The purpose of the PhD research was to explore and describe the manner in which expert designers transform and represent knowledge in the early phases of the design process. This was done by investigating the interaction between stored knowledge and direct perception in the early phases of the design process. The methodological purpose of the study was to explore innovative ways of extending current interactive design cognition theory on research methodology in design contexts, against the underlying context of conventional protocol studies.

The practical value of the study lies in documenting ways of mirroring expert design behaviour in learning environments and problem solving spaces in higher education design curricula. It also provides methodological knowledge on the potential value of employing protocol studies within the context of creative problem solving by studying both verbal and visual representations.

“Based on the findings I obtained, I conceptualised ‘intention-permeation’ by defining this construct as the penetration of objectively, subjectively or opportunistically selected intentions and their alignment with designers’ subsequent behaviour. I propose ‘intention-permeation’ as one possibility of accounting for the way expert designers build conceptual and practical bridges between their inner and outer worlds when they solve complex real world design problems,” Haupt says.

Haupt is continually working on the refinement of the Design Process model in which expert design cognition is mapped onto the Department of Education model of designing. The initial model was conceptualised in 2010, for which she received an Education Innovation award.

Since 2011, based on this model, she has been teaching problem-solving and design-cognition skills to third-year mining engineering students as preparation for their fourth-year design projects.

The model has proven to be applicable on all levels of design education. It led to the conceptualisation of multiple related and specialised models that visualise hierarchical thinking patterns and multi-directional thought processes during the early phases of the design process.