Comparative Analysis of Novice and Expert Visual Communication Designers' Thinking Processes

Data searching is an essential process in design, and research within the design field indicates a distinction in how expert designers and novice designers approach design problems. Expert designers, possessing a wealth of specialized knowledge, tend to search for additional information less frequently during the design process. In contrast, novice designers, due to their lack of professional knowledge, often need to search for, redefine, or organize information. (Ho, 2001; Cross et al., 1994). Consequently, novice designers tend to spend a significant amount of time repeatedly searching for information, leading not only to time wastage but also to designs that lack comprehensive consideration. Therefore, this study posits that the data collection process at the onset of design significantly affects the quality of design outcomes, necessitating further exploration of the relationship between various search strategies and design quality.The methodology involves think-aloud protocols, with the selection of coding systems based on search strategies divided into 0 to 3 dimensions as proposed by Gero and McNeill (1998) within the "problem domain" abstraction. Dimension 0 defines the system from the product's usage and user needs; 1 pertains to the product's interaction, styling, and imagery; 2 involves subsystems from product specifications, functions, behaviors, principles, and pain points; 3 considers details, integrating product principles with design elements and local details for effective optimization within the design concept. Additionally, regarding the quality of design outcomes, this study draws from the basic criteria for product design concepts proposed by Li, Feng-Qiang et al. (2016), encompassing ten aspects: functionality (F), usability (U), aesthetics and form (A), innovation (I), sustainability (ST), possibility (P), safety and regulation (SA), and marketability (M). These ten design criteria serve as a standard for assessing the quality of product design. Through the "problem domain" and "ten design criteria," this study aims to explore the differences in data search processes between novice and expert designers and the resulting impact on design quality.The findings reveal that novice designers mainly focus on the shallow, basic search dimensions of 1 and 2, lacking in-depth understanding of product details, which often leads to insufficient information for design execution. Experts iterate across dimensions 0 to 3, gaining a comprehensive understanding of the product, which better supports the subsequent design process. In terms of design criteria, novices focus on aesthetics/form (A) and innovation (I), with functionality also considered to some extent, while other aspects appear to be unconsciously neglected. Moreover, interviews and data organization revealed that novices tend to search from their personal experiences, whereas experts start from user needs, leading to more effective and accurate searches. Hence, in design education, teaching students to conduct comprehensive data collection could significantly enhance their design quality.

This research project focused upon the design strategies adopted by expert and novice designers. It was based upon a desire to compare the design problem solving strategies of novices, in this case key stage three pupils studying technolgy within the United Kingdom National Curriculum, with designers who could be considered to have developed expertise. The findings helped to provide insights into potential teaching strategies to suit novice designers. Verbal protocols were made as samples of expert and novice designers solved a design problem and talked aloud as they worked. The verbalisations were recorded on video tape. The protocols were transcribed and segmented, with each segment being assigned to a predetermined coding system which represented a model of design problem solving. The results of the encoding were analysed and consideration was also given to the general design strategy and heuristics used by the expert and novice designers. The drawings and models produced during the generation of the protocols were also analysed and considered. A number of significant differences between the problem solving strategies adopted by the expert and novice designers were identified. First of all, differences were observed in the way expert and novice designers used the problem statement and solution validation during the process. Differences were also identified in the way holistic solutions were generated near the start of the process, and also in the cycles of exploration and the processes of integration. The way design and technological knowledge was used provided further insights into the differences between experts and novices, as did the role of drawing and modelling during the process. In more general terms, differences were identified in the heuristics and overall design strategies adopted by the expert and novice designers. The above findings provided a basis for discussing teaching strategies appropriate for novice designers. Finally, opportunities for future research were discussed.

With the continuous development of our country’s modernisation process and the continuous development of education, the education of design talents is getting more and more attention from people, the era of design as a “secondary subject” in schools has ended, modern people have recognised that the world of design is a world of infinite wonders, and that some design experience is an indispensable element for enriching people’s lives, and design is related to the deepest things in human nature. Design is closely related to the deepest part of human nature. As an important part of the design field, visual communication design is not only an education of design techniques as traditionally believed, but also a complex systematic project to develop wisdom. It is not possible to improve one’s design quality with only a little bit of technique. In addition to mastering design technique, we must also be familiar with the development history of design and its development prospect, have the ability to appreciate design and have insight into design, and fully explore one’s own visual thinking, so as to make one’s own design thinking more active. Visual thinking is a novel concept. This ability is inherent in us, and for designers of visual communication design, the cultivation of visual thinking should be richer and more diversified. But to engage in design through this ability requires special training.

