Expecting the Unexpected: A Review of Surprise in Design Processes

Surprise is integral to driving creativity and innovation in design. While design research has mainly adopted a product-centered perspective to explore surprise as an emotional user response, the intricate involvement of surprise in the design process itself remains underexplored. Studies in cognitive psychology show that a comprehensive understanding of surprise must also encompass its detection, management, potential for errors, and influence on the behavior of individuals and groups. On this basis, the paper contributes a state-of-the-art literature review of two decades of design research to explore the complex functions of surprise in design processes. The paper discusses key emergent themes, including the continued relevance of Schön’s work, surprise-related error, the entwinement of process and product, and surprise in designer-AI collaboration. The paper suggests future research to enhance our limited understanding of the functions of surprise in design processes.