Who Designs? Design Students' Experiences with AI-Augmented Form Development

Aysun Ates-Akdeniz

doi:10.51664/artium.1883147

EN TR

Who Designs? Design Students' Experiences with AI-Augmented Form Development

Abstract

Who designs when AI-augmented sketching generates form alternatives? The integration of generative AI into design practice raises critical questions about creative processes and skill development in design education. This study investigates how industrial design students experience AI-augmented sketching and form development, how they reconceptualize creative agency and authorship, and what pedagogical considerations emerge from AI integration. A qualitative phenomenological study was conducted with fourteen industrial design students who used outputs of Midjourney for ideation and Viscom for form refinement during a design project. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and reflective writings, then analyzed using thematic analysis. Six interconnected themes emerged from the analysis. Findings reveal that students valued AI's external perspective for creative exploration and experienced efficiency gains alongside enhanced reflection. However, they encountered challenges when AI failed to interpret contextual meaning in their design intentions. Most significantly, students came to understand AI as a tool requiring human oversight rather than an autonomous designer. Based on these findings, a pedagogical framework is proposed that balances AI's generative capabilities with the preservation of foundational skill development and human judgment. This framework provides guidance for design educators navigating AI integration while supporting students' creative development and skill acquisition.

Keywords

Kim Tasarlıyor? Yapay Zeka Destekli Biçim Geliştirme Sürecinde Öğrenci Deneyimleri

Öz

Üretken yapay zekanın tasarım pratiğine entegrasyonu, tasarım eğitiminde yaratıcı süreçler ve beceri geliştirme konusunda kritik soruları gündeme getirmektedir. Bu çalışma, endüstriyel tasarım öğrencilerinin yapay zeka destekli form geliştirme deneyimlerini, yaratıcı özerklik ve yazarlık kavramlarını nasıl yeniden ele aldıklarını ve yapay zeka entegrasyonunda ortaya çıkan pedagojik hususları araştırmaktadır. Bir tasarım projesi sırasında fikir üretimi için Midjourney çıktılarını ve form iyileştirme için Viscom çıktılarını kullanan 14 endüstriyel tasarım öğrencisiyle nitel bir fenomenolojik çalışma yürütülmüştür. Veriler yarı yapılandırılmış görüşmeler ve yansıtıcı yazılar yoluyla toplanmış, tematik analiz kullanılarak analiz edilmiştir. Bulgular, öğrencilerin yaratıcı keşifsel süreçleri için yapay zekanın dışsal bakış açısını değerli bulduklarını ve gelişmiş düşünme yeteneğinin yanı sıra verimlilik kazanımları yaşadıklarını ortaya koymaktadır. Ancak, yapay zeka tasarım hedeflerindeki bağlamsal anlamı yorumlayamadığında zorluklarla karşılaşmışlardır. En önemlisi, öğrenciler yapay zekayı özerk bir tasarımcıdan ziyade insan gözetimi gerektiren bir araç olarak değerlendirmeye başlamışlardır. Bu bulgulara dayanarak, yapay zekanın üretken yeteneklerini temel beceri geliştirme ve insan yargısının korunmasıyla dengeleyen bir pedagojik çerçeve önerilmiştir. Bu çerçeve öğrencilerin yaratıcı gelişimini ve beceri kazanımını destekleyerek yapay zekanın tasarım eğitimine entegrasyonunda yol gösterici olmayı amaçlamaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Kaynakça

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Ciaramitaro, M., and Costa, P. (2024) Imagination meets algorithm: redefining design practices in the coming AI age, in Gray, C., Ciliotta Chehade, E., Hekkert, P., Forlano, L., Ciuccarelli, P., Lloyd, P. (eds.), DRS2024: Boston, 23–28 June, Boston, USA. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2024.822
Fathoni, A. F. C. A. (2023). Leveraging generative AI solutions in art and design education: Bridging sustainable creativity and fostering academic integrity for innovative society. E3S Web of Conferences, 426. https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202342601102
Figoli, F., Rampino, L., & Mattioli, F. (2022). AI in design idea development: A workshop on creativity and human-AI collaboration. DRS2022: Bilbao. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2022.414
Goldschmidt, G. (1991). The dialectics of sketching. Creativity Research Journal, 4(2), 123–143. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419109534381
Goldschmidt, G. (2014). Linkography: Unfolding the Design Process. MIT Press.
Goel, V. (1995). Sketches of Thought. MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/6270.001.0001
Guo, X., Xiao, Y., Wang, J., & Ji, T. (2023). Rethinking designer agency: A case study of co-creation between designers and AI. IASDR 2023. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2023.478

