Lawson B. How Designers Think: The Design Process Demystified

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can be solved creatively and imaginatively. Certainly art can be logi-

cal and have a well-developed structure. It is even possible to study

the structure of art forms using the logic of information theory

(Mueller 1967). Only rarely can one find an instance in the real world

outside the psychologist’s laboratory when one kind of thought is

employed in isolation. The mode of thinking employed is obviously

very much dependent on the nature of the situation. Most writers

have concentrated on two main related factors, the thinker’s relation

to the external world, and the nature of the control exercised over

those thought processes.

Murphy (1947) suggested that mental processes are bipolar,

being influenced both by the external world and by inner personal

needs. In his study of personality he was particularly interested in

the individual’s susceptibility to these two influences, and the

resultant predominance of certain thinking styles which could be

observed in the individual. The normal person is rarely entirely pre-

occupied by either one of these influences for any amount of time

but, rather, alternates between the two. It is, however, possible to

identify conditions under which one would expect the normal per-

son to attend more to one influence than the other.

Problem-solving obviously requires more attention to the

demands of the external world than to inner mental needs. In

imaginative thinking, on the other hand, the individual is primarily

concerned with satisfying inner needs through cognitive activity

which may be quite unrelated to the real world. This seems to offer

a psychological distinction which parallels that between design and

art discussed earlier. Design is directed towards solving a real-

world problem while art is largely self-motivated and centres on

the expression of inner thoughts. This does not mean that imagin-

ative thought can be excluded from the design process but that its

product will probably always need evaluation by rational thought in

order that the designer’s work should be relevant to the real-world

problem. The control and combination of rational and imaginative

thought is one of the designer’s most important skills and we shall

discuss this crucial issue further in Chapter 9.

Thought and personality

A very popular approach to the study of human intelligence is rep-

resented by the factorial school. This work holds that human intelli-

gence is not a simple factor but rather a whole series of related

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factors each of which may be present to greater or lesser extents in

any individual. In his review of such work Guilford (1956) concluded

that intellectual factors could be divided into the two major groups

of thinking and memory. The thinking factors, which are of most

interest here, Guilford further subdivided into cognition, produc-

tion and evaluation.

The cognition factors of human thought have to do with becom-

ing aware of and understanding classes of objects or ideas. This

analytic ability to classify and recognise is of the utmost import-

ance in everyday thought. For example, it would not be possible to

study the differences between the structural systems employed in

Romanesque and Gothic churches unless one could first recognise

and classify such buildings. Guilford maintains that there are three

ways of developing such a class system depending on whether the

figural, structural, or conceptual content is used. Thus one might

recognise a class by its figural properties. Children may initially

recognise all four-legged animals as cows and only later look for

further detail such as horns or tails. The second system of class

recognition, by structural content, requires some functional rela-

tionship to exist between class members such as in the ‘complete

the series of symbols’ type of IQ test question. Finally, one might

recognise a class conceptually, such as architects or lawyers as

being a group of people having passed certain examinations. For

Guilford, then, these cognition factors influence our ability to

define and understand problems whether they are to do with the

appearance, function or meaning of objects. As Guilford himself

points out, problems of figural and structural types abound in

design and the ability to discriminate figural and structural classes

is likely to be important to the designer.

Guilford’s second group of thinking factors is concerned with

the production of some end result. ‘Having understood a problem

we must take further steps to solve it’ (Guilford 1967). Just as

Guilford’s cognition factors deal with the ability to recognise fig-

ural, structural and conceptual order, so the production factors

hypothesise our ability to generate or produce these three kinds

of order, but he found that the reality was not quite as neat as the

model suggested:

In the investigation of planning abilities it was hypothesised that there

would be an ability to see or to appreciate order or the lack of it, as a

feature of preparation for planning. It was also hypothesised that there

would be an ability to produce order among objects, ideas or events, in

the production of a plan. A single ordering factor was found.

(Guilford 1967)

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Thus Guilford found not two abilities to handle structure or order,

but one which seemed to belong amongst the production factors

rather than the cognition factors. This is a most interesting obser-

vation in the light of my own experiments quoted earlier which

tended to show that architects discover about the structure of their

problems by attempting to generate order in their solutions, and

lends more weight to the argument that analysis and synthesis in

design should not be regarded as entirely separate activities

(Lawson 1972). Unfortunately, few psychologists seem to have con-

sidered both the recognition and production of order at the same

time so for the time being we must accept the distinction since the

literature on productive thinking has several useful concepts to

offer the student of design.