Enrollments in online courses continue to grow. With this growth has come an increased need for instructors to develop content for their courses using digital technology. To address instructors’ abilities to develop content for a virtual environment, institutions have focused on the most effective and efficient ways to design online courses and programs. However, despite increased focus on the instructional design of online courses, little attention has been given to their visual design. This is problematic because research suggests that the visual design of online courses can improve the student learning experience. Given this problem, additional research is needed to understand the visual design of online courses, including page layout design and the integration of visual media. Three different studies were conducted to address this problem (a.) Study 1 is a literature review that synthesizes the relevant topics in visual communication design to online course development. The study addressed the mechanics of visual design but also external factors that influence visual design thinking. In this chapter, the authors seek to clarify the process of using visual design to improve the online learning experience. The chapter concludes by suggesting strategies that colleges and universities can use to help faculty and instructional designers learn visual design skills through the creation of a design studio. (b.) Study 2 is an exploratory qualitative study that investigates the ways in which educators in higher education apply visual design to their online courses through the design process framework of looking, thinking, doing, and critiquing (LTD+C). Semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore instructor’s use of a visual design process, application of visual design thinking, and perceived barriers in designing online classrooms. Based on the findings of the study, it is suggested that the visual design process in online courses can fit within the LTD+C framework and activities associated with each part of the process should be further explored. (c.) Study 3 is a qualitative content analysis of images used in online courses. The study examined the current use of images in higher-education online classrooms along with the ability of instructors to create, select, and apply images to an online classroom learning management system by exploring well-known frameworks of image taxonomy in online classrooms. Based on the findings of this study it is suggested that the current framework of educational image taxonomy can be elaborated upon and that instructors need better training in appropriately handling using images in online classrooms. The general conclusion promoted in this dissertation is that visual design needs more emphasis within the field of education from both practical applications and research-based studies.

In User Centered Design (UCD), designers employ various user research methods to collect user data which help them in making design related decisions. While collecting primary user data, designers get a first-hand experience of users’ problems and their task environments. This paper reports an experimental study with 20 novice designers under influence of primary and secondary user data. Design solutions generated by novice designers were analyzed to observe design thinking. It was found that under the influence of primary user data, novice designers suffered more design fixations, had less divergent thinking but the concepts generated were more detailed with focus on users’ tasks. In light of the findings, this paper argues that novice designers get fixated with existing solutions used by the users while doing user research and find it difficult to think of novel solutions while ideating.

Design thinking (DT) is hailed as a cornerstone of innovation. It is based on teamwork, yet we know little about how the DT team operates and collaborates. In this study, we investigate 51 Norwegian master’s student teams as they work on an innovation project using DT. We seek especially to understand how they communicate and collaborate while working with DT tools, with special attention to divergent and convergent thinking. Using a mixed methods approach, we analyze the teams´ behaviors and developments in these. Findings suggest that the highest performing groups use the DT method with greater discipline than the other groups. To achieve this, they employ more authority-based behaviors and fewer supportive behaviors than the other groups. This disciplined approach to DT as a process and the use of tools, such as brainstorming, are in turn associated with convergent and divergent thinking. The main conclusions are that a disciplined approach using DT as a team tool, enables team reflexivity and psychological safety. This enhances innovative performance.

With the continuous development of digitalization and informatization in the 21st century, we have ushered in the big data era. The advent of the big data era has brought about subversive changes in many fields. With the tide of the big data era, how visual communication design can more accurately and intuitively convey the information content to be expressed and can stand out among many visual communication media is the concern of every designer. Only when visual communication design is creative can the information receiver be impressed with the visual design content, so creative thinking is particularly important in visual communication design. This paper analyzes the opportunities and challenges faced by visual communication design under big data environment in detail, and puts forward several strategies for developing creative thinking in visual communication design according to the current situation.

