Nathan Crilly | Engineering Design Centre

Research group: Design Creativity
ORCiD: 0000-0003-0784-6802

Biography

B.Eng. Mechanical Engineering, University of Southampton, 1999
Ph.D. Design Research, University of Cambridge, 2005

Nathan Crilly specialises in understanding human behaviour in the context of innovation. His research examines how two groups of people think and act: those who engage in design activities (e.g., the creativity of designers, inventors and entrepreneurs) and those who interact with designed artefacts (e.g., the experiences of users, customers and other stakeholders). Drawing on this work, Nathan advises companies ranging from global brands to start-ups on how to implement and apply creativity and design thinking. He also plans and conducts user insight studies that inform the development of breakthrough products and services in sectors ranging from consumer health to sporting goods. Through the Cambridge Centre for Science and Policy, Nathan offers research-based advice on the role of design and innovation in government and public-sector transformation.

Nathan employs a diverse range of methodologies in this work, combining experimental and qualitative techniques with conceptually driven scholarship. His work is fundamentally interdisciplinary, drawing on ideas, methods, and findings from multiple research traditions and professional practices. To support this approach, he collaborates with researchers across engineering, product design, psychology, computer science, complexity science, education, anthropology and philosophy. Nathan is a Fellow of the Design Research Society and has held fellowships with the UK Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (2013–19), Clare College, Cambridge (2009–16), and the Cambridge Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences & Humanities (2014). He serves on the Editorial Boards of five peer-reviewed journals:

Nathan is the academic lead for the internationally award-winning course ‘Creativity, Problem Solving & Design Thinking,’ offered by Cambridge Advance Online. Through this course, Nathan has trained hundreds of professionals from sectors including management consultancy, healthcare, legal services, education, and innovation. Nathan also directs a course on Creative Leadership delivered through the Møller Centre, and contributes to their other executive programmes. At the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, Nathan has developed courses across all years of Cambridge Engineering programme, focusing on the design process, user-centred design, systems thinking, creativity, problem-solving and visual communication. He coordinates student projects addressing the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (in collaboration with Engineers Without Borders) and delivers outreach lectures to visiting school students (in collaboration with The Sutton Trust). In recognition of his contributions to learning at Cambridge, Nathan was awarded the Pilkington Prize for teaching excellence in 2023.

Selected Publications

For a full publication list see ORCiD or Scholar. A selection of publications are organised thematically below.

WAYS OF THINKING

Crilly, N. (2026). Critical thinking, creative thinking, systems thinking and many more: A comparative bibliometric analysis of prevalence and distribution. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 59, 102014. Freely available from E lsevier. Analysis of how popular and widespread specific ways of thinking are in the research literature, based on counting the occurrence of the relevant terms in millions of documents.

Crilly, N. (2024). Design thinking and other approaches: how different disciplines see, think and act. Available from Cambridge University Press. A short book examining how design thinking relates to other approaches, such as systems thinking, entrepreneurial thinking, computational thinking and many more.

For interactive visualisations, permitting data and concepts from these works to be explored, visit thisthinking.com.

CREATIVITY & PROBLEM SOLVING

Paravizo, E., & Crilly, N. (2025). DS-Viz: A systematic method for visualizing design spaces. International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation. 13(2) 67-92. Freely available from Taylor & Francis. Report on the development of a novel method for creating Design Space Visualisations, allowing researchers to create 2D and 3D representations of design spaces from multidimensional descriptions of design ideas.

Crilly, N. (2025). Wicked Problems: Flexible Characterizations and Visual Representations She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation. 11(1) 31-60. Freely available from Elsevier. A review of different ways in which problems are characterised and the opportunities for visualising those characterisations.

Neroni, M. A., Crilly, N., & Brandimonte, M. A. (2024). Unveiling the Associative Mechanisms Underlying the Additive Bias: Using an Implicit Association Test to Gain Insight into People’s Preference for Additive Actions. The Journal of Creative Behavior. 58(3) 388-411. Available from Wiley or draft here. A report on three experiments using implicit methods to demonstrate that people have a positive association with additive concepts (compared to subtractive concepts), and that the strength of these associations is predictive of individual susceptibility to the additive bias in problem solving

Crilly, N. (2021). The Evolution of “Co-evolution” (Part I): Problem Solving, Problem Finding, and Their Interaction in Design and Other Creative Practices. She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation. 7(3) 309-332. Freely available from Elsevier. A cross-disciplinary review of the history and development of the theory that problem solving and problem finding proceed in parallel, and interact. Provides the context for...

