Papers by Luis Arthur Vasconcelos
Portuguese version of the research onion, adapted from many sources and probably first proposed i... more Portuguese version of the research onion, adapted from many sources and probably first proposed in 2003 by Saunders and colleagues in their book "Research Methods for Business Students".
Research into inspiration and fixation has produced a complex web of questions, methods, and find... more Research into inspiration and fixation has produced a complex web of questions, methods, and findings, making it difficult to know what has already been investigated and learnt, and what to investigate next and how. To address this, we review the literature, focussing on 25 studies that adopt a similar experimental approach. This reveals 14 manipulated variables, relating to properties of the inspiration source and features of the design process. However, whilst these studies follow a similar approach, when scrutinised and compared, they show great variety in the methods used and the results obtained. We discuss this diversity, offering a methodological critique of inspiration and fixation research and providing recommendations for how future studies might be conducted and reported.
When tackling problems, designers might be inspired by different sources, whether concrete or abs... more When tackling problems, designers might be inspired by different sources, whether concrete or abstract. The more concrete sources often comprise representations of potential solutions or examples of existing designs. The more abstract sources often represent the desirable properties of engineered systems, such as modular system architectures. We performed an experiment with sixty novice designers to compare the inspiration effects from these two types of stimuli. Participants were asked to solve a design problem, having been exposed to either a concrete example design, an abstract system property, both, or no stimulus at all. Their design work was assessed according to four metrics: fluency, diversity, commonness, and conformity. Exposure to either the example design or the system property reduced the fluency and diversity of ideas, and exposure to both stimuli reduced these measures even further. Whilst there was no difference in the inspiration effects from the example and the property in terms of fluency, diversity, and commonness; results for conformity showed that each stimulus constrained participants differently: encouraging ideas similar to one type of stimulus while discouraging ideas similar to the other type. In combination with other work on inspiration and fixation, these findings can help shape how design is taught and how inspiration tools are developed.
In inspiration and fixation experiments, example designs are often provided along with the instru... more In inspiration and fixation experiments, example designs are often provided along with the instructions for how participants should treat them. However, research has not reached a consensus about the influence of such instructions, leading to difficulties in understanding how the examples and the instructions each affect idea generation. We conducted an experiment in which 303 participants designed for the same design problem, while given different examples and instructions, which ranged from strongly encouraging copying the examples to strongly discouraging copying. Exposure to the examples affected the number and type of ideas generated , whereas exposure to the instructions did not. However, instructions did affect how participants incorporated features of the examples in their ideas. Encouraged groups incorporated many features of the examples, while also incorporating structural features more than conceptual ones. Surprisingly, the incorporation of features in discouraged groups was not different from that of groups given no instructions or even no stimulus. This indicates that concrete features may be easier to recognize and reproduce than abstract ones, and that encouraging instructions are more effective than discouraging ones, despite how strict or lenient those instructions are. The manipulation of different features also allowed us to observe how similar approaches to solving a design problem can compete for attention and how the calculation of feature repetition can be misleading depending on how common or obvious the features might be. These findings have implications for the interpretation of results from fixation studies , and for the development of design tools that present stimuli to assist idea generation.
doi.org/10.1017/S0890060417000658
Design fixation experiments often report that participants exposed to
an example solution generat... more Design fixation experiments often report that participants exposed to
an example solution generate fewer ideas than those who were not. This
reduced ‘idea fluency’ is generally explained as participants’ creativity being constrained by the example they have seen. However, the inclusion of an example also introduces other factors that might affect idea fluency in the experiments. We here offer an additional explanation for these results: participants not exposed to the example tend to generate ideas with little elaboration, while the level of detail in the example encourages a similar level of elaboration among stimulated participants. Because idea elaboration is time consuming, non-stimulated participants record more ideas overall. We investigated this hypothesis by reanalyzing data from three different studies; in two of them we found that non-stimulated participants generated more ideas and more ideas containing only text, whilst stimulated participants generated ideas that were more elaborated. Based on the creativity literature, we provide several explanations for the differences in results found across studies. Our findings and explanations have implications for the interpretation of creativity experiments reported to date and for the design of future studies.
