Designing with both

halves of the brain

Michael Tovey
Department of Industrial Design, Coventry (Lanchester) Polytechnic, Coventry, UK

There appear to be distinct differences between the two hemispheres of the human brain in terms of
preferred styles of thinking. In designing, it seems necessary that both styles are engaged, with the
designer switching flora one to the other as appropriate. This paper briefly reviews the differences
between the two hemispheres, and relates the differences to the cognitive styles implied by different design
methods. It offers a dual processing model as a basis for designing.

Keywords: brain function asymmetries, cognitive styles, design methods

The two halves of the brain process information in
different ways. One half is verbal and analytical and the
other is visuo-spatial and holistic. The evidence suggests
that in all higher level mental activities both halves are at
work, operating in parallel and exchanging information.
Both sorts of thinking are essential in tackling design
problems, but the strategy adopted may lead to one or
other half of the brain being dominant during the
process. Understanding these differences may assist in
design problem solving and strategy selection.
Anita Cross has recently reviewed some of the evidence
for hemisphere specialization and the theories of cogni-
tive processing based upon it ~. She identifies the
importance of this to general education and the develop-
ment at primary and secondary level of a design stream to
set alongside literacy and numeracy.
My intention in this paper is to relate the recent
findings of neuroscience about the bilateral functioning
of the brain to the ways in which designers think, and to
propose a simple model for the design process based
upon the two complementary thinking styles of the
brain.
TWO HALVES OF THE BRAIN
The human body is symmetrical about a vertical axis.
Functionally it exhibits particular asymmetries, the most
noticeable of which is handedness; about 90% of us are
right-handed. The brain too is symmetrically divided,
into two hemispheres, and it too displays asymmetries of
function. Since the Nineteenth century it has been
known that tumours and excisions within the left
hemisphere produced quite different effects from those
in the right. The former produced loss of language
function, and the latter produced difficulties of spatial
orientation and recognition of faces2. In the 1960s work
was carried out at the California Institute of Technology
under the direction of Roger Sperry on patients subject
to severe epileptic seizures. These patients underwent
radical surgery which severed the corpus callosum, a thick
network of nerves joining the two halves of the brain.
This last-resort operation yielded the desired result, the
patients' seizures were controlled and they regained
health s. What was surprising was the apparently small
effect of so major an operation. It was only after a series
of carefully controlled experiments that it was realized
that each patient now possessed two independent minds
within one head, the left brain controlling the right-hand
side of the body and the right brain the left-hand side.
These dramatic results have been reinforced by
subsequent experiments both with split brain and
brain-damaged patients, and with people with normal,
intact brains. For information processing even the
normal brain may be regarded as a bilateral machine, two
computers side by side, each independently interfacing