Of course we must not assume that all architects are the same

in their thinking style, and certainly not that all designers think in

exactly the same way. In an interesting set of experiments Anton

van Bakel (1995) has identified what he considers to be a series

of identifiably different ‘styles of architectural thinking’, which he

links to personality variations. His experiments and interviews

with designers identified the sequence and emphasis of atten-

tion to various clusters of factors. Van Bakel chose to map out

what he called the solution space as a triangle with the Program

(or brief), the Concept (or design principle) and the Site. His cat-

egories do not map neatly on to the model of design problems

used in this book, but we can see that his Program category of

issues are in reality client-generated constraints, his Concept cat-

egory are designer-generated constraints and his Site category

are the chief source of external constraints for architects. These

results clearly suggest some consistent variation of approach

which could be a matter of personal preference linked with per-

sonality factors. However, more work needs to be done to see to

what extent this varies with time and types of project before we

can be sure just how these various factors really interact to deter-

mine the approach a particular designer will take to a particular

project.

Productive thinking and design

When Wertheimer (1959) introduced the notion of ‘productive

thinking’ he was primarily concerned with the directional quality of

thought: ‘what happens when, now and then, thinking forges

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ahead?’ He showed with a whole series of small experiments how,

when in a problem situation, thinking can be productive if it follows

an appropriate direction. There are at least two fundamental ques-

tions which the experimental psychologist can ask here. Is the

thinker trying to control the direction of his thinking and, if so, is

the direction productive or not?

It is clear that mental processes are bipolar in their directional

quality just as in their relation to the external world. The thinker

can wilfully control the direction of his or her thought or he/she can

allow it to wander aimlessly. Normally people do not solely engage

in either one kind of thought, but rather they vary the degree of

directional control they exercise. Here, then, is another distinction

between design and art. Designers must consciously direct their

thought processes towards a particular specified end, although

they may deliberately use undirected thought at times. Artists,

however, are quite at liberty to follow the natural direction of their

minds or to control and change the direction of their thinking as

they see fit. Bartlett’s (1958) classification could be used to support

this argument distinguishing as it does between the artist’s thinking

and that of the designer:

There is thinking which uncovers laws of finished structure or of rela-

tions among facts of observation and experiment. There is thinking

which follows conventions of society or of the single person, and there

is other thinking still which sees and express standards.

Clearly the search for, and expression of, standards forms an import-

ant part of artistic thought. Designers must primarily indulge in

Bartlett’s first kind of thinking in order that they can appreciate

the relationships between the given elements of the problem. The

amount of purely expressionistic thinking that may take place is

largely a function of the degree to which there is room for designer-

generated constraints. As we have seen this varies considerably

from problem to problem and there will thus inevitably be many

instances when design and art are indistinguishable by using only

this test.

Bartlett goes on to suggest two main modes of productive thinking

which he calls ‘thinking in closed systems’ and ‘adventurous thinking’.

A closed system, in Bartlett’s definition, has a limited number of units

which may be arranged in a variety of orders or relations. Formal

logic is such a closed system as are arithmetic, algebra and geometry.

Closed system thinking can be highly creative as in the case of

discovering new mathematical proofs or making anagrams. Bartlett

identifies two processes in closed system thinking, interpolation and

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extrapolation. Here again we see the concept of the directionality of

the thought process:

Genuine thinking is always a process possessing direction. In interpol-

ation the terminal point and at least some evidence about the way

there are given, and all that has to be found is the rest of the way. In

extrapolation what provided is some evidence of the way; the rest of

the way and the terminal point have to be discovered or constructed.

So it is in extrapolation that directional characters or properties are

likely to become most prominent.

(Bartlett 1958)

Although these two processes of interpolation and extrapolation are

attractive concepts, when we consider real-world design conditions

the situation loses some of its clarity. Rarely in design does one know

or not know the terminal point but, rather, one has some information

about it; it is a matter of degree. In some kinds of design one knows

exactly where one will end up, in others one has very little idea.

Bartlett’s other mode of productive thought, adventurous think-

ing, is less clearly defined than thinking in closed systems. In this

mode of thought the repertoire of elements which can be con-

sidered is not prescribed. Indeed, adventurous thinking often

depends for its success upon elements not normally related being

brought together in a new way, hence its adventurous nature. Yet

again, however, the distinction between adventurous thinking and

thinking in closed systems becomes blurred when applied to design

situations. It is certainly possible to find examples of closed system

problems in design if we look for them. The problem of arranging

tables and chairs in a restaurant certainly requires thinking in closed

systems. Often, however, such examples do not bear too close an

examination for rarely does the designer work exclusively with a kit

of parts. If a particular arrangement of tables will not fit, the

designer may often be free to try different sizes or shapes of tables

or even alter the shape of the restaurant! Thus the ensemble of ele-

ments in design problems is usually neither entirely closed nor

entirely open. In fact we often recognise a creative response to a

design problem as one where the designer has broken free of a

conventionally restricted set of elements. Thus the rigid imposition

of closed systems as in the case of system-building is seen by many

designers as a threat to their creative role.

