Individual styles of problem solving and their relation to representations in the design process

The goal of the empirical study presented in this paper was to investigate the influence of individual styles of problem solving on the design process. Subjects worked on an adaptive design problem, as well as on two, complex nondesign problems. In analysing the design processes, the main focus was on the marks-on-paper which are created and used by the designers. The results demonstrate that the course of the design process in general and the use of marks-on-paper in particular depend on an individual designer's style of problem solving. Implications ;for design education and design support are discussed.