Design fixation experiments often require participants to solve a design problem whilst being exp... more Design fixation experiments often require participants to solve a design problem whilst being exposed to an example solution and instructions for how to treat that example. However, little is known about the influence of such instructions, leading to difficulties in interpreting results and understanding how the introduction of examples affects idea generation. In our experiment, participants were all provided with the same design problem and example solution, but were presented with different instructions, ranging from strongly encouraging copying the example to strongly discouraging copying. Analyses of participants' work indicated that only the instructions encouraging copying had an effect. When encouraged to copy, participants tended to only copy the structural features of the example rather than the underlying concept. By contrast, the number of features copied was not reduced when participants were discouraged from copying. These findings suggest that there are subtle interactions between instructions and stimuli that influence design fixation.
This paper examines recent experimental studies of early conceptual design identifying a broad di... more This paper examines recent experimental studies of early conceptual design identifying a broad diversity of research practices. A high variance is revealed across 75 recent studies from leading design journals on how the design briefs are presented to participants, participants' number and experience, and the time allocated for ideation. These divergent practices may impact the validity of experimental studies. Three indicators are proposed here to assist researchers to prepare design briefs: polysemy, innovation, and communication. An experimental design canvas is presented and illustrated to structure the design of experiments. The paper closes with recommendations to assist in the synthesis of design briefs.
This research comes as a result of an investigation, using a historical approach, into the design... more This research comes as a result of an investigation, using a historical approach, into the design process and methods used world-wide by different sections of industry, especially after the sixties. It proposes a classification of the collected data by creating a neat and agile database which aims to make easier the understanding of design methods by other industries as well as the evolution of these methods. As a product, we have come to a document which contains twenty six design methods developed since the sixties until nowadays, properly labeled, having its phases listed and a short abstract attached. It demonstrates that design methods changed along the decades even though it is still possible to identify regular design methods among them all. The information on this document is also applicable on two other artifacts we show on this work: a .xml code and a design methods catalogue. Finally, we propose possible paths to forthcoming studies and the continuous possibility of increasing the collected data.
Esta pesquisa é resultado de uma investigação dos processos e métodos de design empregados mundialmente em diversos segmentos da indústria, principalmente a partir da segunda metade do século vinte, utilizando uma abordagem histórica. Ela propõe uma classificação do material levantado, gerando assim um banco de dados claro e ágil, que visa facilitar o uso e esclarecimento dos processos de design para outras indústrias, bem como explicitar a evolução destes. Tem-se como resultado a criação de um documento que reúne vinte e seis metodologias criadas desde a década de sessenta até os dias atuais, classificadas de acordo com critérios bem definidos, com suas fases listadas e um breve resumo atrelado a cada uma delas, mostrando assim que as metodologias de design sofreram mudanças ao longo das décadas, mas que é possível identificar uma metodologia comum de design. Tal documento possibilita ainda a criação de dois outros artefatos apresentados neste trabalho. Por fim, apresentamos caminhos para estudos futuros e a possibilidade contínua do crescimento do conteúdo levantado.
Creativity and innovation are the main drivers behind any successful idea. These are not just buz... more Creativity and innovation are the main drivers behind any successful idea. These are not just buzzwords; they are now key themes when discussing policy making, business strategy, and technology development. However, whilst we are expected to be creative in order to thrive, these skills are not formally or widely taught. On the contrary: it is argued that today's schools are actually killing children's creativity. Considering the highly competitive and entrepreneurial culture in which we are currently immersed, I believe that creativity will be the most sought characteristic of individuals in the future. However, for that to happen, the way these skills are fostered should change radically. This report summarises my findings and impressions from a series of visits and interviews with experts in children education, as well as creativity researchers from different parts of the world. Among these, special attention is given to two countries: Finland and Singapore, both known for having outstanding education systems. Whilst the keywords here are early-childhood education and creativity, the report also provides some insights into the future of education more broadly.