Vol 5 No 4 October 1984 0142-694X/84/040219-10

$03.00 ~ 1984 Butterworth & Co (Publishers) Ltd 219
and analysing the information it receives, and only after
the analysis communicating the information to the
opposite hemisphere4. The evidence supports the view
that with the two halves working in parallel as notionally
separate brains there is an enhanced overall output and
effectiveness. This improvement is in part a consequence
of the different processing modes employed by the two
hemispheres.
Although each hemisphere is capable of performing
many tasks in the same way as the other, there are certain
functions for which one or other is dominant. The most
pronounced effect is the control of language by the left
hemisphere. Such is the strength of this, and the
overwhelming behavioural consequences of its loss that
the left hemisphere has been labelled the major hemi-
sphere. The right hemisphere seems to be less strongly
specialized, but in more areas, the most obvious of which
is visuo-spatial thinking. A wide range of experiments
has indicated that different information processing
modes underlie these specializations 5. Broadly they are:
Left hemisphere: verbal; analytic; symbolic; abstract;
logical; linear; digital; and time orientated.
Right hemisphere: non-verbal; synthetic; concrete; ana-
logic; intuitive; holistic; spatial; and timeless and diffuse.
The left hemisphere's sequential analytic abilities are
somewhat easier to demonstrate than the vaguer abilities
of the right. They manifest themselves in the associative
thinking in word meaning, the propositional logic of
syntax, spelling, symbolic logic, and the use and control
of expressive speech6. According to Gazzaniga, one of
Sperry's co-workers, the major (left) hemisphere not only
operates as the central processor for the whole brain, but
also as the inhibitor control of the minor (right)
hemisphere7. There is considerable debate on the role of
the right hemisphere in 'intelligent' behaviour. For
instance Bradshaw and Nettleton sayS:
Most individuals, unless they are artists, architects or
musicians can probably accept or tolerate right hemisphere
disabilities. For example, Nash was able to revise his
textbook, Development psychology: a psychobiological
approach, after suffering a right hemisphere stroke.
I think we can safely add designers to artists, architects
and musicians as people who need intact right hemi-
spheres. It may also be the case that the reason for the
apparent importance of analytical language thinking is
the educational and cultural bias to literary activity,
noted amongst others by Archer9, rather than a fun-
damental characteristic of our mental processing.
Another of Sperry's co-workers, Bogen, has said that by
emphasizing the 3Rs in education, we have educated
mainly the left hemisphere, at the expense of the right l°.
Although the right hemisphere has proved to be
somewhat enigmatic, for the most part there seems to be
agreement with Levy n that there is convincing evidence
that the right hemisphere is active, responsive and highly
intelligent for certain tasks and styles of thinking. Many
220
attempts have been made at characterizing the differ-
ences between left- and right-dominant processing
modes. Bogen has coined the terms propositional and
appositional for the two types of thought 13. The left
hemisphere dominates in propositional thought, a system
of linear relationships as in syntax and mathematical
logic. The right hemisphere dominates in appositional
thought which involves parallel processing, holistic
gestalt patterning, metaphors and analogic codification.
The time element may be significant: the left mode seems
to be essentially serial, and the right mode a simultaneous
parallel process.
Figure I. Linear processing (left hemisphere) and simultaneous
processing (right hemisphere)
Semmes' schematic representation of functions in the
two hemispheres shows that they are strongly localized in
the left hemisphere (focally represented) whereas in the
right hemisphere they are more diffuse (overlapping
circles) 13. This discrete character of information record-
ing in the left hemisphere may give the processing its
analytical and successive character. By contrast the
diffuse nature of the right hemisphere may be more like a
hologram, with all the information evenly distributed
and available (with loss of definition) from any small
part TM. Such a model would accord with the integral,
synthetic method of perception of the outside world
which characterises the right half of the brain.
½
)
J
Figure 2. A schematic representation of Semmes" 1968 model.
Functions in the left hemisphere are focally represented (small
circles). Functions in the right hemisphere are more diffusely
localized (large circles)
Right brain superiority is fairly evident in visual tasks.
In drawing exercises it maintains the overall configura-
tion, proportion and spatial arrangement, whilst tending
DESIGN STUDIES
to simplify and lose some detail. By contrast the left
hemisphere produces correct details, but they are hapha-
zardly juxtaposed, fragmented and containing super-
fluous elements 15. Right hemisphere dominance has
been identified in many areas of visual thinking,
including the following:
• size discrimination and perception of direction
• appreciation of spatial relationships
• judgement of three dimensional spatial relationships
from two dimensional representation
• ability to select components to complete a partially
complete design
• completion of incomplete pictures
• perception of the relationships of parts to wholes
• recognition of objects portrayed by line drawings
and incomplete contours
• accurate perception, memory and recognition of
abstract patterns too complex for verbal specification
