Advancing the Iteration Deficit Reduction Model

Through analysis of a case study from student design practice, this paper describes the refinement of an adaptable learning model designed to address the problem of 'iteration deficit'. We call this model the Iteration Deficit Reduction Model (IDR). 'Iteration deficit' is a term created by the authors, to describe a form of fixation in the practice of novice designers, where divergent thinking becomes suppressed by convergent thinking during a design project. Before application of the full-detail of the model to the learning context, here we examine the primary principles of the IDR model in practice, through an advanced-level student product design project at the University of Technology Sydney. The project reveals that a constructive design research methodology that incorporates experimentation through prototyping for each iterative learning cycle, correlates with key features of the adapted IDR model. A notable part of this correlation is that hypothesis-making in research-oriented product design practice is central to the iterative construction of prototypes as a means to advance the nature of the innovation in a knowledge-intensive way. Further, by positioning the construction of prototypes as the method for convergence-based learning in product design projects, we are better able to assign and schedule appropriate methods and support for divergent-based learning, identified as being critical to the development of innovation pathways in product design education