Brainstorming is a bowl of spaghetti: An in depth study of collaborative design process and creativity methods with experienced design practitioners

This article reports the findings of a study which comprised in depth interviews and an excercise using visual aids conducted at Philips research and Technical University Eindhoven in the Netherlands with four designers. The goal of this study was to learn more about how experienced designers interact with creativity tools in collaborative and often multidisciplinary teams in the early brainstorming stages of the design process. Important issues covered in this paper are the role of conversation, cross-disciplinary collaboration, facilitation, the body, planning, reflection and associative thinking as part of the brainstorming process.