Design Thinking 1: Lecture 2

Design Space, Synectics, Morphological charts,

Nick Clarke
Lecturer in Digital Media Design
The University of Manchester
Faculty of Engineering and Science
School of Materials
Design space
what is it?
complex and large design spaces
expanding and limiting the design space
Design by accident
Synectics
making the familiar strange
making the strange familiar
Analogies
direct, fantasy, personal, symbolic, biological
Morphological charts
Prototypes and proof of concept
Exercise
Introduction to Synthesis
Synthesis: the putting together of parts or elements so as to
make up a complex whole (Oxford English Dictionary)
So far we have been systematically building up towards a design
solution
we worked out what the design should do
we clarified our objectives and added constraints
we refined the problem statement and structured the problem

Now we are seeking to combine the various elements into a

selection of complete and potentially workable solutions
the selection between these potential solutions will occur in the analysis
phase
Design Space
What is ‘design space’?
it is a mental framework encompassing all the potential solutions to a
design problem
the concept of ‘space’ is useful because it conveys the idea of freedom to
movement
Hence, a large design space has many potential solutions or
many parameters, and may be difficult to navigate
e.g. a Boeing 747 has approximately 6 million parts
A small design space is highly constrained, with minimal
‘freedom of movement’
e.g. the design of an image sensor pixel
Complex design spaces
A design space can be complex, even if is not large
Complexity can result from the interdependency of even a few
parameters
especially if some of the dependencies are very sensitive to each other
or if precise conditions cannot be known
hence the system is hard to optimise
Complex design spaces by decomposition
by subdividing the design problem into manageable units
A new design technique
– the morphological chart – which can help us to
decompose the overall design problem into sub-problems
identify a means to solve each sub-problem within the design
synthesise the parts back into a coherent design whole
Expanding the design space
When we talked about creative thinking, we were effectively
developing techniques for expanding the design space
Using existing information
benchmarking competitors’ products
reverse engineering products
Patents
Design team activities
brainstorming
convergent and divergent thinking (explorer and detective)
statement restatement
In the same way we had metaphors for thinking – explorer,
engineer, artist, judge etc – we can have metaphors for ways
to expand the design space
Synectics
“A method of problem-solving, esp. by groups, which seeks to
illuminate and utilize the factors involved in creative thinking”
(OED)

it is designed as an aid to overcoming the barriers to creativity

The principal exponent of synectics is W.J.J. Gordon
“Synectics: the Development if Creative Capacity”, W.J.J. Gordon, Harper
& Row 1961 (YUL BF 408 G64)
Synectic theory is based on three assumptions
• creative efficiency in people can be markedly increased if they
understand the psychological process by which they operate
• in creative processes, the emotional component is more important than
the intellectual, the irrational more important than the rational
• it is these emotional, irrational elements which can and must be
understood in order to increase the probability of success in a problem-
solving situation
Synectics aims to promote creative thinking by two principal
techniques
 making the strange familiar
 making the familiar strange
The root of this idea is the recognition that creative thinking is
impaired in two potential ways
 the problem is so far beyond our everyday experience that we cannot
imagine how it could be solved
 or that the situation is so familiar that we cannot conceive of a better
way of solving the problem, e.g. a paperclip
 see Henry Petroski, The Evolution of Useful things (1992);
ISBN 0679740392 (a history of the evolution of paper clip design)
Making the Strange Familiar
 The mind tends to analyse a new situation by forcing the
problem to fit existing preconceptions
 the strangeness is compared with data previously known to eliminate
as much of the strangeness as possible
 this is the whole point of the paradigm and the paradigm shift
 it is a reflection of the fact that human thought tends to be conservative
 In design terms, one obstacle in this process is the quantity of
analysis required for the translation
 Equally, translating everything to the mundane also risks
losing the innovation inherent in the strange idea
Making the Familiar Strange
 “Genius . . . means little more than the faculty of perceiving in
an unhabitual way” William James, The Principles of Psychology 1890 VOl1/2
 This action is very tough to perform because strangeness and
uncertainty are uncomfortable
 To overcome this, synectics makes extensive use of analogies
 personal analogy
 direct analogy
 symbolic analogy
 fantasy analogy
Analogies

 In the early 1940's, Swiss inventor George de Mestral went on a walk in the Alps
with his dog... Upon his return home, he noticed that his dog's coat and his
pants were covered with seed pod burrs . His inventor's curiosity led him to
study the burrs under their natural hook-like shape.
 This was to become the basis for a unique, two-sided fastener - one side with
stiff "hooks" like the burrs and the other side with the soft "loops" like the fabric
of his pants.
 De Mestral named his invention "VELCRO" after the French words velours,
meaning 'velvet', and crochet, meaning 'hook'.
Direct Analogy
Analogy:
inference that if two or more things agree with one another in some
respects they will probably agree in others
resemblance in some particulars between things otherwise unlike
The direct analogy makes links between the present problem and
similar problems that have already been solved
Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” is used for business strategy
Lego is analogous to real building bricks
“rip-stop” fabrics are derived from parachutes
to miniaturise an MP3 player, see how digital cameras are miniaturised
if you want to make a lightweight, strong laptop, look to see how other
light and strong objects are made (e.g. planes)
Fantasy Analogy
‘Fantasy” in this case is interpreted as ‘beyond belief’
Many of today’s commonplace technologies were imagined by
earlier science fiction/fantasy writers
escalator moving staircases (Arthur C. Clarke)
the laws of robotics (Isaac Asimov)
submarines (Jules Verne)
Fantasy analogies can be used to remove a block in the design
process
“imagine the solution to this exists, and let’s carry on”
Or can be used to approach a practical solution from the reverse
direct analogy solution fantasy analogy
“When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion
that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract,
positive thinking.” Albert Einstein
Symbolic Analogy
The symbolic analogy sums up the objective in a way that is not
technically accurate but captures the essence of the situation
we want a car that moves like ‘greased lightning’
a seal that is tighter than a ‘clam shell’
a solution that is ‘outside the box’
a basketball shoe that sticks to the floor ‘like glue’
Many of these subconscious similes can suggest ways in which
the problem can actually be solved
This can also involve ‘pictorial’ thinking
e.g. imagining electrons in an atom to orbit the nucleus like planets around
a sun
electrons in a semiconductor to act like balls
Bionics – Biological Analogies