• recognition of anomalies in paintings
• ability to recognize objects from unusual angles
• ability to copy geometrical shapes and perform block
design subtests
Broadly we may regard the right hemisphere as superior
in handling spatial wholes: it can complete a configur-
ational synthesis from incomplete information. The left
hemisphere adopts an analytic approach, concentrating
on details, and the serial segmental breakdown of the
whole into its component elements.
Right hemisphere processing is more likely to occur
when stimuli do not lend themselves to encoding
according to a pre-ordained descriptive system. The right
half seems to be the more creative part of the brain.
Dimond and Beaumont have reported on the higher level
of originality it works at in tests, producing more varied
and less common associations than the left 16. They take
this to indicate the greater participation of the right
hemisphere in the creative aspects of thought, attributing
to it in this respect a specialized role, concerned with the
more inventive exploratory and improvisatory aspects of
mental activity. The significance of the right hemisphere
to creativity has also been commented on by Bogen and
Bogen 17.
T H I N K I N G WITH BOTH HEMISPHERES
Lateralization is most evident in simple tasks, language
thinking in the left brain and visuo-spatial thinking in the
right. These are tied up with each side's information
coding system, the one verbal and the other visual.
Various electro-physiological and metabolic techniques
to assess brain activity have shown that for anything
other than simple tasks both hemispheres are involved,
although one or other may be working harder Is. For
much of performance the hemispheres proceed apparent-
ly as equivalent systems, each with the same status.
Under greater load they may fall out of step with
different attributes reflected with increasing strength
more at one side or the other.
Vol 5 No 4 October 1984
In the 1960s it was assumed that mathematical
thinking was located wholely in the left hemisphere.
Subsequent work showed that calculation might be a
right hemisphere activity 19, which would tend to char-
acterize engineers, involved in spatial thinking and
calculation, as non-verbal right hemisphere dominated
individuals! More recent work has shown that mathema-
tical thinking involves both hemispheres 2°'21 (with EEG
activity recorded in both) which is to be expected as it
uses both symbols and spatial models, coordinating and
unifying these two aspects of intellectual activity.
Design problem-solving is almost certainly similar,
involving both hemispheres in matching analytically
processed, symbolically coded problem models with
visuo-spatial, holistically processed solution patterns.
VISUAL T H I N K I N G A N D DRAWING
The nature, range and techniques of visual thinking are
fully described by McKim 22. It is essentially a right
hemisphere process. Visual thinking is an important part
of design problem solving. I demonstrate this to my
students by a number of exercises including the pierced
block problem. This may be stated in words thus:
You are given a solid rectangular block which has been
pierced by circular, triangular and square holes. The
circle's diameter, the triangle's altitude and base, and the
square's sides all have the same dimension. The walls of
the three holes are perpendicular to the flat front face of
the block. What shape of single solid object will pass all
the way through each hole and en route entirely block the
passage of light?
Figure 3. The pierced block problem. What shape of single solid
object will pass all the way through each hole and en route entirely
block the passage of light?
/"
: The nature of the problem is quite difficult to
appreciate without either the actual block in front of you,
or a drawing of it. Although the problem can be stated in
words it is impossible to solve it without some visual
thinking skill and the use of the right hemisphere.
Most students seem to fred it easier to solve if they can
augment their thinking by drawing. This is a way of
sending information straight to the right brain without
the mediation of the left. The combination of seeing the
problem, imagining possible solutions, and drawing
221
them usually yields a solution fairly quickly. Those who
have experience of orthogonal projection f'md that the
problem is relatively easy.
\ Right hemisphere: divergent; impulsive; field indepen-
Figure 4. Drawing assists right brain thinking
Edwards covers a number of techniques for outwitting
the left hemisphere control mechanism and allowing
more direct access to the right brain for drawing z3. These
include different ways of looking at the object being
represented, by drawing it upside down, or concentrat-
ing on the spaces rather than the contours. These
techniques are designed to inhibit the left hemisphere
coding system, whereby objects are perceived in terms of
abstract symbols, rather than their being appreciated
directly. When these techniques are used the subject will
experience a shift from left to right brain control. Seeing
directly allows the right hemisphere to control the
production of a more perceptually accurate drawing.
The term graphicacy has been used to cover the
intellectual and practical process involved in visual
thinking and drawing. It is equivalent to other such
abilities as articulacy, numeracy and literacy, but uses
visual images and models, as opposed to the verbal,
numerical or literary representations which dominate
much of our culture. Graphicacy is central to the
'designerly way of knowing' and the visual modelling
employed in design 24. (See 'Graphic thinking for
architects and designers' by Paul Laseau for an example
