Design Heuristics for Additive Manufacturing Cards

Abstract

Design heuristics are design tips and strategies based on the knowledge of experienced designers that help both novices and experts generate better designs and explore more of the design space. These Design Heuristics for Additive Manufacturing are inspired by the “77 Cards: Design Heuristics for Inspiring Ideas" and are designed to help both students and professionals learn about and utilize the unique capabilities of Additive Manufacturing (AM) in their designs. These heuristics are derived from the analysis of hundreds of AM artifacts from academic papers, industry, and hobbyists. They have been tested in user studies with both students and professionals and have been found to increase not only the number of AM-enabled concepts generated by users, but also the novelty and variety of the ideas generated.