Expertise in design: an overview

This is a review paper of the field of research in expertise in design. There has been a growth of empirical and formalised study of designer behaviour, and this paper focuses specifically on expert performance. Some background information from the study of expertise in other fields is introduced. The studies of design expertise that are reviewed refer to expert vs. novice performance, expert designer behaviour and outstanding designers. It seems that expertise in design has some aspects that are significantly different from expertise in other fields. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.