Mental synthesis and creativity in design: an experimental examination
This research examined design issues of creativity, mental synthesis, and drawing by conducting two experiments. These experiments compared and contrasted 3D designers, 2D designers, and Non-designers. The first experiment investigated if designers were more creative than non-designers when given creative mental synthesis tasks. We found they were. The second experiment investigated the relationship between drawing and creative mental synthesis. We found that how and when drawing is used is important. This has implications for design in that drawing and design representation appear to play a central role in the design thinking process.
mental synthesis creativity drawing design research design cognition