Assessing creativity in analysis of the conceptual design phase of architectural design process with the use of drawing

Study on the cognitive activities of designers is classified as an empirical study which is one of the ways to study on the scope of creativity in design process. Protocol analysis is an empirical research method for studying design behavior which is an appropriate method in this field. Concurrent with the use of protocol analysis, analysis methods have been presented by some researchers which can be used with the protocol analysis method. Among these analysis methods, linkography that is introduced by Gabriella Goldschmidt attracted the attention of many researchers. In this method, the design process of a designer is unfold by drawing a graph which is called linkograph. The current research, assesses creativity in conceptual design phase of design process of two Iranian professional architects with the use of protocol analysis and linkography. Certainly, measuring creativity in the design process of professional architects is a complex issue that with the help of such methods, some mysteries of this field can be revealed. In order to reach this aim, aspects of creativity in design process such as divergent and convergent thinking and creative insights, are studied in detail. Also, the way of analyzing these criteria by the linkograph was examined. The result shows that the level of creativity in the design process of one of the architects is at an appropriate level, while, the design process of the other architect, has not formed appropriately from the creativity point of view. This occurs in spite of the fact that sudden creative insights are distinguished in the second architect`s design process. What can be seen in the process of assessing creativity in the design process of the second architect is the lack of relative balance between divergent and convergent thinking.