‘Design spaces’ are at the core of how researchers frame their theories and describe designers’ exploration of problems and solutions. Despite the many alternative approaches to representing design spaces we show that studies usually overlook how their procedures, premises or parameters affect design space representations and its outcomes. To address this gap, we discuss how the development of a novel method for generating design space visualisations (DS-Viz), incorporated usefulness and accuracy aspects. Our results show that design space representations are useful to the extent they are accurate and aligned with the needs of those who make them and use them. This has broader implications for the field as it is crucial for research quality to report the premises and techniques employed when creating design spaces. We here provide a first step towards creating useful design space visualisations that can be employed in design creativity and beyond.