of the range of drawings25). The pierced block problem
may be regarded as a design problem in miniature:
defined by the left hemisphere, and solved by the visual
thinking of the right.
COGNITIVE STYLES IN DESIGN
METHODS
Cross and Nathenson have described how different
learning styles relate to design theor)fl 6. They describe
four oppositional pairs of cognitive styles which have
been observed in educational experiments. These are
divergent/convergent, impulsive/reflective, field-
dependent/independent, and serialistic/holistic. They
222
emphasize that these pairs represent opposite ends of a
spectrum, and that most people will fall somewhere
within the spectrum rather than decisively at one end.
For instance, people tend towards a divergent or
convergent style, although no-one adopts one or other
exclusively.
These different styles align fairly welt with the
observed thinking modes of the two halves of the brain:
Cognitive styles
Left hemisphere: convergent; reflective; field depen-
dent; and serialistic
dent; and holistic
Convergent/divergent
Convergence and divergence are familiar terms within
design theory, although they are used somewhat loosely.
In the sense that convergent thinking is associated with
logical, structured presentations, and in the design
process with systematic search methods, ranking and
weighting and specification writing 27, then it accords
well with the strong left hemisphere dominance in this
kind of thinking. The case for right brain dominance in
divergent thinking is not so strong but it does seem to be
more powerful in generating alternative ideas, particular-
ly when they are handled visually, as they often are in
design.
Reflective/impulsive
One of the characteristics of the first generation of design
methods was that they imposed a quasi-scientific
approach. There was an emphasis on the acquisition of
data and its comprehensive analysis before solutions
could be proposed. This could be described as a left brain
insistance on its reflecting on the problem, and logically
analysing its structure in full detail before a solution
could be identified. Lawson has shown in controlled
experiments that this strategy is the one typically adopted
by science students 2s. He found that in the same
experiments architectural design students, by contrast,
adopted a strategy of impulsively proposing solutions
based on incomplete information and then discovering
more about the problem by testing the solution against it.
The tentative solution would form the basis for a more
complete understanding of the problem and the develop-
ment of other solution proposals. This approach is very
characteristic of right brain thinking which favours the
production of a pattern of synthesis, tending to extrapo-
late impulsively from partial information and having
little patience with details. The solution-focused
approach to designing - - which this favours - - seems to
be close to the practical method which many designers
adopt.
DESIGN STUDIES
Field dependent/independent
The left brain's thinking mode is typically concerned
with drawing rational conclusions within a context, and
to this extent it is in a sense field dependent. The right
brain-has much the better capacity for the perception of
patterns and shapes in the physical world, and it is able to
deduce and extract from a context the overall configura-
tion or the basic gestalt of a form. This is characteristical-
ly field independent thinking. There is some evidence
that the right brain contributes to the comprehension of
language by its facility for perceiving the underlying
pattern and structure. It may thus be possible to claim
for it a greater capacity for the more abstract patterning
by which the 'real problem' is extracted from the
problem field by the designer tackling a problem.
Serialistic/holistic
The serial-holist split corresponds exactly with the
observed characteristics of the two halves of the brain,
and is often used as the shorthand description of the
essential difference between them. In design the serialis-
tic mode is more apparent when a sequential logical
argument is required, for instance during brief writing,
project planning and scheduling, some aspects of re-
search, evaluation and selection. By contrast the holistic
mode is of essential use in the creation of a solution to the
design problem, when a single proposal must simul-
taneously meet a wide network of differing constraints.
Cross and Nathenson liken Archer's 'Systematic
method for designers' to a serialistic learning strategy z9.
They contrast this with the more generalized network of
methods described by Jones in Design methods, which
favours a more holistic strategy.
CREATIVE THINKING
Creative thinking is an essential part of the design
process. Rickards has reported on a discussion at the
Manchester Business School where two points of view
were held 3°.
•
•
Creativity was part of the design process
Design was part of the creative process
Creative thinking is evidently a somewhat vaguely
understood idea, and it seems to have different meanings
in different contexts. To the extent that the right
hemisphere is the dominant processor for creative
thinking, then it is probably best viewed as part of
designing rather than the whole of it, for the left
hemisphere seems to have an equally important role at
other points in the design process.
Creative thinking and aesthetics are two parts of design
which seem to be particularly resistant to analysis and
description in words. For many practitioners they are
intuitively realized; the idea arrives in some mysterious
Vol 5 No 4 October 1984
way, and is felt to be right. Jones labels this as 'designers
as black boxes' or even 'designers as magicians '31. The
reason for this may now be understood, for creative
