ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the understanding of product designers’ knowledge processing in collaborative design. Experiments on experienced designers are conducted for capturing designers’ knowledge processing behaviors. The experiments were designed for understanding how designers handle different kinds of knowledge in design. The factors in knowledge fragment can be analyzed respectively according to the time stamp. Technology support according with designers’ knowledge processing process will result in better performance. Knowledge is expressed by designers in different levels of detail. Different description in design is related with different class of knowledge. The ice that is on top of the sea surface is the designer’s explicit knowledge. The ice that is under the sea surface is the designer’s tacit knowledge. Tacit knowledge is that which is contained within a person’s head, and is difficult or impossible to express, write down and codify. Explicit knowledge, on the other hand, is that which can be readily articulated, written down, codified and shared.