Models of the design process often start with activities of problem exploration before generating... more Models of the design process often start with activities of problem exploration before generating ideas, but the benefits of exploration have not been properly investigated. We did an experiment with undergraduate industrial designers during a design course. Except for the exploration methods, all teams had to follow the same design process. We observed that exploration methods increased the design teams’ perceived knowledge about the problem, but no impact on the quality of their final designs was seen. This challenges a widely held assumption about the value of problem exploration in design.
This document provides a short report on The Fixation Research Workshop 2016. During one day, a d... more This document provides a short report on The Fixation Research Workshop 2016. During one day, a diverse group of creativity researchers from several different parts of the world collaborated to generate a list of research questions, opportunities, and challenges for the design fixation research community. These are condensed into theoretical, practical, and methodological aspects, which together help shape the future of fixation and design fixation research.
The term 'design fixation' refers to a phenomenon where designers unknowingly limit the space wit... more The term 'design fixation' refers to a phenomenon where designers unknowingly limit the space within which they search for solutions. In an attempt to study this phenomenon experimentally, researchers typically set participants open-ended design problems, prime them with an example solution and measure their performance through subjective metrics. This gives rise to various problems, including limited data capture and highly subjective evaluation of design behavior. To address these problems, we studied design fixation with a computer-based task inspired by psychological paradigms used to study 'mental set'. The task consisted of a game-like activity requiring participants to design a bridge within a specified budget. The use of a digital environment facilitated continuous data capture during the design activities. The constrained task (and direct quantitative measures) permitted a more objective analysis of design performance, including the occurrence of fixation. The method used and the results obtained show an exciting alternative for studying design fixation experimentally and promote a wider exploration of the variety of design activities in which fixation might occur.
Some design fixation experiments report that participants exposed to an example solution generate... more Some design fixation experiments report that participants exposed to an example solution generate fewer ideas than those who were not. This reduced 'idea fluency' is generally explained as participants' creativity being constrained by the example they have seen. We here offer an additional explanation for these fluency results: the level of detail in the example encourages a similar level of detail in the participants' representations of their ideas; because this detail is time consuming, participants in this condition record fewer ideas overall. We investigated this hypothesis experimentally and found that whereas participants exposed to an example (in the form of an annotated sketch) generated less ideas in general, they produced more sketches and more detailed representations than those not exposed to the example. This finding has implications for the interpretation of the fixation experiments reported to date and the design of future studies.
Mediated reality systems introduce the possibility to alter users’ perception of the surrounding ... more Mediated reality systems introduce the possibility to alter users’ perception of the surrounding environment by adding or removing information. These particular innovative features made this technology attractive for several adjacent fields. However, despite their direct impact on the presentation of information, mediated reality systems are still poorly explored by information designers. Over the years, information design researchers have investigated and proposed tools and practices when planning information for different platforms and contexts. With respect to technical operations, visual instructions are very effective to convey information, and therefore a great opportunity for technology aided operations. This work establishes a dialogue between information design and mediated reality systems, and introduces some of the several concerns of this joint context. Based on correlated research, we identify general principles, challenges and opportunities for mediated reality applications, and for information designers willing to use them. Finally, we also introduce an early-stage system for technical operations as an opportunity to take further lessons and establish detailed recommendations.
A common complaint of touch interaction concerns the lack of precision and false negatives, espec... more A common complaint of touch interaction concerns the lack of precision and false negatives, especially in applications inherited from the PC and mouse context. This work introduces Scissors, a virtual widget for tasks that require precision while interacting with touch screens. It also prevents occlusion of targets, is effective for screen edges and is compatible with current interaction techniques. We developed two prototypes for testing: the first introduced a basic learning scenario and the second presented two sequences of targets with different sizes and locations. The system recorded, for each target, the time spent and number of attempts to select it. We performed tests with thirty-one users and evaluated their data according to statistical test, in this case, t-test for difference of means. The results showed that the Scissors widget was very effective in the scenarios that motivated its conception attaining an equivalent or up to 11.5 times higher success rate, thus achieving its main purpose.
