Abstract
Sketching activity plays an important role in design concept generation. Many researchers have asserted that design is an iterative process of reflective interaction between thinking design concepts within designers' mind and externalizing them in verbal and drawing expression. Superposition of drawing is a typical operation in concept generation. Designers gradually shape an image by superposing, while concepts are gradually clarified. This paper proposes a knowledge-based sketch tool which manages a draw layer that is a unit of superposition and associates it with expressed design concepts. The sketch tool incorporates a concept network model, which integrates verbal and drawing expression. The tool automatically organizes alternatives of design concepts as well as alternatives of drawing so as to help a designer easily compare with each other and flexibly change an alternative. Those features facilitate designers to reflect the verbal and drawing expression. Its prototype is implemented by a knowledge-based design support framework named DRIFT which we have been developing. An example of coffee maker design is demonstrated in order to show the facility of the proposed tool.