Throughout much of the literature on productive thought we find

a variety of closely related binary divisions between, on the one

hand, rational and logical processes and, on the other hand, intu-

itive and imaginative processes. These two major categories have

become known as convergent and divergent production (Fig. 8.1).

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Typically the convergent task requires deductive and interpolative

skills to arrive at one identifiably correct answer. Convergent ability

is measured by many of the conventional IQ test problems and has

been associated with ability in science. The divergent task demands

an open-ended approach seeking alternatives where there is no

clearly correct answer. Divergent ability can be measured by tests

mistakenly called creativity tests such as ‘how many uses can you

think of for a brick’ and divergent ability has been associated with

skill in the arts. As we shall see in the next chapter these two ideas

have frequently been grossly oversimplified and variously confused

with intelligence and creativity. Guilford and others treat convergent

and divergent thinking as separate and independent dimensions of

ability which can occur in any proportions in an individual. Guilford

(1967) maintains that, although few real-world tasks require exclu-

sively convergent or divergent thought, the distinction is still valid

and useful.

From our analysis of the nature of design problems it is obvi-

ous that, taken as a whole, design is a divergent task. Since

design is rarely an optimisation procedure leading to one correct

answer, divergent thinking will be required. However, there are

likely to be many steps in any design process which themselves

pose convergent tasks. True, such steps may eventually be

retraced or even rejected altogether, but it would be absurd in

the extreme to pretend that there are no parts of design prob-

lems which are themselves amenable to logical processes and

have more or less optimal solutions. Design clearly involves both

convergent and divergent productive thinking and studies of

good designers at work have shown that they are able to

develop and maintain several lines of thought in parallel (Lawson

1993a). However, the relationship between diverging, converg-

ing and parallel lines of thought is something we must leave until

much later.

TYPES AND STYLES OF THINKING

143

a convergent task:

complete the sequence

a divergent task:

what might this

represent?

Figure 8.1

Convergent and divergent

thinking

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References

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Bartlett, F. C. (1958). Thinking. London, George Allen and Unwin.

Berlyne, D. E. (1965). Structure and Direction in Thinking. New York, John

Wiley.

De Groot, A. D. (1965). Thought and Choice in Chess. The Hague, Mouton.

Fodor, J. A. (1975). The Language of Thought. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard

University Press.

Garner, W. R. (1962). Uncertainty and Structure as Psychological Concepts.

New York, John Wiley.

Goel, V. (1995). Sketches of Thought. Cambridge, Mass, MIT Press.

Guilford, J. P. (1956). ‘The structure of intellect.’ Psychological Bulletin 53:

267–293.

Guilford, J. P. (1967). The Nature of Human Intelligence. New York,

McGraw Hill.

Koestler, A. (1967). The Ghost in the Machine. London, Hutchinson.

Lawson, B. R. (1972). Problem Solving in Architectural Design. University of

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Lawson, B. R. (1993). ‘Parallel Lines of Thought.’ Languages of Design 1(4):

357–366.

Markus, T. A. (1969). ‘Design and research.’ Conrad 1(2).

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New York, Holt Rinehart and Winston.

Mueller, R. E. (1967). The Science of Art (the cybernetics of creative com-

munication). London, Rapp and Whiting.

Murphy, G. (1947). Personality: a biosocial approach to origins and struc-

ture. New York, Harper and Row.

Neisser, U. (1967). Cognitive Psychology. New York, Appleton Century Crofts.

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problem solving.’ Psychological Review 65(3).

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Thorndike, E. L. (1911). Animal Intelligence. London, Macmillan.

van Bakel, A. (1995). Styles of Architectural Designing: empirical research

on working styles and personality dispositions. Eindhoven, Technical

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Wertheimer, M. (1959). Productive Thinking. New York, Harper and Row.

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Creative thinking

It is a well known fact that all inventors get their first ideas on the

back of an envelope. I take a slight exception to this, I use the front

so that I can incorporate the stamp and then the design is already

half done.

Roland Emett

Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent

perspiration.

Thomas Alva Edison

What do we mean by creativity?

Most people would describe design as one of the most creative

of human pursuits. The so-called creative arts include musical com-

position, painting, sculpture and the various forms of two- and

three-dimensional design. However, creativity and creative thought

can be applied just as much in science, medicine, philosophy, the

law, management and many other fields of human endeavour.

