From Pretend Play to Design: Affordance‐Based Reinterpretation for Conceptual Design Ideation

ABSTRACT This study explores the relationship between pretense and the conceptual design process, challenging the traditional view that pretense is exclusive to childhood. Within the framework of affordance‐based design creativity, it argues that affordance‐based pretense can play an important role in conceptual design. By linking pretense to creative thinking in design, the study examines how affordance‐based reinterpretation processes observed in pretend play can inform conceptual design ideation. The research draws conceptual parallels between children's pretend play and the early stages of the design process, where creative problem‐solving relies on reinterpreting forms and generating alternative possibilities. Through a review of existing literature and experimental simulation of an “affordance‐based pretense process” with both design and non‐design students, how pretense—or the ability to “see as if”—affects creative performance during the initial form‐giving phase of design is examined. The findings suggest that affordance‐based reinterpretation supports creative performance and highlight the interaction between cognitive generation and engagement with external design representations during conceptual design. Exploring these relationships, the study contributes to design creativity research by demonstrating how reinterpretation processes derived from children's pretend play can be meaningfully adapted to an adult conceptual design context.