Instructions to Authors for Publishing ACADIA08 Conference Papers 1 Problem-Driven and Solution-Based Design: Twin Processes of Biologically Inspired Design Michael E. Helms, Swaroop S. Vattam, Ashok K. Goel Design Intelligence Laboratory, School of Interactive Computing, & Center for Biologically Inspired Design Georgia Institute of Technology, 85 Fifth Street NW, Atlanta, Georgia 30308, USA and Jeannette Yen, Marc Weissburg School of Biology & Center for Biologically Inspired Design Georgia Institute of Technology, 310 Ferst Drive, Atlanta, Georgia, 30332, USA Abstract Biologically inspired design uses biological systems as analogues to develop solutions for design problems. We conducted a cognitive study of biologically inspired design in the context of an interdisciplinary introductory course on biologically inspired design in Fall of 2006. The goal of this study was to understand the processes of biologically inspired design. This paper provides a descriptive account of twin biologically inspired design processes, problem-driven and solution-based, and highlights the similarities and differences between them. 1 Introduction Biologically inspired design uses analogies to biological systems to develop solutions for design problems, often results in innovation (e.g., Benyus 1997; Vogel 2000). A number of typical characteristics make biologically inspired design an especially interesting problem to study. (1) By definition, biologically inspired design is based on analogies requiring expertise across two disparate domains (e.g. architecture and biology), and thus is inherently interdisciplinary. (2) Since the objects, relations and processes across domains are very different, design collaborators speak from different lexicons. (3) Since biologists in general seek to understand the functions of designs occurring in nature whereas designers generally seek to generate designs for human needs, they use different methods of investigation and have different perspectives on design. (4) The resources, such as materials and processes, available in nature to realize an abstract design concept are very different from the resources available in the human domain.