Artificial intelligence provides an environmentally rich paradigm within which design research based on computational constructions can be carried out. This has been one of the foundations for the developing field called "design computing". Recently, there has been a growing interest in what designers do when they design and how they use computational tools. This forms the basis of a newly emergent field called "design cognition" that draws partly on cognitive science. This new conference series aims to provide a bridge between the two fields of "design computing" and "design cognition". The papers in this volume are from the "First International Conference on Design Computing and Cognition" (DCC'04) held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. They represent state-of-the art research and development in design computing and cognition. They are of particular interest to researchers, developers and users of advanced computation in design and those who need to gain a better understanding of designing.