Towards a regeneration of the design process?

Study rationale

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), characterised by its ability to generate new content, marks an evolutionary shift from AI that analyses and processes existing content [10]. This heralds transformative potential across multiple sectors [11], [12], [13], including in design fields where creative design tasks require the generation of new or original ideas [2], [14], for which GenAI multi-modal outputs have application.

The release of powerful, widely-available generative AI (GenAI) tools like ChatGPT, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion in 2022 has further heightened the necessity to understand how such tools may influence the ways creative design practitioners approach the design process. There is an increased need to examine the potential impact these GenAI tools could have on creativity and the integrity of the resulting design solutions. This is because these AI-powered tools have the ability to generate text and images at a level that is comparable to original human-generated creative work [15], in a timeframe that is outside the scope of human ability [16], or in the case of manufacturing, optimise designs in ways that are beyond the bounds of human cognitive capacity when embedded in commercial design software [17].

While some empirical studies examining the use of GenAI tools in the design process have been published, this research has been dispersed across many fields, such as design studies, innovation management, creativity, human-computer interaction, and is fragmented. Additionally, these studies do not examine how designers integrate GenAI tools in practice as most feature researcher-designed contexts and tasks (e.g., Chiou et al., 2023 [18]; Lee & Chiu, 2023 [19]; Tholander & Jonsson, 2023 [20]). Finally, although Isgrò et al (2022) [9] map the use of GenAI tools in design process activities, this excludes detail of use in design methods. As design methods are the means by which design tasks are accomplished, the study of new design methods, including those emerging through use of GenAI tools to perform design tasks, forms a central pillar of design research, contributing to the advancement of the field [21].

GenAI, the latest in a long line of design tools?

Design tools are objects, materials, or software that can be used during the design process. These tools can influence how design concepts are developed, communicated, and understood. Design tools are vital in the creative design process. They shape creativity by altering designers' abilities and influence how they perceive and interpret design challenges and potential solutions [22].

One way GenAI exerts change is through verbal text prompts. Historically, as highlighted by Eugene S. Ferguson in the seminal 1977 work, "The mind's eye: Nonverbal thought in technology", design has relied heavily on nonverbal, visual reasoning. Ferguson argued that much of technological creativity is rooted in visual thinking and is not easily reduced to words. 

Thus, it follows that the introduction of verbal text prompting, alters how designers approach creative design tasks. More recently, in their study of fashion designers, Davis et al. (2023) [15] found that text prompts are ill-suited for ideation, as it is impossible to describe an unexpected design. Yet another perspective emerges in Mikkonen (2023) [16], where prompts are framed as a type of dialogue designers have with their materials, a process that itself serves to stimulate thoughts. Whether the use of prompts might:
(a) reshape this traditionally nonverbal process, blending linguistic input with visual creativity in novel ways,
(b) limit creativity by steering users toward similar directions based on content produced by training data,
(c) require new skills in prompt design and engineering,
(d) have enduring or fleeting influence, is uncertain.

What is certain, is that design tools have significantly influenced the field of design, bringing about successive big and small revolutions in how designers work over time. These tools span various disciplines and the enduring ones become broadly integrated highlighting the interdisciplinary nature of design evolution. A snapshot that contextualises GenAI, as the latest in an almost 2000 year history of design tool development is illustrated in Figure 2: Design Tool Timeline.