Creativity and fixation in the real world

Reference: Crilly, N., & Moroşanu Firth, R. (2019). Creativity and fixation in the real world: Three case studies of invention, design and innovation. Design Studies, 64, 169-212. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.destud.2019.07.003

Abstract: This paper reports on the design of three novel products: a hand saw, electrical plug and bicycle wheel. Each case study draws on interviews with the designers and analysis of their prototypes. The focus is on how the product ideas originated, how and why they changed and why those changes weren't made earlier. In emphasising the nature of creative work throughout long and complex projects, three themes are emphasised: (1) creative challenges and creative blocks can result from earlier breakthroughs (which makes them difficult to overcome); (2) multiple design spaces co-evolve at different levels of detail (not just simple problem- and solution-spaces); (3) those developing new ideas need to recognise and accept those ideas (not just generate and develop them).

My notes: This is the second paper in volume 64 of Design Studies where Crilly presents strong arguments that will help researchers think and hopefully improve the validity of their studies. The first one is worth reading first, especially if you have been screaming at the screen/paper when reading many 'case study' papers in this field. But this second one is particularly good for the next reasons:

1. It is long (which is usually a bug rather than a feature) but in this case, it is long because it needs to be long. The paper is quite ambitious, as it presents 3 case studies but forget those papers where the method 'case study' is applied to a two-paragraph description of a project or a product. At 44 pages long this paper can be read by different audiences for different purposes. I am just so glad that (some) journals are accepting long papers when justified. Design Issues Other journals won't even send your manuscript for review if it one word over the 5,000 limit.
2. Ok, so the paper presents 3 case studies, but unlike other papers, here the authors actually give you the selection criteria, which include things like the products needed to be commercially available, substantial information available publically, and the products had to have an effect on redefining their product category. Then the authors personally interviewed the designers involved in these cases and these interviews were supported by sketches and prototypes that the designers used. The corpus analysed consisted of more than 20,000 words.
3. The paper then presents lengthy descriptive analysis of the cases presented in chronological narratives including the voice of the designers and richly illustrated with high-quality photographs and diagrams. After this, the paper presents a thematic analysis of the three cases and the findings are cleverly connected to the literature. The coding schemata is included in the appendix.

Even for those not directly working on topics of fixation or creativity, this paper should be on your reading lists. I am going to use it as a good example of case studies in design in my teaching of research methods. I can only hope that the editors of this and other design journals will demand this level of quality from all manuscripts that use case studies as a method.