Creativity from Friction: Human-AI Interaction for Exploratory Structural Design
arXiv:2607. 07521v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: AI agents that generate final answers based on user input often do not meet the needs of creative fields.
AI agents that generate final answers based on user input often do not meet the needs of creative fields. Fields such as structural design and architecture need interactive systems that help users externalise and develop ideas, explore alternatives, and refine partial solutions.
arXiv:2607. 07521v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: AI agents that generate final answers based on user input often do not meet the needs of creative fields.
Generative AI tools for creative work tend to be designed around the goal of removing friction, on the assumption that smoother iteration and faster output translate into more value for the designer. We argue, however, that this framing leaves out something important about how design ideation works, namely reflection-in-action.
arXiv:2607. 26827v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Generative AI tools for creative work tend to be designed around the goal of removing friction, on the assumption that smoother iteration and faster output translate into more value for the designer.
arXiv:2607. 03731v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Creating 3D assets for virtual reality requires modeling expertise, which restricts the authorship of immersive experiences.
arXiv:2603. 13312v2 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: Interior design is a requirements-to-visual-plan generation process that must simultaneously satisfy verifiable spatial feasibility and comparative aesthetic preferences.
arXiv:2607. 23126v2 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: The rapid adoption of generative AI tools has created new literacy demands for designers who must verbalize tacit knowledge through natural language prompts.
TO-Agents is a multi‑agent AI framework that translates natural‑language design intent into iterative topology optimization. It converts a human problem description into solver inputs, runs the optimizer, renders 3D topologies, and employs a judge agent to critique and revise results using multiview vision‑language reasoning. Evaluated on a cantilever beam and a phone‑stand design, the system achieved preference‑aligned designs in 60% of trials, outperforming an ablated pipeline by up to six times and enabling end‑to‑end intent‑to‑prototype design with additive manufacturing.
arXiv:2607. 23126v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Generative AI design tools make natural-language prompts a starting point for design, placing new articulation demands on designers.
arXiv:2606. 09848v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: As generative and agentic AI becomes embedded in everyday products, practitioners face a persistent challenge: how to design human-AI coordination -- the ongoing mutual adjustment between users and AI systems as mediate through interfaces-that supports usability, trust, and safety.
arXiv:2607. 00407v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Slide design requires personalizing both deck themes and page layouts.
Editable Visual Design introduces a new design paradigm that combines a Coding Agent with a Vision‑Language Model (VLM) and an image generation model. The VLM acts as the creative brain, understanding requirements, planning tasks, and judging aesthetics, while the image generator produces isolated visual assets on demand. The agent follows an "imagine first, then act" workflow, generating assets, writing native HTML/CSS, and refining the design through visual feedback, ultimately producing editable, layer‑wise artifacts with real text that can be adjusted via a graphical interface.
The paper "Environmental Slow AI: Design Principles for Generative Systems" argues that generative AI reflects embedded cultural values that can be reshaped. It proposes five design principles—restraint, sufficiency, selectivity over retention, material visibility, and friction as affordance—grounded in environmental sustainability and the Slow AI tradition. Each principle is illustrated with current system designs and operates at both implementation and interpretive levels to restore human agency and encourage reflective engagement.