Idea-Centric Search: Four Patterns of Information Seeking During Creative Ideation

As search evolves and Generative AI enables users to express more complex information needs and goals, it is an opportune moment to investigate how the search for information influences creativity. Little is known about how creators --- especially novices who lack domain-specific terminology --- use web search when developing an idea, and vice versa, how new information shapes an idea. To investigate how ideas evolve through web search, we conducted an online lab study with 56 design students who engaged in a 3-week product redesign project. Through a mixed-method analysis of web search logs, surveys, and interviews, we report on the different search behaviors, strategies, challenges and four distinct patterns--Orienters, Refiners, Confirmers, and Pivoters--that illustrate how the impact of search depends on the maturity of an idea. We discuss design opportunities to enhance web search systems for ideation and pedagogical interventions to teach creators how to improve idea-centric search.