Crilly, N. (2021). The Evolution of “Co-evolution” (Part II): The Biological Analogy, Different Kinds of Co-evolution, and Proposals for Conceptual Expansion. She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation. 7(3) 333-355. Freely available from Elsevier. A conceptual exploration of the biolgical analogy that underpins descriptions of how problem solving and problem finding proceed and interact.

Neroni, M. A. & Crilly, N. (2021). How to guard against fixation? Demonstrating individual vulnerability is more effective than warning of general risk. The Journal of Creative Behavior. 55(2) 447-463. Freely available from Wiley. An experimental study investigating the opportunities to improve creative behaviour by comparing the effect of demonstrating and asserting individual vulnerability to fixation. The approach combines insights from earlier qualitative work on fixation with a method first implemented in research into the persuasive effects of advertising.

Crilly, N. (2019). Creativity and fixation in the real world: A literature review of case study research. Design Studies. 64, 154–168. Available from Elsevier or draft here. A review of case study research focussing on creative design practice and episodes of fixation. Provides the foundation for...

Crilly, N., & Moroşanu Firth, R. (2019). Creativity and fixation in the real world: Three case studies of invention, design and innovation. Design Studies. 64, 169–212. Available from Elsevier or draft here. Three detailed case studies of creative design practice focussing on the development of design ideas through iterative prototyping. Discusses the cases in relation to creative blocks and breakthroughs, the co-evolution of problem and solution spaces, and the way in which ideas are recognised and accepted.

Neroni, M.A., & Crilly, N. (2019). Whose ideas are most fixating, your own or other people’s? The effect of idea agency on subsequent design behaviour. Design Studies, 60, 180-212. Freely available from Elsevier. Reports on an experimental study distinguishing between the fixating effects of ideas that are generated by the designer and ideas that are generated by others. By using the computer-based method reported in Neroni et al. (2017, see below) the study showed that 'psychological ownership' might be a more significant factor than 'sunk-cost' effects in determining fixation.

Crilly, N. (2018). ‘Fixation’ and ‘the pivot’: balancing persistence with flexibility in design and entrepreneurship. International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation. 6(1-2) 52-65. Freely available from Taylor & Francis and summarised in Psychology Today. Reports on a study of technology entrepreneurs and their advisors, examining the way in which opportunities for strategic change are identified, resisted, accepted and implemented. Discussion of the results is informed by concepts of creative fixation, sunk cost effects and psychological ownership.

Crilly, N. (2015) Fixation and creativity in concept development: the attitudes and practices of expert designers, Design Studies, 38, 54-91. Freely available from Elsevier and summarised in Fast Company. Reports on an interview study with thirteen professional designers to understand the role of established ideas in inhibiting creative work ('design fixation').

Crilly, N. (2010) The structure of design revolutions: Kuhnian paradigm shifts in creative problem solving, Design Issues, 26(1), 54-66. Available from MIT Press or Cambridge Repository. Provides an account of creative progress in design projects that includes gradual progress and sudden leaps forward. Structured around Thomas Kuhn's account of scientific developments (History and Philosophy of Science).

USER EXPERIENCE OF DESIGN

Li, J., Crilly, N., & Kristensson, P. O. (2024). Guiding the Design of Inclusive Interactive Systems: Do Younger and Older Adults Use the Same Image-schematic Metaphors? ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, 31(4), 47:1-47:44. Available from The ACM Exploration of whether a certain class of fundamental interaction metaphors have universal relevance across age groups.

Bonner, O., Beardsall, K. Crilly, N., & Lasenby, J. (2017) 'There were more wires than him': The potential for wireless patient monitoring in neonatal intensive care. BMJ Innovations, 3(1), 12-18. Freely available from BMJ Journals. Reports on the experiences of parents and nurses in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) to understand the challenges posed by wired baby monitoring systems and the potential benefits of a wireless system.

da Silva, O., Crilly, N., & Hekkert, P. (2016) Maximum Effect for Minimum Means: The Aesthetics of Efficiency. Design Issues, 32 (1), 41-51. Available from MIT Press. Develops an explanation for how product users might appreciate products as the means to achieve designers' intended effects. Products are regarded as more or less minimal means to achieve more or less maximal effects, with the maximum effect for minimum means being optimal.

da Silva, O., Crilly, N., & Hekkert, P. (2016) How People's Appreciation of Products Is Affected by Their Knowledge of the Designers' Intentions. International Journal of Design, 9(2), 21-33. Freely available from IJD. Reports on an experimental study providing evidence that intention knowledge has an effect on product appreciation, and explains this effect with interview data.

