do they exist in design problem solving?
Author InfoA T Purcell P Williams J S Gero B Colbron Abstract Designing involves the use of a number of different types of knowledge which vary from abstract knowledge to knowledge about physical forms and their attributes. Previous research had demonstrated that pictorial representations of an example design presented as part of the statement of a design problem resulted in designs that exhibited the characteristics of the pictorial example. This effect was referred to as design fixation. However, subsequent attempts to replicate the effect were largely unsuccessful with what appeared to be fixation under some conditions being closely related to familiarity with existing examples of the design problem. There were, however, other differences between the two experiments, particularly in terms of the level of experience of the designers and the design discipline of the participents. In the experiment reported, familiarity with existing examples of solutions of a design problem was contro