Metacontrol of human creativity: The neurocognitive mechanisms of convergent and divergent thinking

Visual communication design and space design is discussed in this paper the complementary relationship between, it is worth mentioning that the visual communication design can be a good blend of collision and space design, so the analysis of the blend mode in the design of visual communication design elements in space, and space visual design elements of law, more reasonable and effective use of visual communication design elements in space design activities for better design services, become a carrier capacity and environmental design in visual communication design concept, therefore, in the design of the two classify, between the two cannot be away from each other, can only promote better design complement each other. As is known to all, the most direct contact between human beings in this world is vision, also known as sight and sight, followed by hearing, smelling and tasting. Therefore, the more intuitive feelings of human beings will be conveyed by vision. In 1960, the term ＂visual communication＂ popular in the world design congress held in Japan, including printed newspapers and magazines, posters and other promotional material design, and television, movies, electronic billboards and other media, through the eyes to convey to the brain for modelling of expressive design is widely referred to as visual communication design, there's a phrase can express: show people design, design. Moreover, in the design of contemporary exhibition space, visual communication design elements are often used. These design elements not only have the function of transmitting information, but also have unlimited commercial value and propaganda effect. Left the concept of positioning, space design is only the so-called functional platter; Ignore the visual communication of visual language, no matter how good the environment will be due to graphic design style gap and left a failure. As we know, one of the most important functions of visual communication design elements is to help present the most complete visual effect in the spatial display. The organic connection between visual communication design and display space design not only harmonizes the relationship between two-dimensional plane and three-dimensional space environment, but also expands the cooperation between subjects and strengthens the research space between the two design disciplines. Only in this way can designers solve complex and comprehensive problems and help designers make full use of their advantages to create better works.

Computer-aided design (CAD) is a standard design tool used in engineering practice and by students. CAD has become increasingly analytic and inventive in incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) approaches to design, e.g., generative design (GD), to help expand designers' divergent thinking. However, generative design technologies are relatively new, we know little about generative design thinking in students. This research aims to advance our understanding of the relationship between aspects of generative design thinking and traditional design thinking. This study was set in an introductory graphics and design course where student designers used Fusion 360 to optimize a bicycle wheel frame. We collected the following data from the sample: divergent and convergent psychological tests and an open-ended response to a generative design prompt (called the generative design reasoning elicitation problem). A Spearman's rank correlation showed no statistically significant relationship between generative design reasoning and divergent thinking. However, an analysis of variance found a significant difference in generative design reasoning and convergent thinking between groups with moderate GD reasoning and low GD reasoning. This study shows that new computational tools might present the same challenges to beginning designers as conventional tools. Instructors should be aware of informed design practices and encourage students to grow into informed designers by introducing them to new technology, such as generative design.

BackgroundCreativity requires both divergent and convergent thinking. Previous research established that divergent thinking relates to mathematics performance, but generally ignored the role of convergent thinking and, hence, leaves it unclear how both might interact when children work on mathematical tasks. This study addressed this paucity in the research literature, with the goal of improving our understanding of the role of creative thinking in primary school mathematics.AimsThis study examined how divergent and convergent thinking contribute to mathematics performance, both directly and jointly, on single‐ and multiple‐solution tasks.SampleThe study was conducted with 229 Dutch fifth graders of 12 primary schools.MethodDivergent and convergent thinking were measured with a visual and verbal task. Path analysis was used including verbal and visual divergent and convergent thinking tasks in relation to single‐ and multiple‐solution mathematics task performance. Working memory was included as a covariate.ResultsVerbal convergent thinking positively predicted single‐ and multiple‐solution task performance. Verbal divergent and convergent thinking interacted in relation to single‐solution task performance, while visual divergent and convergent thinking interacted in relation to multiple‐solution task performance.ConclusionsChildren’s mathematics performance mainly relies on convergent thinking. The role of divergent thinking is twofold: it complements convergent thinking on multiple‐solution tasks and compensates convergent thinking on single‐solution tasks.

