A Case-based Approach for Industrial Design

Creativity is often perceived as putting old ideas in a new order. Case-based design suggests searching, reusing and combining existent design information and recalling past experiences in order to breed better, creative designs. In case-based design, new solutions to a problem are generated by using domain knowledge implicitly. Specific characteristics of already existent samples are utilized, a solution set is created, and the optimum solution is selected. Lastly, adaptations are made on the selected item to fit in the problem limitations and to fulfill the requirements. This paper discusses methods for design knowledge management through application of case-based design operating with generative logic. Within the paper, an interactive case-based design platform is proposed in which contributors are able to diversify a product or generate new product concepts without having a specific education or experience of design. The contributors are aimed to carry out the design practice by combining parts of different designs existent in the platform. Basically, 2D images of certain products such as traditional Turkish tea pots, drink containers, and glasses are divided into parts equivalent in size. These size equivalent parts are put together within a computer program in order to create product varieties or new product concepts. By proposing the mentioned platform, the creative capacity of case based design is aimed to be investigated.