Reducing Design Fixation in Ideation by AI, with the Intervention of the Morphological Analysis Method

Introduction: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is emerging as a novel tool in the domain of «human-computer collective intelligence», with the potential to enhance creativity during the design process significantly. Recent studies indicate that leveraging AI enables rapid generation of valuable concepts and improves overall ideation, divergent thinking, and creative output. However, despite AI’s access to vast datasets, the persistent challenge of design fixation, characterized by a limited variety in the resulting ideas and final outputs, remains a fundamental obstacle. This constraint severely complicates the realization of divergence in ideation. The primary goal of the present research is to investigate the effect of the morphological analysis method in reducing design fixation within AI-based ideation processes.Research Method: This study adopts a mixed-methods (combined) approach and is fundamental in terms of its objective. Essential information for the theoretical framework and literature review was gathered through library resources. For the empirical aspect, an experimental test was conducted in three distinct stages. Data was collected through the execution of the experiment and subsequent evaluation of the results by a panel of experts. The outcomes from direct AI ideation were then compared and analyzed with those obtained when the morphological analysis method was applied in an analogous process.Findings: A comparison of the results, based on metrics such as the number of ideas, degree of novelty, and percentage of fixation, revealed that while signs of design fixation were observed in both scenarios, the use of the morphological analysis method demonstrably reduced the level of design fixation in the generated ideas. This method was found to increase the number of unique ideas, thereby improving the novelty score. Furthermore, by explicitly breaking down the expected functions, AI used the components in the user’s request as a foundation, leading to the presentation of more complete, holistic ideas.Conclusion: Integrating morphological chart analysis into AI-based ideation processes is an effective strategy for reducing design fixation and enhancing the novelty and innovation of ideas. Beyond this, its application reinforces divergent thinking and overall creativity

کلیدواژه ها:

Design Process ، Idea Generation ، Design Fixation ، Generative Artificial Intelligence ، Morphological Analysis Method