An Approach to Study Associations between Design Concepts and Design Outcomes

This paper proposes an approach to investigate associations between design concepts and design outcomes. In the proposed approach, three deliverables (concept sketches, proof-of-concept (POC) prototypes, and final products) are evaluated using metrics called creative product semantic scale (CPSS). CPSS scores are analyzed using two methods: correlation analysis and classification tree analysis. Correlation analysis is used to investigate associations between the concept sketches or the POC prototypes and the final products. Classification tree analysis (together with leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV) and permutation test) is used to investigate relationships between CPSS scores and the retention of design concepts (i.e., concepts that are embodied in the final products). The proposed approach is illustrated using deliverables in a project-based design class.