"Along with the popularization of new body tracking technologies such as Microsoft Kinect, and th... more "Along with the popularization of new body tracking technologies such as Microsoft Kinect, and the increasing individual initiatives in order to design solutions for such platforms, it is necessary to improve and to adapt all the framework of methods and processes for developing new applications for this context. Just like that, this paper proposes a direction towards the formalization of an agile methodology for developing new applications on the background of body interaction, suitable for modest innovation projects with short schedules and small teams. To achieve that, we executed an experiment during a graduate course in Informatics, due to its similarities to the start-up context. The participating students followed a four-step methodology comprehending the stages of requirements identification, ideas generation, prototyping, and evaluation. The experiment outcomes are described in a way to enlighten the methodology techniques. As a conclusion, the students provided an extremely positive feedback regarding the adoption of the proposed methodology during the development of body interaction applications. "
Designing and implementing the interaction behavior for body tracking capable systems requires co... more Designing and implementing the interaction behavior for body tracking capable systems requires complex modeling of actions and extensive calibration. Being the most recent and successful device for robust interactive body tracking, Microsoft’s Kinect has enabled natural interaction by the use of consumer hardware, providing detailed and powerful information to designers and developers, but little tooling. To fulfill this lack of adequate tools for helping developers in the prototyping and implementation of such interfaces, we present Kina, a toolkit that makes the development not fully conditional to the existence of a sensor. By providing playback capabilities together with an online movement
database, it reduces the physical effort found while performing testing activities.
There is a natural communication barrier between hearing and nonhearing people, and one of the re... more There is a natural communication barrier between hearing and nonhearing people, and one of the reasons is the lack of knowledge about sign languages. This paper presents a study about a mobile application for learning and practicing the Brazilian sign language (Libras). The application consists of a guessing game in which two players must guess each other’s signs. For two months, the data collected from the game server and from the user gaming experience was analyzed with regard to the user interaction, engagement, fun and learning. The obtained results indicate that due to the mobile nature of the application, the drop rate was higher than expected. However, the user information demonstrated that learning tools can benefit from the mobile and ubiquitous nature of such devices. Despite the many drawbacks found, users confirmed the game was fun and effective for learning a sign language.
This paper presents a methodology for both improvement of the CapCam prototype and its field test... more This paper presents a methodology for both improvement of the CapCam prototype and its field tests, whose goal was to evaluate its usability and functionalities together with end users (engineers, technicians, among others). The CapCam is a portable and head-wearable device, which aims at adding relevant information to the task of thermal inspection in industries, using Augmented Reality (AR) concepts. After going through the process for generating solutions, whose foundation was laid down by the research of similar products, the most satisfactory solution was selected and applied. Finally, tests were carried out with a group of users, in order to assess the product’s adequacy to ergonomic and technical needs by using different evaluation methods. The results show that the CapCam is a well-designed solution for several ergonomic problems, besides being efficient to some tasks.
This work presents the design and implementation of an embedded augmented reality game, called Ma... more This work presents the design and implementation of an embedded augmented reality game, called MarkerMatch. Augmented reality is a technology that directly contributes to the game interaction experience by enhancing user’s sense of immersion. Current research in embedded augmented reality enables the creation of dedicated hardware capable of executing augmented reality applications. This favors the insertion of augmented reality capabilities in small electronic devices, such as cell phones, handhelds, head-mounted displays and even the development of new ones. The ARCam framework was used for game development, since it provides project designers with all the basic infrastructure needed by the game. Some user tests show that the tested subjects enjoyed the game experience and it proves a point: it is possible to create an augmented reality game completely in hardware with no software involved.
