Ontology, esthetics and creativity at the crossroads in Information Systemdesign

Based on a three-year observation of how design quality has evolved for a c ommunity of novice information systems designers, with the support of a sha red design memory, we discuss the role of modern art influences on the orig inal design representations that the students have produced. Starting from the emergence in the community of certain representational styles, we point out their correspondence with underlying design ontologies, and we advance the hypothesis that suggestions coming from modern art are being used both as a gnoseological means and as a suitable way to express and communicate deep design motifs. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.