Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

A Study On The Role Of Physical Models In The Mitigation Of Design Fixation, Vimal Viswanathan, Olufunmilola Atilola, Nicole Esposito, Julie Linsey

Faculty Publications, Mechanical Engineering

Designers implement a variety of models and representations during the design process, yet little is known about the cognitive impacts of various representations. This study focuses on how physical models can assist novices in mitigating design fixation on undesirable features. During idea generation, designers tend to fixate on examples they encounter or on their own initial ideas. The first hypothesis states that designers tend to duplicate features of provided examples. The second hypothesis states that this fixation can be mitigated with appropriate warnings. The last hypothesis is that building and testing physical models can help designers in mitigating fixation. To …