Are there different kinds of design problems? According to Brown and Chandrasekaran (1989), Class 1 design problems are open-ended, non-routine creative activities where the goals are ill-structured, and there is no effective design plan specifying the sequence of actions to take in producing a design model. Class 2 problems use existing, well-developed design and decomposition plans (e.g. designing a new automobile). Class 3 designs are routine where design and decomposition plans are known as well as customary actions taken to deal with failures (e.g., writing a computer program). Jonassen (2011) argued that problems vary in terms of structuredness, complexity, and context. On the structuredness and complexity continua, design problems tend to be the most ill-structured and complex. Brown and Chandrasekaran suggest that design problems may vary along a continuum from well-structured to ill-structured, depending upon the context in which they are solved. In formal, school contexts, design problems are often more constrained, allowing many fewer degrees of freedom in their representations, processes, or solutions and are therefore more well-structured.
Jonassen, David H., "Design Problems for Secondary Students" (2011). Publications. Paper 164.