Exploring the selection of creativity tools that suit personality attributes and design application

Abstract

This thesis reports an investigation on the enhancement of design engineers’ creativity. The key argument is that design engineers’ creative thinking can be stimulated by using creativity tools that suit their personality attributes and design application. It starts with looking at creativity in engineering design and the need for enhancing design engineers’ creative thinking. An integrated approach that combines the personality approach and use of creativity tools is adopted in this research. An investigation of design engineering students’ personality and their correlations with creative performance highlights that their personality preferences are distinctive from related populations, and their creative performance differ in an observable way, which emphases the importance of selecting creativity tools that are appropriate to design engineers so as to stimulate their creative thinking and transform into creative outcomes. An express personality test was produced to quickly determine individuals’ personality preferences. A creativity tool database was established based on the characterization of creativity tools to aid design engineers to use creativity tools flexibly. A case study was conducted to understand the use of creativity tools in engineering problem solving. The findings highlighted that besides design engineers’ personality attributes, design problem and environment also influence the use of creativity tools. A framework for selecting creativity tools was proposed by considering attributes of design engineers, the design problem, and the design environment. A creativity tool selection procedure was also proposed. The framework was applied in a design experiment where the proposed connection between personality attributes and creativity tools was investigated. The results imply that design engineers’ personality attributes have an influence on the preferences and application of creativity tools in idea generation. In conclusion, creativity tools can help stimulate design engineers’ creative thinking but factors such as personality attributes and design application should be considered.