Bruno Munari’s iconic 1971 book, Poynor goes details Maestro Munari’s career. From his departure from fine art to design, to his playful self deprecating approach to design, Munari was an eccentric character with a subversive way of thinking which would be inspiring to the contemporary designer and firms wishing to embrace the ROI that only a maestro can create. A collection of essays, Design as Art is a must read.
A further in depth study into the life of a product, a qualitative guide for product life cycles is the determining factor to product success via the identification of six life phases of a product and comparing it with six qualitative phases of the design process. Phases of Product Development – A Qualitative Complement to the Product Life Cycle details how NPD and formative design can predict the economic life cycle of objects and the beautification of output due to the design process.
Exploratory units are an important aspect of an innovation team and Enhancing Discontinuous Innovation defines a definitive description of what these units entail. Through a case study of an exploratory unit in an automotive firm, the concept of the unit is defined along with the role of its members and the way they communicate their ideas.
Sustainabity and reuse in design is a poignant topic at the moment and the concept of parasite design presents a new perspective. Instead of replacing an object, why not add a component to existing objects that makes a new whole and gives that object a second life. Not only does this practice raises the question of the lifecycle of objects but also increases the sustainability of them. Guilty design? All depends if you require engineered replacement in your new products or if you design and produce for the long-term.
Innovations are rarely used in the manner that they are intended, often developments evolve into tools in unorthodox capacities. The author recommends TRIZ-oriented awareness in order to find alternative applications for innovations. Here’s how to make Attribute Domain Matrix Modeling work inside your organization.
The Interaction Design Research Triangle details the triangular interactive design approach Design Practice + Design Studies + Design Exploration as a mechanism to increase firm ROI by conducting research and interacting as whole. Offering a solution to design practices as it guides organizations with interface to industry, academia and the world at large it is an excellent framework and well established in the marketplace.
Digital art has been an expanding field since the mid 1990s; however, it is now taking cues from the digital gaming industry. Though the use of complex algorithms and inspiration from gaming narratives, these new art forms are creating complex new digital environments. Where will be the boundaries between gaming and art in the future? Art Games gives a good indication of how it’s all evolving.
Though occasionally used, innovation audits are not a widely practiced trend. Innovation Audits: Learning Tools for increased ROI: A Case Study of Enhancing High-Involvement Innovation details the benefits of this practice and describes how they can be effectively used to improve innovation in small to medium sized companies as well as for educational processes to increase ROI. The whole point of design.
How does one quantify creativity in employees, especially in a research and development field? Employee Creativity and R&D details provides a framework of four complimentary critical approaches that evaluate creativity in the R&D context and how to push it further to the increased ROI of your firm.
Want to increase ROI for your corporate venturing teams? Here is how open innovation especially in risk-laden activities can increase the benefit of bringing in business support in financial, technological ways as well as minimizes the financial risks. Advantages of Open Innovation Practices in Corporate Venturing in Terms of Real Options provides the tools for those individuals and NPD efforts or new entrepreneurial ventures inside your firm.
Examining the cross-cultural collaborations in design education, especially in an Asia / Asia context and an Asia / Europe context Design Patterns for Cross-cultural Collaboration details clear empirical research for localized learning and discusses interactive learning spaces. Not just for educators, it is also pertinent for professionals who are considering cross-cultural working partnerships.
How is it to deal with the complexities of product engineering from the human resources angle? Assessment of Product Engineering Creativity provides a framework in which to assess and evaluate them on a creativity and productivity level. A good guideline for ways to promote and recruit suitable candidates to improve departments and how to build a strong design team.