Ideasquares: Utilizing generative text as a source of design inspiration

Abstract

Online searching tools are used for early design ideation. However, they tend to limit designers’ creativity due to direct visual feedback and lack of novelty. We pre-sent IdeaSquares, a design concept text generation tool for supporting the ideation process. We used text-generation artificial intelligence (AI) that was fine-tuned on the Red Dot design award winners’ data to show newly generated design examples as search results. To understand how young designers use concept text generation tool for the design ideation, we conducted a comparative user study where partici-pants used two versions, generative querying and conventional searching mode, of the tools during the ideation task. Our findings revealed that (1) texts are combined and reinterpreted to different meanings during the ideation and (2) ideas are de-veloped by finding appropriate keywords that fit to a primitive idea when the gen-erative querying mode was used. Based on the tool development and the study re-sults, we discuss how generative text empowered by AI can be used as a source of inspiration and further support the design ideation.