The research examines the search process of holistic design in three cases that differ markedly in their complexity, namely graphical design, small household appliance design, and automotive design. Design, as a creative activity, employs a search process because solutions cannot be found by optimisation procedures from input parameters. Holistic designs are characterised by the overall design performance arising from nontrivial interactions among many parameters, so no simple performance function can be described. Structured approaches, such as decomposition by customer needs or by technical systems, have proved to be “insufficient” in addressing such design problems.

Using data collected by in-depth interviews, the research compares the search approaches employed in the design process in these distinct industries. Similarities are found in the creative part of the search, where broad solution characterisations and starting points for the search are identified. However, in the experimental exploration of the solution space, the processes differ significantly between cases with different degrees of complexity, even though the search in all cases is built of the two fundamental building blocks of trial-and-error learning and selectionism. For example, the complexity in automotive design leads to the emergence of a highly rugged performance landscape, which requires diligent coordination of teams that search subspaces: Workers searching these subspaces are interdependent, and therefore they need to continually exchange information and adapt to one another.

The frameworks resulting from the comparison may help academics and practitioners to better understand design processes from a search perspective. The study may also help managers to decide on the required organisational capabilities and processes for developing products with different degrees of complexity. The thesis concludes by summarising the contributions that were made and suggesting future research opportunities to leverage the work that was initiated and embarked upon with this research project.