Investigating the factors affecting the intuitive thinking of designers in the design process

Intuition is a mental ability based on unconscious knowledge structures which plays a key role in creative processes and intertwined with conscious reasoning, they form the foundation of human thinking. Design, as a complex cognitive process, requires proper use of both of these mental abilities; but unfortunately due to the mere emphasis on using reasoning abilities for solving design problems in academic society, designers do not have appropriate knowledge about intuition. Intuition, as one of the fundamental cognitive capacities, has been less systematically studied as a reliable means for problem-solving processes, which emphasizes the importance of the present study. The advantage of intuitive thinking over logical thinking is its ability to solve complex problems in difficult situations, and since "design" is now considered as a way of problem solving ability, intuitive thinking will have a valuable capacity to play a role in this activity. The main objective of this research is to identify and introduce the factors which influence intuition as a valuable mental ability in the field of design. In other words, the factors that affect intuition of designers in ideation and problem solving during design processes have been identified and introduced to be used as a basis for developing methods to empower intuitive thinking in the design process. The statistical population consists of 60 industrial designers in Tehran, who were randomly selected. The criterion for selecting the sample is having a university degree in industrial design, general familiarity with design methodology and activity in one of the specialized fields as an industrial designer. Among the target population, 75 designers were identified with the mentioned specifications and 60 of them were selected as a statistical sample using Cochran's formula. In order to identify the factors affecting intuition, a questionnaire consisting of 3 descriptive questions and 27 multiple choice questions was used. The validity and reliability of this questionnaire were evaluated and confirmed according to the content analysis method and Cronbach's alpha test, respectively (Cronbach's alpha = 0.72). The method of data analysis in this study is descriptive and inferential and frequency distribution tables and chi-square have been used. Statistical analyzes were performed using SPSS software version 22. The study of the factors which affect intuition of designers in the design process confirms the possibility of strengthening intuitive thinking and consciously paving the way for the occurrence of intuitive events. The results of the research include the introduction of eleven factors which affect intuition of designers in design process in four categories: Circumstance and context, Individual characteristics, knowing and mental processing and synthesis. In the continuation of the research, 11 identified factors affecting intuition, after being introduced to designers, were approved and emphasized, and based on their experiences regarding intuitive events and solving design problems with the help of intuition, 21 related and effective sub-variables affecting intuition of designers identified. These variables can be used for creation and development of methods and tools to empower intuitive thinking and providing conditions for occurrence of intuitive perceptions in design.