Abstract
The present paper discusses the creative design process using the conceptual combination task. As factors involved in the creative design process, we focused on the number of concepts associated with the concepts presented in the task and the use of action concepts during design process. In the experiment, the number of associated concepts was manipulated by using the electronic concept dictionary that was constructed by a large-scale association experiment. The protocols data obtained in the experiment were analyzed by automatic methods using the dictionary. As a result, (1) design products were highly evaluated when they were produced through combinations of two concepts that have a large number of associated concepts, and (2) the participants used many action concepts associated with the presented two concepts when the presented concepts had a large number of associated concepts. These results indicate effectiveness of analyzing associations for exploring design creativity.