thinking depends on the right hemisphere which is mute.
It does not use words, and for that reason does not go in
for explanations and self-analysis. It is probably too
simple a view to claim that the right hemisphere is
wholely responsible for creative thinking. Any mental
process other than the most basic involves both halves of
the brain. What does seem likely is that the right brain's
input is crucial, and in this area it is the dominant
partner 32.
Although it has been shown that many design innova-
tors do not use structured creativity techniques 33, they
are important in that they provide models of creative
thinking, and thereby a better understanding of it.
Lateral thinking, synectics and brain storming are typical
methods.
L a t e r a l thinking
Lateral thinking is a term invented by Edward de B o n o 34
and as an idea it has achieved widespread
dissemination 3s. De Bono contrasts lateral thinking with
traditional logical thinking for which he uses the term
'vertical thinking'. Vertical thinking is extremely useful,
particularly when analysing a problem or putting forward
an argument. Characteristically it involves making yes/no
decisions at each stage, selecting and discarding material,
being right all the way through. Although it is extremely
useful, it is also very limited. It is the equivalent of
digging a hole by making deeper the hole you already
have. Lateral thinking on the other hand is concerned
with digging as many new holes as possible, for the
solution to a problem may not be in the direction in
which you are digging.
I Vertical
Ii
Alternath~s
II
Alternatives
Figure 5. Vertical thinking develops the best alternative. Lateral
thinking generates other alternatives
There are various lateral thinking techniques. Some of
them are concerned simply to overcome the limiting
223
effects of vertical thinking, by challenging assumptions
or by suspended judgement. Others are methods of
provocatively using information, creating new combina-
tions, concept changes and idea reversals, so as to
encourage actively innovative proposals.
Vertical thinking and lateral thinking correspond with
the thinking modes of the left and right hemispheres 36.
This can be illustrated by one of de Bono's graphic
representations of the process. Firstly the sequential
processing of vertical thinking is demonstrated. Asked to
organize the first two shapes a rectangle is proposed. The
subsequent arrival of shape 3 and then shapes 4 and 5 can
all be accommodated in the rectangular paradigm. But
shape 6 will not fit into the same scheme and so is
rejected. By contrast the concept challenge and parallel
processing mode of lateral thinking is adept at proposing
alternative whole solutions, back-tracking and recon-
sidering the adequacy of the rectangular scheme. Several
alternative paradigms are attempted, star, pentagon,
triangle, until the parallelogram is discovered which
accommodates not only the six shapes, but also each
preceding combination. One feature of lateral thinking is
that after an innovative proposal has been made it is
possible to construct a logical argument in its favour.
Lateral and vertical thinking are complementary.
_ ()
/ X
i L
I'1 t
I
Figure 6. Vertical thinking (left hemisphere) and lateral thinking
(right hemisphere). Diagram based on an original sequence by Dr
Edward de Bono
Synecfics
At the root of the synectics procedure is the attempt to
bring together apparently unconnected elements, there-
by creating a new solution to a problem 37. In the first
instance the problem must be rigorously defmed. This is
224
followed by a separation of imaginative thinking from
analytical and judgemental thinking (Cf lateral and
vertical thinking). Its particular novelty is an enforced
withdrawal from the problem and an exercise in free
association which provides new ideas for solving the
problem when attention is brought back to it. In part this
is induced by grouping together people from different
disciplines and attacking the problem as a team.
Of particular importance in synectics is the use of
metaphoric excursions to encourage new insights, and
the discussion of analogies as a way of latching their
spontaneous thinking to the problem. Four types of
analogy are used: direct, fantasy, personal and symbolic.
The use of analogies is principally a characteristic of the
right hemisphere, although the use of abstract symbols
would involve left hemisphere thinking.
Brainstorming
Brainstorming is a formalized group activity organized to
encourage the flow of original ideas 3s. Just as in other
forms of creative thinking the blocks to the flow of ideas
have to be shifted, so within a brainstorming session no
judgements are allowed. In other words the critical,
inhibiting effect of left brain thinking is suspended No
proposal is too ridiculous to be voiced, although they
must all relate to the problem being tackled. As long as
the rule that no criticism is allowed is followed, then
ideas will be produced. The setting encourages cross-
stimulation, and the apparently crazy ideas of one
participant will stimulate quite useable ideas from
another. In as much as there is evidence of which
hemisphere of the brain is involved in this activity, it
would seem that both can produce ideas, but that those
of the right hemisphere are of the better quality. This
may be tentatively labelled a right brain-led activity.
One characteristic is common to all three techniques;
they all depend on the removal of left hemisphere
inhibitions to the flow of ideas. Critical analytical
judgement is inimical to generative thinking.
On the other hand the left hemisphere's abilities can be
harnessed in a number of ways, some of which may be
supportive of creativity. Whereas the right hemisphere
