Workshop 7
Workshop 7
AI and Design Creativity: Design Creativity with AI, Design Creativity through AI
AI and Design Creativity: Design Creativity with AI, Design Creativity through AI
Tuesday 7 July 2026, 2:00 pm to 5:30 pm
Workshop Chairs
Kosa Goucher-Lambert, UC Berkeley <kosa@berkeley.edu>
Elisa Kwon, University of California, Berkeley
Eric Brubaker, Virginia Tech
Ada Hurst, University of Waterloo
Ross Brisco, University of Strathclyde
AI is a central topic in design creativity research. This includes not only large language models, but also multimodal generative systems, agentic AI, and other computational methods that can generate, evaluate, model, or explore design ideas and creative processes. On one hand, these systems are increasingly being used within creative design activity itself, for example in concept generation, co-ideation, concept development, and evaluation. On the other hand, AI is also beginning to function as a means of inquiry within design creativity research by helping researchers probe creative processes, characterize design spaces, and test or extend theories of creativity. This half-day workshop is organized around these two themes: Design Creativity with AI and Design Creativity through AI. The goal is to bring together researchers in the DCC community to discuss current approaches, clarify important open questions, and help shape a stronger research agenda for future work at the intersection of AI and design creativity.
Themes
1. Design Creativity with AI
This theme focuses on AI as part of the creative design setting itself. Relevant topics may include:
using AI for idea generation and co-ideation in early-stage design
beyond text prompts: multimodal interaction with AI
AI for concept critique, comparison, and selection
2. Design Creativity through AI
This theme focuses on AI as a means of investigating and advancing design creativity research. Relevant topics may include:
using AI to model or probe creative design processes, and to develop benchmarks and research platforms
analyzing novelty, diversity, and design-space structure with AI
using AI to test, extend, or challenge theories of design creativity
Workshop Format
Welcome and framing (10 min)
Brief introduction to the workshop goals, scope, and two organizing themes.
Theme 1: Design Creativity with AI (60 min)
Short invited talks to frame current work and open questions (20min), followed by group discussion (40min).
Break (15 min)
Theme 2: Design Creativity through AI (60 min)
Short invited talks to frame current work and open questions (20 min), followed by group discussion (40 min).
Report-back and synthesis (30 min)
Groups share key insights, open questions, and promising directions across both themes.
Closing discussion (10 min)
Wrap-up and discussion of possible next steps or post-workshop outputs.
The Workshop will be open to all interested participants, limited by the logistics of facilities.
All attendees at the workshop need to register either as an addition to the DCC'26 conference registration at a cost of €27.50 (€25 + VAT), or if not registered for the conference at a cost of €55 (€50 + VAT). Please go the DCC'26 Registration page to add this workshop to your registration.