4. Creative Methods

In the following chapter, the creative methods of “Design with Additive Manufacturing” are presented. The focus is on the use of the design freedoms and potentials for expanding the design space. To this end, in Sect. 4.1 requirements are specified in the form of a checklist, which must be taken into account in additive manufacturing. Subsequently, the design goals and constructive contradictions are presented in Sect. 4.2. It should be emphasised that by pursuing several design goals in the conceptual design phase, a clear added value can be realised compared to conventionally manufactured products. Based on design goals and contradictions, we address the general functional structure in Sect. 4.3, from which the necessity of effect engineering (Sect. 4.4) emerges. Subsequently, in Sect. 4.5, the product architecture is elaborated and approaches from bionics are presented. Based on this, methods for the embodiment design, such as design principles, the one-piece machine method and methods of structural optimisation, are considered in detail in Sect. 4.6. Finally, in Sect. 4.7 discusses the development environment.