Pairs use AI tools to overcome challenges in shared design work
DuoSketch: How Pairs Navigate Challenges in AI-Supported Collaborative Design Ideation
Human-Computer Interaction
Summary
Working together on design ideas can be tricky, especially when using AI tools that don’t always understand the team’s shared goals. The authors created DuoSketch, a system where two people each have their own AI assistant helping on a shared design canvas. They found that pairs face challenges like AI suggestions not matching their joint plans or missing agreed changes later on. To deal with this, pairs do extra work to clarify how AI fits into their shared ideas and to teach AI what they mean. This research points to ways AI systems could better support teamwork in creative design.
What this means in practice
- •For design teams: Use DuoSketch-style AI assistants for each member to help coordinate shared design ideas and manage evolving collaboration challenges.
- •For product developers: Develop AI-supported collaborative tools that allow pairs to clarify and integrate AI suggestions to better match joint design intents.
Authors
Weiyan Shi, Darryl Lim, Geraldine Quek, Kenny Tsu Wei Choo
Abstract
Generative AI offers new resources for collaborative design ideation, yet how designers work with it as a shared concept develops remains underexplored. We developed DuoSketch, integrating a shared canvas and live transcripts with a separate AI for each member of a pair. An exploratory qualitative study with 12 pairs identified three challenges: unresolved fit between AI proposals and shared design purposes, shared meanings not expressed in AI responses, and agreed changes missing from later outputs. We found that pairs navigated these challenges through bridging work in two directions: AI -> Shared Design (reworking features, developing uses, and assessing fit with shared requirements) and Shared Design -> AI (supplying materials, explaining meanings, and communicating decisions). We discuss how future AI systems can support the joint exploration and articulation of design ideas.