No CrossRef data available.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 February 2009
Most computer-based design tools assume designers work with a well-defined problem. The traditional treatment of design as two discrete phases; problem formulation and solution synthesis, is challenged by recent research. Though the view on discrete phases may be applicable to simple and/or well-defined design tasks, current research (Jonas, 1993; Logan & Smithers, 1993; Gero, 1994; Smithers et al., 1994) has shown that design is an ill-structured problem and the discrete phases view is not a good description of the process during which design alternatives are generated. A potential role of machine learning techniques is to provide a computational model of the changing representation of the design problem in response to the search for design solutions.