نوشين ضياشهابي

This research investigates the phenomenon of design fixation within the real context of an interior architecture studio, aiming to uncover how designers become trapped in their own ideas an‎d how they regain cognitive flexibility through the interplay of individual reasoning an‎d structured pedagogical intervention. The study is driven by two central questions: why fixation emerges—particularly in the middle stages of design—an‎d how the process of release from fixation can be observed an‎d interpreted in the studio setting. Design alternatives were examined as analytical units of creative development to reveal how ideas form, stabilize, an‎d transform during reflective design learning. The study adopts a design-research approach, combining Research through Design (RtD) with Action Design Research (ADR) as phenomenological instruments for accessing the lived experience of student designers. Data were collected from three sources: field observations of the design process, systematic analysis of the alternatives produced throughout the semester, an‎d in-depth interviews with sixteen students. A distinguishing feature of the study is its dual vantage point: fixation is examined simultaneously from the internal perspective of the designer an‎d from the external analytical perspective of the researcher, allowing cognitive an‎d behavioral layers of the experience to be traced together. Data analysis followed a thematic approach grounded in a three-layer model developed in this dissertation (reflective, interventional, an‎d editorial layers) through which the design process was conceptualized as a dynamic reflective system. Findings show that design fixation manifests as a multi-level phenomenon in three forms (adherence, blockage, an‎d resistance) each of which appears along two dimensions: concept-driven an‎d knowledge-driven fixation. Release from fixation occurs when reflective awareness, targeted pedagogical intervention, an‎d editorial re-organization of the design converge. The role of alternatives becomes critical at this moment, as movement from one alternative to another creates opportunities for disruption, reframing, an‎d cognitive renewal. Building on these insights, the dissertation introduces a “dynamic an‎d reflective design system,” demonstrating that design learning emerges through continuous interaction between internal an‎d external forces an‎d through iterative cycles of ideation an‎d reflection. Theoretically, the study reframes design fixation not only as an obstacle but also as a natural an‎d generative stage in designers’ cognitive development, a shift from paradox to paradigm within reflective learning. Pedagogically, the studio is reconceptualized as a “school of reflection,” where structured interventions an‎d the production of alternatives jointly enable designers to reorganize their reasoning an‎d cultivate reflective creativity.

فرآيند طراحي , تله‌ذهني در طراحي , طراحي بازتابي , پژوهش از طريق طراحي , اقدام پژوهي طراحي‌محور

design process , design fixation , reflective design , Research through Design (RtD) , Action Design Research (ADR)

Nooshin Ziashahabi

Seyed-Abbas Yazdanfar, Ahmad Ekhlassi