Deny W. Junaidy

The in-depth cognitive levels of imagination of artisans and designers

This paper investigated the in-depth cognitive levels of artisans (craft artisans) and designers (design trainers) as they observed design problems (in the early stage of idea generation) during design training. A concept network method based on the associative concept dictionary was employed to extract the verbalised thoughts of four artisans and four designers. We then identified semantic relationships based on a factor analysis. We discovered that, in contrast to designers, artisans tended to activate lower in-depth cognitive levels. Our study demonstrated that artisans placed greater focus on product appearance and technical aspects, such as operation (replace, reduce, etc.) and shape (waist, body, etc.). In contrast, designers paid greater attention to the presence of issues related to surroundings, such as scene (silverware, norm, etc.) and appeal (fresh, dish, etc.). These results demonstrate that closely or remotely associated concepts correlate with shallow or in-depth cognitive levels based on creative solutions.

Craftsmen Versus Designers: The Difference of In-Depth Cognitive Levels at the Early Stage of Idea Generation

This paper investigates the in-depth cognitive levels at the early stage of idea generation for craftsmen and designers. Examining this early stage may explain the fundamental thoughts in observing and defining design problems. We conducted an experiment using think-aloud protocol, where verbalized thoughts were analyzed using a concept network method based on associative concept analysis. Furthermore, we identified semantic relationships based on Factor Analysis. The findings showed that craftsmen tended to activate low-weighted associative concepts at in-depth cognitive level with a smaller number of polysemous features, thus explaining their concerns about tangible-related issues, such as proportion and shape. Designers, however, activated highly weighted associative concepts with more polysemous features, and they were typically concerned with intangible issues, such as surroundings context (i.e., eating culture) and users’ affective preferences (i.e., companion, appeal).

Co-creation model for traditional artisans in the current creative environment

Our goal was to develop a co-creation model that might empower cognitive fixedness of traditional artisans. First, we studied two prior studies on cognitive modeling; Study (a) demonstrated that abilities to capture and utilize stimuli during extreme levels of cognitive fixedness may lead to unconventional ways of thinking, thus, it requires participatory works. Likewise, Study (b) explained a cognitive modelling of creative knowledge work also requires various actors contribute knowledge facilitated by the participatory support system. Next, a model of Study (b) was adapted by considering experiences from Study (a). This result may serve as the basis for the development of co-creation model. Ultimately, this adapted model hopes to be a co-creation model of creative knowledge work that applicable in design training program for traditional artisans to overcome their cognitive fixedness.