Do word graphs stimulate design? N. M. Segers, B. de Vries and H. H. Achten, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands In the early phase of the architectural design process the architect makes his ideas explicit in the design draft by means of a variety of representations such as sketches, marks, images, and annotations. So far, annotations have not seen much research attention, although they do reveal part of the design content. In this article we study the effects of offering feedback to annotations, namely by presenting word graphs that contain the architect’s annotations and semantic associations based on these words. Our aim is to investigate whether the feedback in word graphs can stimulate design. The research method entails a working prototype, called the Idea Space System (ISS), in an experimental setting in which 18 architects participated. ISS searches for semantic relations between single words (annotations) and for intermediary words. The findings of the experiment show that architects appreciate the use of word graphs. They experience pleasure, an improvement of the workflow, and especially get more associations while using the ISS with feedback in word graphs. Nevertheless, we cannot find a significant increased creativity of the resulting designs, or a significant reduction of fixation. Ó 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: architectural design, computer aided design, conceptual design, creativity, design method D esign is characterised by complexity and ill-definedness or ill- structuredness (Simon, 1973) of design problems. Designers have to avoid premature commitment to a solution of a design problem, also known as fixation (Purcell and Gero, 1996). Given the lack of conclusive solutions, designing requires both logic and creativity (Alexander, 1964; Archer, 1969; Christiaans, 1992) to iteratively develop task and solution during the design process (Alexander, 1964; Dorst, 1997). The design is gradually developed through a series of sketches, images, annotations, marks, and so forth. These design representations together make up the design draft. They are tenuous, uncertain, sketchy, and personal. For support of the architect in the early design phase, CAAD systems should be able to respond to the design draft (Segers, 2004). Corresponding author: B. de Vries b.d.vries@bwk.tue.nl www.elsevier.com/locate/destud 0142-694X $ - see front matter Design Studies 26 (2005) 625e647 doi:10.1016/j.destud.2005.05.002 625 Ó 2005 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved Printed in Great Britain