Domain-specific and Domain-general Creativity Differences between Expert and Novice Designers

Creativity is not only a natural part of the design process but also one of the most important criteria for the quality of design performance. However, the difference in creativity between design novices and experts remain to be explored. To explore this question, this study compared the differences in domain-specific and domain-general creativity between design (as expert) and non-design students (as novice) and test the mediating effect of domain-general creativity on the relationship between group (design vs. no-design) and domain-specific creativity. The results revealed that design students exhibited better domain-general creativity performance (both verbal and visual divergent thinking) than non-students. Moreover, design students also exhibited better domain-specific creativity performance than non-design students in both “originality” (i.e. novel) and “amenity” (i.e. beauty appreciation), and the factor of GROUP (design vs. non-design) first influenced domain-general creativity and then domain-specific creativity. These findings suggest that training visual divergent thinking skills may be one pathway to improving design creativity.