Holliman, A. F., & Brisco, R. (2024, June 16). Is pen-to-paper the buggy whip of design? Assessing the use of AI tools for design sketching. DRS2024: Boston. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2024.289
Hutson, J., Lively, J., Robertson, B., Cotroneo, P., & Lang, M. (2024). Pedagogical paradigm shift: Reimagining art and design education. In Creative Convergence: The AI Renaissance in Art and Design (pp. 87–100). Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-45127-0_4
Kavakoglu, A. A., Almaç, B., Eser, B., & Alaçam, S. (2022). AI driven creativity in early design education: A pedagogical approach in the age of Industry 5.0. Co-Creating the Future – ECAADe 40, 133–142. https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.2022.1.133
Kraehe, A. M. (2018). Creative agency: Empowerment in art and design education. Art Education, 71(6), 4–8. https://doi.org/10.1080/00043125.2018.1514835
Lee, C. W. (2025). Application of generative artificial intelligence in design education: An exploration and analysis to enhance student creativity. Engineering Proceedings, 98(1). https://doi.org/10.3390/engproc2025098029
Naik, S., Shukla, P., Obi, I., Backus, J., Rasche, N., & Parsons, P. C. (2025). Tracing the invisible: Understanding students’ judgment in AI-supported design work. C and C 2025 - Proceedings of the 2025 Conference on Creativity and Cognition, 438–442. https://doi.org/10.1145/3698061.3734399
Rodriguez-Ferradas, M. I., Ballerini-Fernandes, T., & Morer-Camo, P. (2025). Enhancing industrial design education: The impact of generative AI tools on mastering creativity techniques. 27th International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education. 10.35199/EPDE.2025.54
Schön, D. A. (1983). The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action. Basic Books.
Schön, D. A., & Wiggins, G. (1992). Kinds of seeing and their functions in designing. Design Studies, 13(2), 135-156. https://doi.org/10.1016/0142-694X(92)90268-F
Song, H., & Guida, G. (2024). From AI-aided design to physical prototyping: Pedagogical experiments for fostering critical AI literacy. SIGraDi 2024 Biodigital Intelligent Systems XXVIII International Conference, 763–774. https://papers.cumincad.org/data/works/att/sigradi2024_588.pdf
Süner-Pla-Cerdà, S., Şen, G., Kumbasar, E., Şahin, B., & Ünlü, C. E. (2025). Designer experiences and perspectives on the role of generative AI in industrial design. AI and Society. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-025-02504-6
Tang, X., Windham, J., & Bush, B. (2025). Pre-AI and post-AI design: Balancing human creativity and AI tools in the industrial design process. Proceedings of 2024 International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Future Education (AIFE 2024), 100–108. https://doi.org/10.1145/3708394.3708413
Tong, H., Türel, A., Şenkal, H., Ergun, S. F. Y., Güzelci, O. Z., & Alaçam, S. (2023). Can AI function as a new mode of sketching: A teaching experiment with freshman. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning, 18(18), 234–248. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijet.v18i18.42603
Tversky, B. (2010). Visualizing thought. Topics in Cognitive Science, 3(3), 499-535. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1756-8765.2010.01113.x
Van der Wal, A., Hoftijzer, J., and Haans, M. (2024) A framework for the agency of sketching, in Gray, C., Ciliotta Chehade, E., Hekkert, P., Forlano, L., Ciuccarelli, P., Lloyd, P. (eds.), DRS2024: Boston, 23–28 June, Boston, USA. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2024.806
Watkins, R., & Barak-Medina, E. (2024). AI’s influence on human creative agency. Creativity Research Journal. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2024.2437264
Woodbury, R.F., & Burrow, A.L. (2006). Whither design space? Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing, 20, 63 - 82. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0890060406060057
Xu, X., Konnova, A., Gao, B., Peng, C., Vo, D., & Dow, S. P. (2025). Productive vs. reflective: How different ways of integrating AI into design workflows affect cognition and motivation. Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings. https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3713649
Yıldızoğlu, N. (2024). Sketching versus digital design tools in architectural design. Journal of Computational Design, 5(2), 301–316. https://doi.org/10.53710/jcode.1504947
Zhang, Z., & Yin, H. (2024). Research on design forms based on artificial intelligence collaboration model. Cogent Engineering, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311916.2024.2364051
Zhou, Y., & Park, H. J. (2023). An AI-augmented multimodal application for sketching out conceptual design. International Journal of Architectural Computing, 21(4), 565–580. https://doi.org/10.1177/14780771221147605

Ayrıntılar

Birincil Dil

İngilizce

Konular

Endüstriyel Ürün Tasarımı , Tasarım Uygulaması ve Yöntemleri , Tasarım (Diğer)

Bölüm

Araştırma Makalesi

Yazarlar

Aysun Ates-Akdeniz ^*
0000-0003-4351-6800
Türkiye

Yayımlanma Tarihi

27 Şubat 2026

Gönderilme Tarihi

6 Şubat 2026

Kabul Tarihi

23 Şubat 2026

Yayımlandığı Sayı

Yıl 2026 Cilt: 13 Sayı: 1

DOI

https://doi.org/10.51664/artium.1883147

IZ

https://izlik.org/JA36CC97YN

Kaynak Göster

RIS / Bibtex

APA

Ates-Akdeniz, A. (2026). Who Designs? Design Students’ Experiences with AI-Augmented Form Development. Artium, 13(1), 20-31. https://doi.org/10.51664/artium.1883147