Towards supporting creative design: analysis of the use of the TRENDS system according to designers' expertise

Towards the end of favoring the emergence of new ideas in design situations, we first characterize cognitive processes involved in creative design and we describe a new computational system, called TRENDS, which aims at helping designers find inspirational material. Then, we present an exploratory study that contributes to a better understanding of the use of this system for performing a creative task, according to the users' level of expertise in design. The obtained results allow us to point out differences of use by novices and experienced designers and, on these bases, to suggest complementary support depending on the designers' level of expertise.