During the product development process a lot of different kinds of models to represent the future product are used. Especially during the early stages of the design process, a broad variety of external representations can be used. To be able to teach the ideal application of these representations, it is necessary to know about the conditions within these stages of the design process, as well as the way designers from industry already apply external representations in a successful manner. Therefore a postal interview survey among 106 designers was carried out, followed by two workshops with professional designers. Several findings were gained regarding typical strategies and problems during the early stages of the design process. Furthermore the use of sketches, physical models and CAD was investigated, especially regarding frequency of use, intended functions, received advantages and subjective efficiency. Based on these results, the interplay between different kinds of representations and hypothetical mechanisms of “external” problem solving processes are discussed.     «

During the product development process a lot of different kinds of models to represent the future product are used. Especially during the early stages of the design process, a broad variety of external representations can be used. To be able to teach the ideal application of these representations, it is necessary to know about the conditions within these stages of the design process, as well as the way designers from industry already apply external representations in a successful manner. Therefo...     »