Métodos alternativos

de generación de
conceptos

Jorge Israel Figueroa Figueroa

 Concept Generation

Since it’s been established that a concept is developed

to the point where measurement can take place to
assess it performance we reach a stage where we
need to streamline the concept generation process.
We’ve seen the traditional concept generation
methods, that’s why we’ve taken to logical methods
this time.

The quality of the concepts will impact the overall

quality of the design.
 The Morphological Method

It’s a two step process.

The first one “Developing concepts for each
function” aims to obtain as many ideas as
possible in order to solver any given problem.
In the first stage we have two activities that are
really similar between them.
First we’ll have to develop as many alternative
functions as possible.
Then for every sub function we’ll develop
different ways to accomplish a given task.
The second step “Combining concepts” merges all
of the ideas that meet the specific requirements
into overall concepts.

If we reach a point where a function only is

associated with only one conceptual idea, we
ought to reexamine this one, perhaps we’ve
failed at describing what was needed or the
designer has made an assumption.
And like in traditional methods when we asked for
help from experts on the field for developing
concepts, the designer’s knowledge may be at
its limits.

We need to make to sure to keep concepts as

abstract as possible and in the same level of
abstraction to be able to make an “apples to
apples” comparison.
And like in traditional methods when we asked for
help from experts on the field for developing
concepts, the designer’s knowledge may be at
its limits.

We need to make to sure to keep concepts as

abstract as possible and in the same level of
abstraction to be able to make an “apples to
apples” comparison.
It’s also important to notice that if followed strictly
this method would generate way too many ideas,
so the designer’s criteria becomes important to
check the redundant and non mutually exclusive
concepts to avoid having too much noise.

And it might very well lead to having lots of

nonsensical outputs so evaluation of the options
must be performed in an informal level at every
stage.
 Logical Methods

Tieoriya Riesheniya Izobrietatielskij

Zadach
Axiomatic Design.
 Triz

  Genrich Altshuller developed this method circa

1940 after reviewing several patent applications in
Soviet Russia.

Triz is a Theory around which a methodology has

been developed, a set of tools based on innovative
solution solving and idea generation models
 
TRIZ relies on a dialectic thinking system that is
complemented with the constant evolution of
systems and the existence of technical
contradictions.

Unlike methods like brainstorming which is based

on the random generation of ideas, TRIZ
encourages to create an algorithmic approach to
solution systems generation and refinement.
Said algorithm can be expressed in steps as follows:

When faced with a given problem "MY PROBLEM"

its elements and the model that represents it must
be identified , which leads to the " MODEL
PROBLEM" conceptual phase.
TRIZ has its tools organized in such a way that
when applied to a problem model a solution
model can be obtained.

After that TRIZ does not really help to transform the

conceptual and abstract solution to a concrete one.
 Axiomatic Design

 As well as TRIZ, axiomatic design (AD) strives to

make the design process a logical one.

It was developed at the Massachusetts Institute of

Technology in the 70s by professor Nam Suh.
Axiomatic design is a systems design methodology
using matrix methods to systematically analyze
the transformation of customer needs into
functional requirements, design parameters, and
process variables
 It states and its based on the relationships between four so
called domains, which are:

• Customer
• Function
• Physical
• Process
.
Customer Needs should give rise to functional
requirements.

Customer Domain: specifying the customer needs,

expectations, design specifications etc.

Functional Domain: specifying the functional

requirements which will satisfy every item of the
customer domain;
Physical Domain: which specifies the physical, or
actual designed components which satisfy the
functional requirements; and

Process Domain: which allocates the processes

required to achieve the design parameters.
Independence Axiom:

Maintain the independence of functional

requirements, which means that changes made to
an attribute should only impact that parameter.
Second Axiom:

Minimize the information content of the design, that

means that through experience it has been the
simplest design the one with greater success
chances.