The design brief informs particularly the first phases of the design process; however, there are very limited studies on its role and functions. The current study proposes a framework that relates problem statement types in a design brief to creative outcomes by promoting the priming effect, which is a cognitive phenomenon describing the ways individuals behave accordingly to the way they receive a stimulus. The claim is that the brief has the potential to stimulate creativity and influence the type of outcomes by priming the design students using the problem statement. An experiment was conducted in which two groups of design students generated sketches in response to two types of problem statements (in noun and verb formations) in similar design briefs. The problem statements in verb formation were found to lead to a higher number of sketches containing more novel and flexible, yet less realisable ideas. The results support the contention that the design brief and the type of problem statements have the potential to act as a catalyst for creativity early in the design process.

中文翻译：

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在设计教育中作为创新催化剂的设计简介：从问题陈述入手

设计简介特别为设计过程的第一阶段提供了信息；但是，关于其作用和功能的研究非常有限。当前的研究提出了一个框架，该框架通过促进启动效应来将设计简介中的问题陈述类型与创意成果相关联，该效应是一种认知现象，描述了个体行为方式与他们接受刺激的方式相对应。据称，该简介有可能通过使用问题陈述来吸引设计专业的学生，​​从而激发创造力并影响结果的类型。进行了一项实验，其中两组设计专业的学生根据相似的设计简介中的两种类型的问题陈述（名词和动词形式）生成草图。发现动词形式中的问题陈述会导致产生更多数量的草图，其中包含更多新颖，灵活，但难以实现的构想。结果支持这样的论点，即设计简介和问题陈述的类型有可能在设计过程的早期就起到创造力的催化剂的作用。