Crilly, N. (2011) The design stance in user-system interaction, Design Issues, 27(4), 16-29. Available from MIT Press. Develops the conceptual foundations for considering how users' design knowledge influences their interactions with designed systems. Builds on Daniel Dennett's concept of the 'Design Stance' (philosophy of mind).

Crilly, N. (2011) Do users know what designers are up to? Product experience and the inference of persuasive intentions, International Journal of Design, 5(3), 1-15. Freely available from IJD. Proposes research questions and methodological options for investigating how users' design knowledge influences their interpretations of designed products. Builds on Friestad and Wright's 'Persuasion Knowledge Model' (marketing theory).

Crilly, N., Moultrie, J. and Clarkson, P.J. (2009) Shaping things: intended consumer response and the other determinants of product form, Design Studies, 30(3), 224-254. Available from Elsevier or draft here. Builds a framework for the factors that influence product form by analysing interviews with industrial designers. This framework is complementary to that presented in 'Seeing things' (2004).

Crilly, N., Maier, A. and Clarkson, P.J. (2008). Representing artefacts as media: Modelling the relationship between designer intent and consumer experience, International Journal of Design, 2(3), 15-27. Freely available from IJD. Reviews the various diagrammatic models that can be used to represent design as a process of mediated communication. Builds on communication theory, media theory, literary theory and design theory to develop an integrated model.

Crilly, N., Good, D., Matravers, D. and Clarkson, P.J. (2008) Design as communication: exploring the validity and utility of relating intention to interpretation, Design Studies, 29 (5), 425-457. Available from Elsevier or draft here. Reviews the various diagrammatic models that can be used to represent design as a process of mediated communication. Discusses the most popular models and suggests how they might be used.

Crilly, N., Moultrie, J. and Clarkson, P.J. (2004) Seeing things: consumer response to the visual domain in product design, Design Studies, 25(6), 547-577. Available from Elsevier or draft here. Develops a conceptual framework for the varieties of consumer response and the factors that influence those responses. This framework is complementary to that presented in 'Shaping things' (2009).

METHODOLOGICAL INNOVATION & RESEARCH CRITIQUE

Neroni, M. A., Oti, A., & Crilly, N. (2021). Virtual Reality design-build-test games with physics simulation: Opportunities for researching design cognition.International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation. 9(3), 139-173. Available from Taylor & Francis, or request a copy here. An exploration of how VR systems permit research participants to rapidly iterate the design of diverse mechanical systems through simulated build and test activities.

Crilly, N. (2019). Methodological diversity and theoretical integration: Research in design fixation as an example of fixation in research design? Design Studies 65, 78-106. Available from Elsevier or draft here. A critical review of the methodological basis of design fixation research, drawing on citation analysis and arguments from other fields, Organisational Science, Construction Management, Information Systems, Medical Informatics, Economics, Cultural Studies, Psychology, Human Resources, Nursing and Ergonomics.

Neroni, M. A., Vasconcelos, L. A., & Crilly, N. (2017). Computer-Based ‘Mental Set’ Tasks: An Alternative Approach to Studying Design Fixation. Journal of Mechanical Design, 139(7), 071102. Available from ASME or draft here. Reports on a methodological investigation of whether experimental paradigms used to study Mental Set (the 'Einstellung Effect') can be modified to study design fixation. A computer-based task is proposed for better data capture and a more objective measure of design performance.]

Crilly, N., & Cardoso, C. (2017). Where next for research on fixation, inspiration and creativity in design? Design Studies, 50, 1–38. Freely available from Elsevier. Reports on an international interdisciplinary workshop focused on the future of design fixation research, drawing on contributions from twenty-one researchers. The workshop questioned the conceptual and methodological opportunities that fixation researchers might respond to and the ways in which the resulting knowledge might be applied.

