Knowledge Base Repository
In addition to research papers, the Design Society is developing several valuable resources for those interested in the study of design. These include a repository of PhD theses, a library of case studies and transcripts of design activities, and an archive of our newsletters. Please note that these resources are accessible exclusively to Design Society members.
Idea matrix and creativity operators
Tang, Victor; Luo, Jianxi
Type:
Year:
2013
Editor:
Udo Lindemann, Srinivasan V, Yong Se Kim, Sang Won Lee, John Clarkson, Gaetano Cascini
Author:
Series:
ICED
Institution:
1: i3nsight LLC; 2: Singapore University of Technology and Design
Page(s):
301-316
ISBN:
978-1-904670-50-6
ISSN:
2220-4334
Abstract:
Creativity begins with ideas. Scholars have addressed the conditions, factors, and processes to generate creative ideas. However, a formal technical framework to systematically manipulate ideas for exploration, evaluation and ranking against competing creative ideas remains a challenge. The present paper addresses this gap. We ground our work on scholarsâ definition of creativity. Next we formalize the notion of an idea as a construct of attributes and features using our matrix representation. We then propose a set of idea operators, which use matrix-expressed ideas as operands, to generate new ideas. We follow with structured matrix-algebraic methods used to assess, rank and measurably improve the new ideas in terms of creativity. To illustrate the application and utility of our methods, we assess, compare and improve two real-world competing product ideas. This approach, of using idea matrices and creativity operators to systematically generate and evaluate new ideas, presents a repeatable method to operationalize creativity.
Keywords:
