Creative collaboration with interactive evolutionary algorithms: a reflective exploratory design study

Progress in AI has brought new approaches for designing products via co-creative human–computer interaction. In architecture, interior design, and industrial design, computational methods such as evolutionary algorithms support the designer’s creative process by revealing populations of computer-generated design solutions in a parametric design space. Because the benefits and shortcomings of such algorithms’ use in design processes are not yet fully understood, the authors studied the intricate interactions of an industrial designer employing an interactive evolutionary algorithm for a non-trivial creative product design task. In an in-depth report on the in-situ longitudinal experiences arising between the algorithm, human designer, and environment, from ideation to fabrication, they reflect on the algorithm’s role in inspiring design, its relationship to fixation, and the stages of the creative process in which it yielded perceived value. The paper concludes with proposals for future research into co-creative AI in design exploration and creative practice.