• Divergent thinking is particularly important in early stages of product design. It refers to associative and intuitive thought, and thinking that requires flexibility. It is the ability to develop many possible solutions to a problem, some of them unique and novel, which may, though, differ in their quality. Divergent thinking is measured using various models.
  • For example, the Guilford model uses fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration to measure how creative a person is. On the other hand, the taxonomy of creative design assesses how creative a work is. It classifies creative work as an imitation of another work, a variation on a single work, a combination of two or more works, a transformation of a work into a completely new form, or a creation that is previously unrecognisable.