will offer different concrete images, patterns and con-
figurations, the left hemisphere may be able to restruc-
ture the problem at the level of system thinking, thus
bringing into play different classes of object which the
right brain will convert into concrete proposals. It seems
likely that all creative thinking involves to an extent the
right hemisphere and that it is usually dominant in this
type of thinking.
FORM AND AESTHETICS
The client's brief or the marketing specification for a
product may state that it should have a certain type of
appearance 39. To this extent the appearance design can
be objectively defined and controlled by the left brain. As
DESIGN STUDIES
far as the designer is concerned such a statement tends to
operate as a fairly imprecise goal. It is of little assistance
in the actual process of defining the physical shape and
appearance of the designed artifact. Just as creative
thinking often appears to be dependent on intuition, so
too does appearance design, both being products of the
mute right brain.
In some ways, this is inevitable, because appearance
design depends on visual thinking and this is one of the
areas where the right hemisphere is most dominant.
Unlike other aspects of designing the assessment of the
quality of the appearance of a product would also seem to
be outside the scope of logical analytical procedures. In
this instance the right brain must not only produce the
design proposals but also assess them.
Edward de Bono has said that a successful designer
will tend to operate within a particular style, and thus
have a visual vocabulary which makes his or her work
recognizable 4°. Such a style will be acknowledged as a
result of past successes and will thus be a marketable
commodity. Typical examples would be Giugiaro in car
design, Sotsass in products and furniture, or Terry
Farrell in architecture. The strength of this is that the
style with its controlled visual vocabulary makes for a
tight framework, and this paradoxically but demonstr-
ably encourages creative design (a kind of venturi effect).
There are many other expectations of the appearance
of designed products. A solution should be achieved with
economy and balance, and hence be 'elegant'. Edgar
Kauffman has said 'A modern design should be inte-
grated as a visually direct and unembellished whole 41. In
other words it should be simple and devoid of super-
fluous decoration. Other quite different views are now
held. Alexander has enumerated a range of preferred
shapes, patterns and arrangements in everything from
details in buildings to large scale regional planning 42.
Jencks has identified the range of decorative, analogic
and metaphoric, visual and decorative characteristics
which are now being enthusiastically promulgated by
some architects and designers 43 (the post modern style).
The use of analogy and metaphor in appearance design is
very similar to the use of analogies in creative thinking.
In the former case it may yield one level of meaning and
interpretation for a designed artifact. Thus a Jaguar
motor car may be self-consciously styled to communicate
feline power, and the Sydney Opera House may have
been inspired by the shapes of birds in flight (although
the local metaphoric term for it is a 'scrum of nuns'). In
both cases it depends on the particular ability of the right
brain to think in analogies.
What all of these aspects of appearance design depend
upon is an educated right hemisphere, one which will
think visually, but will filter out inappropriate shapes,
colours and arrangements, and work with a controlled
visual vocabulary. What that vocabulary consists of will
depend upon what is being designed; different types of
building, motor cars, consumer products, capital goods
etc. will all require different filters for the visual
vocabulary to be appropriate. The more versatile the
designer the more easily the adaption will be achieved.
Vol 5 No 4 October 1984
THE RIGHT HEMISPHERE'S
CONTRIBUTION TO THE DESIGN
PROCESS
The solution focussed approach
I have proposed the view that the right hemisphere's
thinking mode may be of particular importance in a
number of areas of design thinking, in particular its
contribution may be crucial in visual thinking and
drawing, creative thinking and in appearance design. I
have suggested that it may be associated with particular
cognitive styles, in particular the impulsive mode which
Cross and Nathenson have likened to the solution
focussed approach to designing 44. Lawson has deduced
that this technique lies at the heart of the designer's
approach to solving problems 4s. It is a strateg'v which has
been observed in other studies of desigy behaviour,
including architects, urban designers and engineers 46.
In essence it consists of three phases47:
• Decide what you think is an important aspect of the
problem (generator)
• Develop a crude design (conjecture)
• Examine it to see what you can discover about the
problem (analysis)
My experience with industrial design students confirms
the view that this indeed is what designers seem to do. At
the earliest possible opportunity a draft design is drawn,
and this is analysed and used as a pointer to see what
information is needed, or what design thinking needs to
be done.
The first stage of this process, the generator, simply
consists of whatever sketchy information will allow the
formulation of a possible solution. In this the emphasis is
on right hemisphere activity both in the perception of
what aspects of the problem have this potential and in the
development of the conjecture. It calls on the ability to
relate the parts to a whole pattern and to complete this
from inadequate information. It requires the ability to
synthesize and make concrete what may be defined in the