With the rapid development of digital media technology, digital media context emerges as the times require. Visual communication design also presents language features, aesthetic features and communication features, which have a great impact on visual communication design to a certain extent. However, based on the analysis of the actual situation, visual communication design is still in the situation of challenges and opportunities. Based on this, this paper studies the multiple characteristics of visual communication design in digital media environment. This paper expounds the main characteristics of visual communication design, and analyzes the changes of visual communication design performance in the digital media era. It also discusses the influence of digital media era on visual communication design from three dimensions: changing the form of information dissemination, promoting the development of multidimensional design and realizing virtual design. Finally, the paper compares the visual communication design based on digital media environment with the traditional visual communication design method, aiming to provide reference for the digital development of visual communication design. Research shows that visual communication design can reflect the characteristics of digital media era, break through the limitations of time and space, and bring more aesthetic experience to people. It is worth noting that on the basis of the visual impact brought by digital media technology, it is necessary to alleviate the contradiction between the progress of the times and the development of visual communication design.

Creativity-related cognitive processes and personality traits are not often examined together in educational contexts, particularly when discussing high-achieving subgroups of medical students. This study investigated these predictors of academic performance among high-achieving and typical-achieving medical students within a problem-based learning (PBL) environment of a medical school. Data were collected from 274 Doctor of Medicine students at Arabian Gulf University during the 2024–2025 academic year. Participants completed assessments of convergent thinking (Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices and Watson–Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal), divergent thinking (Alternative Uses Test and Figural Divergent Thinking Test), and openness to experience (NEO-FFI). Students’ grade point averages (GPAs) were obtained from institutional records. Hierarchical regression analyses and moderation tests were performed, controlling for age and sex. Convergent thinking (β = 0.20, p < .001) and divergent thinking (β = 0.25, p < .001) emerged as modest-to-moderate positive predictors of GPA, whereas openness to experience showed a small negative association (β = −0.13, p = .026). Achievement status, defined as high-achieving versus typical-achieving GPA, significantly moderated the effects of both convergent and divergent thinking, such that the academic benefits of higher thinking skills were meaningfully stronger among high-achieving students, while these associations were weaker among their typical-achieving peers. No moderating effect was observed for openness to experience. Convergent and divergent thinking independently enhance academic performance in medical students, with amplified effects for high-achieving students. In contrast, openness to experience was negatively linked with GPA, reflecting the complex interplay between personality traits and structured medical training. These findings underscore the need for medical curricula that balance convergent reasoning with creative problem-solving while considering diverse student cognitive and personality profiles.

With the rapid development of the times, new tools are constantly appearing in visual communication design, such as the use of graphic creativity in visual communication. With this as a starting point, this paper introduces the MOEA/D algorithm, which decomposes the MOP problem into a series of subproblems to be solved by decomposition techniques, using weight vectors to obtain the neighbors of each subproblem, followed by calculating the neighbor subproblems, dividing the individuals into segments, and obtaining the child individuals. Finally, the fitness of each offspring individual was calculated and cut to give the final level of each factor. Finally, the strategy of using graphic creativity in visual communication design in the context of Internet+ is calculated from the MOEA/D algorithm. The experimental results showed that by means of multiple control groups, the experimental group achieved a 30% correct rate for Q3 and Q9 quiz questions, and the experimental group had a significantly greater correct rate than the control group. Therefore, more design concepts and design thinking can be explored through the study and analysis of graphic creativity to help the use of graphic creativity in the work of visual communication design.

Recent theories of creative thinking propose that the generation of creative ideas by design novices and experts is restricted by the emergence of intuitive cognitive biases. To overcome these biases and explore expansive solutions, biased ideas must be discriminated from those with creative potential. Although studies in the field of reasoning have shown that biased participants tend to detect an incongruency between their provided solutions and the expected solution, the use of conflict detection in creativity has never been studied. Two experiments were conducted to determine the extent to which conflict detection occurs during creative idea generation and whether this mechanism is available for design novices (Experiment 1) and/or experts (Experiment 2). The results indicated that both groups of participants detected their fixation bias and managed to overcome it by switching from intuitive to deliberate thinking. In addition, we discussed implications for popular current (dual process) models.