Over the past years, design has seen a vast increase in attention from scholars. Throughout their innovation processes, firms are investing more in design.
One form of this design is the so-called user-centered design. This popular apporach to design starts with a thorough analysis of the customer and the discovery of needs of the client, hoping to discover any latent needs. However, user-centered approaches usually do not lead to market leadership or the perception of innovativeness, as incremental changes are seen more often.
Opposite to user-centered design is the approach of design-driven innovation. Through this approach, firms aims at radically redefining the meaning of a product to a customer. This form of design does not start from insights of observing or asking the end-user, as opposed to user-centered design. Customers, as has been found, are unable to express any radical ideas on product meanings due to the sociocultural context they are currently immersed in. Hence, any idea is likely to be a mere extension of what is already happening. The driving core of design-driven innovation is the firm’s vision about potential new product meanings and possibilities in the future.
In order to be successful in design-driven innovation, the process of emerging new product meanings should be understood, anticipated, proposed and influenced. The core is to understand the evolution of sociocultural models that shape the consumer’s perception, and be able to propose a new vision and meaning to that. As such, to a design-driven firm it is very useful to be in a network with firms following the same approach of redefining their products. A network, thus spanning outside firm boundaries, in which research and ideas are shared, makes a good basis. For example, Bang&Olufsen, but also Apple, are firms that have a clear vision on how a product should function and clearly use a design-drive approach for their products. As such, this has lead to B&O being widely recognized for its innovative approach to TVs and audiosystems, whereas Apple is largely seen as the biggest innovator in the smartphone/portables industries.
What do you think? Should all firms pursue a design-driven innovation process?
Verganti, R. (2008) ‘Design, Meanings, and Radical Innovation: A Metamodel and a Research Agenda’, Journal of Product Innovation Management, 25, pp. 436-456.
