Design process ingredients: a comparison between group and individual work

In this paper a comparison is made between the design processes of an individually working designer and of a group of designers based on protocol analysis. The analysis focused on the differences and similarities in the ingredients of the two processes. The basic ingredients used for the analysis were: Issues, Arguments, Alternatives, Criteria, Decisions, External information, and Others. Comparisons have been made between: the group as a whole and the individual designer; the individual group members; the individual group members and the individual designer. The results provide a first step towards a better understanding of the differences between group and individual work. The paper also discusses some of the limitations of this type of study.