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Shape exploration in design: formalising and supporting a transformational process

This paper develops a taxonomy of shape rules used by professional designers that bridges the divide between theories of design computation and design practice. Results of experiments exploring how designers use sketches in creative design tasks are reported. Close alignments between the transformations identified in shape grammar theory and those made by the designers were identified. The use of shape grammars as an analytical framework to understand designers’ behaviours is the key novelty in this paper; insights gained provide a theoretical basis for emerging computational design systems and design education.