abstract. It demands from the right brain what essentially
it can do more effectively than the left.
THE LEFT HEMISPHERE'S
CONTRIBUTION TO THE DESIGN
PROCESS
The left hemisphere's logical, analytical and symbolic
thinking is demonstrably relevant within the design
process in the acquisition and comprehension of the data
which fuels the generation of solution proposals. It will
also tend to control the modelling of the design in words
and numbers as it is defined in the brief and in the more
detailed definitions such as performance specifications
and detail design specifications. It will tend to control the
overall schedule and to perceive it as a linear, sequential
process.
225
 Its analytical abilities will be brought to bear on the undoubted involvement of both hemispheres in all higher
evaluation of solution proposals, the further comprehen- level mental activities, it is not without foundation as I
sion of the problem which this elicits and the identifica- have attempted to demonstrate.
tion of further areas for information gathering. In this The dual processing model of the design process
respect it will perform the analytical function which is an assumes that both halves of the brain will be working at
essential part of the solution focussed approach. In the the design problem simultaneously. Each will be proces-
development of the design it will almost certainly control sing information in its own way, each tending towards its
optimization procedures, and the use of ranking and preferred modelling language, the left in words and
weighting techniques. Its greater ability to focus on and symbols, the right in drawings and three dimensional
separate out the component parts will give it control over models. After processing information each hemisphere
many aspects of detail design. It will favour the use of will then present it to the other. Thus the problem
checklists and objective evaluation procedures such as definition will be moved from left to right for the
prototype tests and user consultation techniques like production of a concrete solution proposal, which will
consumer clinics. Archer's original method might be then move back again for evaluation. This possible
referred to as the paradigm for the left hemisphere's role. solution will be added to the information the left is
A typical list of relevant procedures is that used by my analysing, and thus contribute to a more refined problem
industrial design students. definition. This in its turn will further inform both the
continued development of it as a solution by the right and
Left hemisphere techniques: the development of alternative solutions. Where con-
Brief siderable ingenuity and visual thinking are required then
Schedule the right will have to work harder. Where the emphasis is
Information gathering on: on data generation, or the optimization of a known type
State of the art of design then the left will tend to do more. The design
User requirements process will be concluded when there is agreement
Marketing between the two hemispheres over a solution.
Ergonomics Although at a basic level it is assumed there will be
Materials independent activity by the two halves, at a higher level
Processes there will be considerable interaction and interference,
Other relevant engineering the one attempting to modify the other. It is possible that
Regulations the incubation period, that time of apparent inactivity
Costs during which the designer's brain furiously grapples with
Experiments to generate data: the problem, is simply the period during which the two
User trips halves of the brain are out of touch or unable to agree. By
User research contrast the moment when they do suddenly come into
Questionnaires alignment would be the classic 'eureka' point.
Ergonomics rigs The dual processing model may be likened to the
Engineering bench tests operation of an imaginary fruit machine which has two
Laboratory tests (e.g. wind tunnel experiments) cylinders. Each of them whirls round and then occa-
Optimization, ranking and weighting sionally stops displaying a fruit. When they both show
Detail design the same fruit we have a design proposal that works. The
Evaluation: two are matched and in harmony.
Prototype tests In developing a similar model Edge has characterized
Consultation the method for matching the two processing modes as
G.A.'s one of 'Iorm, fit, filter '4s. In other words the crucial
Performance specification element is the way in which agreement is attempted
Detail design specification between the two halves. An incomplete problem defini-
tion might stimulate in the right brain a bold solution
conjecture which requires engineering information or
operational data. In other words the left brain will have
DESIGNING WITH BOTH HALVES OF THE to work in an attempt to substantiate the right brain's
BRAIN proposal. Similarly the left brain may need to assemble a
lot of information from ergonomics experiments before
The dual processing model there is a possibility for the creation of a solution shape
by the right brain. Form, fit, filter is the recognition
The brain operates bilaterally, as two processors side by process by which each half interprets the other's thinking
side, each with its own preferred operating mode. I have and thereby perceives it as potentially useful or otherwise
proposed that the various parts of the design process may in developing the design proposal.
be divided between the two hemispheres according to the The importance of this model of the design process is
observed areas of dominance of each. Although this is of that it attempts to match the different thinking proce-
necessity something of a simplification, because of the dures used by designers to the neurological peculiarities

