A computational model for visual conceptual blends

Computational creative systems have the potential to augment the creative design process, particularly in cocreative contexts. We present a computational model for generating visual conceptual blends in the domain of sketching. Our system is motivated by the desire to encourage curiosity, facilitate creative ideation, and overcome design fixation. We start with a model for “conceptual shift”: when a sketch recognized as belonging to one category is visually similar to a sketch from a semantically distinct category. Identifying a potential conceptual shift enables visual analogy and/or conceptual blending. The intent is that these conceptually shifted or blended sketches could be presented to designers to encourage analogical reasoning and creative outcomes. We define and demonstrate our model for the conceptual shift task and alternative approaches for enabling conceptual blends. We describe future plans for evaluation in cocreative contexts.