for a prompt with only one requirement, but that secondary functional requirements may not exhibit these clear chaining patterns. 

We find that tablet users demonstrate more concept chaining than paper and pen users despite having a similar number of related ideas overall. We also find that concept chaining patterns do change for design prompts with higher numbers of functional requirements especially because not all ideas address all parts of the prompt, but that the primary functional requirement results exhibit the same concept chaining patterns with more chains present on tablet sketching than paper and pen sketching.

Presenting Author: Madhurima Das Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Presenting Author Biography: Madhurima Das is a PhD candidate in the Ideation Lab in the department of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her research explores sociotechnical implications of engineering decisions during the design process including how the introduction of digital tablets for sketching impacts early stage design, how makerspaces can be more equitable, and how design research and pedagogy can embed ethics, equity, and justice.

Prior to starting graduate school, she worked for two years as a design and engineering educator in a K-12 setting where she ran a school makerspace and taught hands-on project-based engineering and design. She also has prior experience in engineering for themed entertainment including work on animatronics, roller coasters, escape rooms, and educational games. Madhurima received her Bachelor’s (2018) and Master’s (2022) degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Authors:

Madhurima Das Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Jessica Meza Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Christine Xu Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Maria Yang Massachusetts Institute of Technology