Towards Designer-centred Design Brief Formulations in Industrial Design: Relating Design Brief Perceptions to Design Expertise and the Design Context

Lau Wing Chuen (2010)

This research aims to investigate the methods to formulate a design brief, in which three approaches have been taken into consideration from existing design theories: (1) the cognitive approach which originated from the rational problem-solving paradigm, which focuses on varying a design brief formulation that stimulates designers to produce innovative design concepts; (2) the expertise approach which refers to the reflection-in-action paradigm that emphasises how designers initiate and frame a design problem in the design brief; and (3) the contextual approach which investigates how prescribed guidelines formulate a design brief in the professional practice of commercial settings, which facilitates communication among multiple stakeholders in design projects. Utilising the findings from a card-sorting exercise, this study examines how a design brief is perceived and interpreted by designers with various levels of expertise in the educational and professional context of industrial design. The result suggests a tentative framework of formulating a design brief under a designer-centred approach, which illustrates how ‘design context’, ‘design expertise’ and ‘design brief formulations’ influence designers’ initial perceptions of design briefs.