Behavioral Analysis Of Analogical Reasoning In Design: Differences Among Novice And Expert Designers

Analogy involves accessing and transferring elements from familiar categories or prior knowledge (named the source) to construct a novel concept (named the target). As visual features frequently assist designers more than other forms, visual analogies are largely employed by designers to solve design problems. Based on previous researches, this paper explores the impacts of the expertise level of designers during analogical reasoning.Two studies were introduced in this paper; the first study was intended to explore the early phase of design analogy, while the second study was used to observe the behavior of different designers during analogy. In study 1, participants were asked to select source examples and explain their selections. It was found that experts were more likely to consider Experience and Aesthetics as reasons for their selections. Third-year students prefer to draw inspiration from Symbolism, whereas first-year students considered more about Function. Another group of participants took part in study 2, performing analogical design. Two coders coded the behaviors of participants during design process and analyzed the behavioral frequencies as well as durations through Observer XT 10.0. We conclude that experts and third-year students pay more attention to the completeness of the design, while first-year students put more efforts on the functionality of design.The results would provide references for design education and design analogy, bringing theoretical value and application to design field.