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Papers by Luis Arthur Vasconcelos
doi.org/10.1017/S0890060417000658
an example solution generate fewer ideas than those who were not. This
reduced ‘idea fluency’ is generally explained as participants’ creativity being constrained by the example they have seen. However, the inclusion of an example also introduces other factors that might affect idea fluency in the experiments. We here offer an additional explanation for these results: participants not exposed to the example tend to generate ideas with little elaboration, while the level of detail in the example encourages a similar level of elaboration among stimulated participants. Because idea elaboration is time consuming, non-stimulated participants record more ideas overall. We investigated this hypothesis by reanalyzing data from three different studies; in two of them we found that non-stimulated participants generated more ideas and more ideas containing only text, whilst stimulated participants generated ideas that were more elaborated. Based on the creativity literature, we provide several explanations for the differences in results found across studies. Our findings and explanations have implications for the interpretation of creativity experiments reported to date and for the design of future studies.
Esta pesquisa é resultado de uma investigação dos processos e métodos de design empregados mundialmente em diversos segmentos da indústria, principalmente a partir da segunda metade do século vinte, utilizando uma abordagem histórica. Ela propõe uma classificação do material levantado, gerando assim um banco de dados claro e ágil, que visa facilitar o uso e esclarecimento dos processos de design para outras indústrias, bem como explicitar a evolução destes. Tem-se como resultado a criação de um documento que reúne vinte e seis metodologias criadas desde a década de sessenta até os dias atuais, classificadas de acordo com critérios bem definidos, com suas fases listadas e um breve resumo atrelado a cada uma delas, mostrando assim que as metodologias de design sofreram mudanças ao longo das décadas, mas que é possível identificar uma metodologia comum de design. Tal documento possibilita ainda a criação de dois outros artefatos apresentados neste trabalho. Por fim, apresentamos caminhos para estudos futuros e a possibilidade contínua do crescimento do conteúdo levantado.
database, it reduces the physical effort found while performing testing activities.
doi.org/10.1017/S0890060417000658
an example solution generate fewer ideas than those who were not. This
reduced ‘idea fluency’ is generally explained as participants’ creativity being constrained by the example they have seen. However, the inclusion of an example also introduces other factors that might affect idea fluency in the experiments. We here offer an additional explanation for these results: participants not exposed to the example tend to generate ideas with little elaboration, while the level of detail in the example encourages a similar level of elaboration among stimulated participants. Because idea elaboration is time consuming, non-stimulated participants record more ideas overall. We investigated this hypothesis by reanalyzing data from three different studies; in two of them we found that non-stimulated participants generated more ideas and more ideas containing only text, whilst stimulated participants generated ideas that were more elaborated. Based on the creativity literature, we provide several explanations for the differences in results found across studies. Our findings and explanations have implications for the interpretation of creativity experiments reported to date and for the design of future studies.
Esta pesquisa é resultado de uma investigação dos processos e métodos de design empregados mundialmente em diversos segmentos da indústria, principalmente a partir da segunda metade do século vinte, utilizando uma abordagem histórica. Ela propõe uma classificação do material levantado, gerando assim um banco de dados claro e ágil, que visa facilitar o uso e esclarecimento dos processos de design para outras indústrias, bem como explicitar a evolução destes. Tem-se como resultado a criação de um documento que reúne vinte e seis metodologias criadas desde a década de sessenta até os dias atuais, classificadas de acordo com critérios bem definidos, com suas fases listadas e um breve resumo atrelado a cada uma delas, mostrando assim que as metodologias de design sofreram mudanças ao longo das décadas, mas que é possível identificar uma metodologia comum de design. Tal documento possibilita ainda a criação de dois outros artefatos apresentados neste trabalho. Por fim, apresentamos caminhos para estudos futuros e a possibilidade contínua do crescimento do conteúdo levantado.
database, it reduces the physical effort found while performing testing activities.