2025/09/15 by Vikram Mohanty, Yang, Yaqing, Mohanty, Vikram +8
Decision Sciences · Psychology · #Balance (ability) #Creativity #Creativity in Education and Neuroscience #Design thinking #Educational Games and Gamification #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Flexibility (engineering) #Human-Computer Interaction (cs.HC) #Ideation #Scientific Computing and Data Management #Workflow
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2509.12408
published in arXiv (Cornell University) (Cornell University)
openalex publication_date 2025/09/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Divergent thinking in the ideation stage of creative problem-solving demands that individuals explore a broad design space. Yet this exploration rarely follows a neat, linear sequence; problem-solvers constantly shift among searching, creating, and evaluating ideas. Existing interfaces either impose rigid, step-by-step workflows or permit unguided free-form exploration. To strike a balance between flexibility and guidance for augmenting people's efficiency and creativity, we introduce a human-AI collaborative workflow that supports a fluid ideation process. The system surfaces three opt-in aids: (1) high-level schemas to uncover alternative ideas, (2) risk analysis with mitigation suggestions, and (3) steering system-generated suggestions. Users can invoke these supports at any moment, allowing seamless back-and-forth movement among design actions to maintain creative momentum.