226 DESIGN STUDIES

 12 Bogen, J E 1°

I[
Left/g.m/sp/gr¢ dominant R/g/u h~spkeredmaitant
Verbal, analytic, symbolic, abstract, Non-verbal, synthetic, concrete,
13 Bryden, M P Laterality, functional asymmetry in the intact
logical, linear, digital, time analogic, intuitive, bofistic, brain Academic Press (1982)
orientated spatial, timeless and diffuse
Problem defmltlon
Project framework 14 Belyi, B I 'A possible holographic principle of right
1 hemisphere function' Human Physiology Part 5 (Nov-Dec
Information search Solution conjectures 1979)
Data generation experiments
Visual thinking
Optimization 15 Bradshaw, J L and Nettleton, N C s
Creative thinking
Evaluation
Detail dcalgn
Appearance deign 16 Dimond, S J and Beaumont, J G 4

17 Bogen, J E and Bogen, G M 'The other side of the brain

Preferred models Preferred models
III: the corpus callosum and creativity' Bulletin of the L.A.
Specification Drawings Neurological Society 34 1969
Checklist 3D representations
18 Bryden, M p13
Solution to the destgn problem
Left hemisphere right hemisphere
in agreement
II
I 19 Dimond, S J and Beaumont, J G 4

20 Bradshaw, J L and Nettleton, N C s

Figure 7. The dual processing model
of the bilateral brain. In acknowledging the fundamental
duality of the brain's processing modes we can resolve
the apparent disparity of various descriptions of the
design process. That process requires, to a greater or
lesser extent depending upon the problem, both linear
analytical thinking and intuitive creative thinking.
Neither of them is necessarily more important than the
other, but both are essential components in designing.
21 Annett, M and Kilshaw, D 'Mathematical ability and
lateral asymmetry' Cortex, Vol 18 (1982)
22 McKim, R H Thinking visually: A Strategy Manual for
Problem Solving Wadsworth (1980)
23 Edwards, B Drawing on the right side of the brain Souvenir
(1981)
24 Cross, N 'Designerly ways of knowing' Design Studies Vol 3
No 4 (October 1982)

25 Lasean, P Graphic Thinking for Architects and Designers Van

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228 DESIGN STUDIES