In many situations, particularly within

industrial design nature has solved the
problem already
• Velcro being a good example
• animal backbones are similar to bridges
• bamboo is similar to (and in some
countries used for) scaffolding
• tubes are used for mechanical stiffness in
many applications e.g. truck crank shaft,
spider legs, many plants, pipes, bones
• artificial neural networks are based on
models of the brain
• radar and sonar are similar to the echo
location of bats, whales and other sea
mammals
Checklisting
Asking the appropriate questions can often hasten the
determination of a solution
Checklisting is one approach to this which combines elements of
Kepner-Tregoe and statement re-statement
• what is wrong with it?
• what doesn’t it do?
• what is similar to it?
• why is it necessary?
• what can be eliminated?
• how can its assembly be improved?
• what new materials could be used?
• in what way is it costly?
• are there any other applications?
• in what way is it inefficient?
• can it be improved ergonomically?
Limiting the Design Space
All the previous examples were intended to expand the design
space
but instead we sometimes need to limit the design space so we can reach
a manageable solution
Here we can use some of the tools already introduced for
structuring the search for a solution
• general constraints (safety etc)
• objectives and specific constraints (design goals)
• order and structure our objectives (trees and Kepner-Tregoe)
• eliminate impossible solutions
Morphological Charts
Morphological charts are a widely used technique for getting an
idea of the size of the design space and for synthesising
partial solutions to the problem
• morphology is the study of structure or form (Webster)
• again, the start of the process is similar to the objectives tree, except
we are primarily interested in features and functions rather than
objectives
The morph chart is a means to select ideas that really work
The list of functions and/or features should be at the same level
of detail in the objectives tree
• and now we include all the possible ways of achieving these
functions/features
 Beverage Container Objectives Tree
Features and functions of the
container might include
• contain beverage
• material for container
• access to juice
• display product information
• sequence manufacture of juice
and container
These are identified with the
general objective to “promote
sales”
How might we implement each
item on the list?

C.L. Dym & P. Little, "Engineering Design: A Project-Based

Approach", Wiley, 2000
Implementation

Contain beverage can, bottle, bag, box

Material for container aluminium, plastic, glass, waxed

cardboard, lined cardboard, Mylar film
Provide access to juice pull-tab, inserted straw, pop-up straw,
twist-top, tear corner, unfold
container, zipper
Display product information shape of container, labels, colour of
material
Sequence of manufacture serial, concurrent
Beverage Container Morph Chart
The morph chart shows this information in a visually useful way

means
1 2 3 4 5 6
feature/function
Contain beverage can bottle bag box

Material for waxed lined

aluminium plastic glass mylar
container card card
Provide access to inserted twist tear
pull tab unfold zipper
juice straw top corner
Display product
shape labels colour
information
Sequence of
concurrent serial
manufacture

• All we need to do is choose one option (1,2,3 …) for each feature, as

above
Design Space and Morph Charts
• How many potential design options are there?
• 4 x 6 x 6 x 3 x 2 =864!
• Of course, not all of these 864 solutions are feasible
• e.g. glass can with a tear-off corner
• Hence the morph chart can be used to highlight impossible
solutions and hence to limit the design space
• constraints etc. can also be employed in the same way
• also incompatible pairs can be eliminated (e.g. card and zipper)
• this is effectively the activity of synthesis
• Note that the functions and features were all identified with a
fairly high (less detailed) level in the objectives tree
• means of achieving shock and temperature resistance would be
included on a separate morph chart because they were considered to
be at much more detailed
Prototypes
The next stage of the design process might be to build a
prototype of the outcome of the morph chart
or to perform modelling or simulation of several of the options
A prototype is a working example of the finished design, or part
of a design
it should resemble the final design as far as possible in its functioning
although the method of manufacture may be different (e.g. individually
crafted rather than moulded or stamped – hand produced instead of
mass-produced)
Extensive testing of the prototype identifies behaviours that were
not anticipated in the original design and provides an
opportunity to fix them
prototypes may also be used to obtain data for improved modelling theory
and simulation
Pre-production models (equivalents of beta versions of software)
may also be tested on eventual users of the product
Proof of Concept
Proofs of concept are similar to prototypes but are usually closer
to the ‘R’ end of R&D
They are typically versions of a final object that are restricted in
some way
they are used to prove that an idea works and is worth exploring further
the idea should, in principle at least, be expandable or scaleable to the
final object
For example
Marconi’s first transatlantic radio transmission
Bell’s first telephone call
Bardeen, Brattain, and Shockley’s first transistor
Summary
In this lecturer, we have explored the concept of design space
and how synthesis fits within the design process
We looked again at how the design space could be expanded to
increase the number of new design options
synectics is one technique for expanding the design space
we also considered analogies as a means to understand and solve
problems
Morphological charts provide a good way to reorganise design
possibilities
to help identify new combinations and to eliminate impossible
combinations
Prototypes and proofs of concept are often essential ways of
demonstrating and evaluating new designs
Exercise – Forklift Truck
 Use the morphological chart technique to design a forklift
truck
 used for lifting and carrying heavy loads in factories and warehouses