In the creative arts, including design, the whole point of the busi-

ness is to create something which other people will experience and

which is in some way or other original and new. No book on the

thinking processes involved in design could be complete without

some examination of the fundamentals of creativity and creative

thought.

There is now a huge body of literature on creativity which has

been studied extensively not only by psychologists but by philo-

sophers and, more recently, by cognitive scientists and computer

scientists. Some of our most profound insights into creativity also

come from some famous and outstandingly creative people who

have described and reflected on the processes involved. Then there

are those who write about how to enhance or increase our creativity

offering us techniques to use either as individuals or in groups.

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Margaret Boden (1990) has proposed that it is useful to distinguish

between what she calls H-creativity and P-creativity. H-creativity is

that which results in novel and fundamentally new ideas in the

history of the world. Thus Einstein’s discovery of relativity or the

moment when Archimedes leapt from his bath shouting ‘Eureka!’,

are both moments of H-creativity. P-creativity, whilst less glamorous

is none the less important to us here. For Margaret Boden rightly

points out that an idea which is fundamentally novel to the indi-

vidual mind is still of great significance, even though it may not

necessarily be new to the world. Actually, in design there are often

many developments of great significance for which it is quite hard

to be sure just who had the H-creative idea and when. History

tends to credit such developments to individuals as if they worked

in splendid isolation from their colleagues and other designers.

When Alec Issigonis turned the internal combustion engine

sideways, compressed the engine compartment, removed the trad-

itional boot and styled the famous Mini, he created more than

just another design for a car. By combining a number of new ideas

together, he made us look at the car differently. Suddenly a motor

car could become almost a fashion accessory, an extension of our

clothes that could also transport us around cities. This was surely

one of the most creative moments in the history of the automobile.

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of cars have been designed, but

only occasionally does a design ‘break the mould’. Other designs

may be interesting, attractive, even exciting, but only occasionally is

a design truly innovative. When Mario Bellini designed the famous

Golfball typewriter for Olivetti he enabled us to see fundamentally

new possibilities. The design replaced the traditional moving

carriage carrying the paper from side to side, and instead kept

the paper still, except for its feed, and moved the printing head.

The further revolutionary idea of putting all the characters on a

ball-shaped device which could rotate enabled the user to replace

it and thus change fonts.

Many other examples can be found through the history of design

which are innovative and mould breaking, and they often become

what are regarded as ‘classics’ of design having a kind of timeless

quality (Forty 1986). What these designs have in common is not

just that they brilliantly solved the problems posed, but they

changed the world irrevocably. They are the one-way valves of

design history equivalent to the great discoveries of science. Once

you have the Mini, a whole series of small, highly manoeuvrable,

mass-produced city cars are possible. Small is no longer poor, but

chic, fashionable and clever. Once you have the Barcelona Pavilion

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of buildings become possible in which the relationship between

walls, the means of supporting the roof and the spaces they define

become changed in fundamental ways.

However, let us begin at the beginning, which is something that

the creative mind may often not do, but on this occasion it seems

necessary!

Some accounts of the creative process

The mathematician Henri Poincaré (1924) reflected on his own con-

siderable creative achievements in mathematical thought and has

left us with some insights about the processes involved. Typically

he describes a process divided into phases of quite different kinds

of thought. First a period of initial investigation of the problem

in hand, followed by a more relaxed period of apparent mental

rest. Next, an idea for the solution appears almost unbidden by the

thinker probably at the most unexpected time and in the most

unlikely place. Finally the solution needs elaboration, verification

and development. Thus Poincaré describes his work for his first

memoir on a series of mathematical functions known as Fuchsian.

He talks of working hard for two weeks to prove that such functions

could exist. During this period he sat at his desk for at least one or

two hours each day trying out combinations without any positive

result. However, one evening he unusually drank black coffee and

could not sleep and records that ‘ideas rose in crowds’ (Poincaré

1924). By morning he had established a class of Fuchsian functions

which he could then write down. Needing to take his ideas further

to understand the relationship between these functions and some

others he had discovered, his work was interrupted by a trip away

from home on a geological excursion. He records how the travel

made him forget his work but that later on the trip he was about to

board a bus when ‘at the moment I put my foot on the step the

idea came to me’ (Poincaré 1924).

This ‘eureka’ moment, as it is often called, seems quite character-

istic of great creative moments. We have all heard how Archimedes

is supposed to have leapt out of his bath crying ‘Eureka’ having

solved a problem he had been working on for some time. Others

such as Helmhotz and Hadamard offer similar descriptions, with

the latter claiming to have woken with solutions in mind that were

not there before sleep. More well known are the accounts of the

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