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February 04, 2006

Design Innovation—the New Interface

Description: Design Innovation is the key to success in a consumer-driven world. Fluid, experiential and creative, design innovation is as much synergy as process. It keeps a company on the cutting edge, anticipating marketplace needs through flexible prototyping.

Innovation at its most simple is the process of turning an idea into something of tangible value that fulfills an anticipated or already existing need in the marketplace. Innovation is what makes a company successful. Design innovation uses the innovation process to create workable ideas in a fluid and creative environment, to guide those ideas through the prototyping and evaluation processes and to ensure that these ideas are turned into viable, successful and desirable products

Design innovation is the key to remaining competitive in an ever-expanding global economy. Design innovation is much more than simply creating new products, services and processes. This key component of the innovation inventory is focused on rapid reaction and response to the customer, to changing needs and to evolving conditions. Design innovation is able to not only create new ideas but also to capture those ideas and turn them into real opportunities for growth and success. Design innovation also looks at modifying and improving existing products and processes in the light of new technologies and changing customer needs.

Design innovation is all about creating a team of individuals with complementary skill sets and demonstrated abilities in design leadership who are comfortable in an open culture environment where all ideas are valued and where collaboration and multi-tasking are part of the climate. This fluid, non-linear and non-hierarchical approach to innovation makes time for the sharing of ideas between individuals within the company and between businesses. Design innovation comes with a platform that is experiential and connective, recognizing the importance of developing a consumer interface through different scenarios rather than relying on the rigidity of power point presentations and spreadsheets.

The strategic vision of design innovation is developed through the creation of tools that allow product prototypes to be shaped in a spatial environment where innovation is supported and highly visible. Direct experience with the prototypes, supported by visual records to convey the product rather than simply words, coupled with the use of such cutting edge tools as web blogs and discussion forums, ensures a multimedia approach to design innovation. Fluidity in all the facets of design innovation ensures a protocol that is imaginative, responsive, focused and creative.

If design innovation is embedded in an organization’s mindset and travels across all departments, then processes must be in place to ensure its ongoing success. By integrating design concepts into every facet of an organization, from idea creation to prototyping to manufacturing, marketing and even getting website traffic or online traffic, businesses will be able to anticipate needs, influence consumer choices and remain responsive to a fluid global market.

Posted by spierce at February 4, 2006 04:35 PM