A psychological basis for the design of computer systems which support creative activity

A detailed process-orientated psychological model of electronics engineers in the early stages of the design of products is derived and then is used as the basis for the design and implementation of a computer-based intelligent Engineers´ Design Assistant (EDA) so that the psychological model underpins both the functional repertoire of the EDA and its methods of interaction with users. The work focusses on the early stages of the design of electronic artifacts. In this phase the designer works from an outline specification of function, through various levels of abstract expression of subfunctions, including mathematical expressions and functional block diagrams, to a circuit diagram of the required electronics components