design thinking: phenomenology of early stages of creativity, ideation, affect, communication, design decisions and actions

This paper focuses on an exploration of the phenomenological aspects of human internal design activities thatprecede or transition into, conscious thought, creative ideas, decisions, feelings, words, body states andmovements, and actions that are the foundation of design thinking. these early stages in design thinking are importantbecause they are gatekeepers of what is envisaged and created by a designer, and also provide the foundation ofcommunication, decisions and actions. the study of these early stages and prior foundational phenomena of designthinking provides improved foundations for theories about design thinking. the relative lack of attention to thesephenomena in previous design thinking literature is at least in part because such exploration requires the designer toundertake significant additional training to acquire the necessary phenomenological skills of self-perception specific tothese phenomena. the paper reports the basis of exploratory research into these phenomenological foundations of designthinking undertaken by the author over a 4-year period. the paper includes a detailed description of the research methodand four findings that add to the theoretical foundations of design thinking.