Vasconcelos, L. A. & Crilly, N. (2016) Inspiration and fixation: Questions, methods, findings, and challenges, Design Studies, 42, 1-32. Freely available from Elsevier. Reviews 25 experimental studies on inspiration and fixation, revealing variation in the experimental methods used and the results obtained.

Schoen, K. & Crilly, N. (2014). Measuring Product Design Preferences with an Affective Stimulus-Response Compatibility Task. In Lim, Y., Niedderer, K., Redström, J., Stolterman, E. and Valtonen, A. (eds.), Design's Big Debates - DRS International Conference 2014, 16-19 June, Umeå, Sweden, 1-14. Freely available from DRS. Reports on experiments in which participant reaction time measures are used to infer implicit product preferences.

Crilly, N., Blackwell, A.F. and Clarkson, P.J. (2006) Graphic elicitation: using research diagrams as interview stimuli, Qualitative Research, 6(3), 341-366. Available from SAGE. Describes a novel research method that involves presenting interviewees with research diagrams. Places that method in the context of other qualitative approaches, especially visual methods research.

ANALOGICAL DESIGN & BIOMIMETICS

Töre Yargın, G., Moroşanu Firth, R., & Crilly, N. (2018). User requirements for analogical design support tools: Learning from practitioners of bio-inspired design. Design Studies, 58, 1–35. Freely available from Elsevier. Reports on interviews with fourteen experts in bio-inspired design to present the opportunities and challenges for providing software tools that support analogical design processes.

Töre Yargın, G. & Crilly, N. (2015) Information and interaction requirements for software tools supporting analogical design, Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing, 29 (02), 203-214. Available from Cambridge Journals or draft here. Explores the user requirements for tools that assist in the identification and application of analogies in design.

COMPLEX SYSTEMS & SOCIO-TECHNICAL RESILIENCE

Taysom, E., & Crilly, N.(2018). On the Resilience of Sociotechnical Systems. In P. Jones & K. Kijima (eds.)Systemic design: theory, methods, and practice (Translational Systems Science – Vol. 8). Berlin: Springer. pp. 145-171. Available from Springer or draft here. A framework of resilience concepts is derived from a workshop with 21 participants across different areas of research and practice related to the resilience of different socio-technical systems.

Taysom, E., & Crilly, N. (2017). Resilience in Sociotechnical Systems: The Perspectives of Multiple Stakeholders. She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation, 3(3), 165–182. Freely available from Elsevier. Reports on system-mapping interviews with multiple stakeholders in the same system to understand system resilience and vulnerability to disruption.

Chen, C.-C., & Crilly, N. (2016) Describing complex design practices with a cross-domain framework: learning from Synthetic Biology and Swarm Robotics. Research in Engineering Design. Freely available from Springer. Reports on two interview studies in fields of emerging technology that routinely address complex design problems. Builds a framework for understanding how design practitioners characterise complexity, devlop objectives with respect to that complexity and implement approaches to realise those objectives.

Chen, C.-C., & Crilly, N. (2016) From modularity to emergence: a primer on the design and science of complex systems. ISSN 0963-5432. Freely available from Cambridge Repository with an introductory animation here. A 'primer' introducing a domain-neutral framework and diagrammatic scheme for characterising the ways in which systems are modular or complex. It allows researchers and practitioners from different disciplines to share methods, theories and findings related to the design and study of different systems, even when those systems appear superficially dissimilar.

FUNCTIONALITY & AFFORDANCE CONCEPTS

Crilly, N. (2015) The proliferation of functions: Multiple systems playing multiple roles in multiple supersystems, Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing, 29(1), 83-92. Available from Cambridge University Press. Represents the different function statements that can be made when different levels of system abstraction are considered and when multiple roles are played at each level.

Crilly, N. (2013) Function propagation through nested systems, Design Studies, 34(2), 216-242. Available from Elsevier or draft here Investigates how to represent the function of a system with respect to the multiple super-systems that it is embedded in. Incorporates aspects of biological and technical function theory and systems theory.

Crilly, N. (2010) The roles that artefacts play: technical, social and aesthetic functions, Design Studies, 31 (4), 311-344. Available from Elsevier or drafts here. Explores definitions of 'function' with a view to including not just an artefact's technical roles, but also its non-technical roles. Builds on function theory from engineering design, philosophy of biology, social theory, art theory and archaeology.

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