Design Tools --> The Path to Novelty --> The Path to ROI

They say that Design Never Sleeps and neither does a clients push for more access to customers and possibilities for new products to dominate a market. There were multitudes of new audio players that hit the market from the 1st pocket sized radios, to walkmans to MP3 players before Apple dominated the market for portable music players. Now they are all obsolete not because they are useful, rather because the firm that designed/innovated/produced the fastest. And, it didn't even matter if what they produced was good enough, only that the journey was afoot.

The reality of the positive correlation between the number and variety of ideas produced during the design process, and the novelty of the design concepts is a clear indication that the tools are the key. In Influences of design tools on the original and redesign Processes  we see the clear underpinnigs of this and how organizations can effectively move faster to capture the illusive "good enough" which keeps thriving firms succcessful

                                

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Switching ( Costs ) & Later Stage Creative Behavior Economics - It's the basis for creativity

Design Isn't The Only Thing That Gets A Little Wild As Time Goes On.

Initially thought of as the last bastion of the process of design, when creative behaviors wield their heads at later stages of the design process, often this is to the determent of all involved from the management, finance and operations side of design and new product development efforts. Something as simple as millimeter changes can have lasting impact on the manufacturing and deployment of complex productions of new product development efforts. In the software development world this is just as complex however not necessarily as devastating as in the physical product development world - only due to the physicality of production.

Regardless, and what is of note, is that it is later stage changes and deign modifications that often make the greatest impact in the success of highly designed products which make innovations possible for example the impact ( and acceptance ) of DRM embedded in the first apple products which is possibly the single greatest factor to the success of the product with the music and movie industry. Described in "The appearance of creative behavior in later stage design processes" we see how this is possibly how Apple was able to dominate the marketplace so quickly - once the movie and music industry embraced Apple's products ( and software solutions to thwarting copyright infringement ) there was no limit to how many they could sell by removing the worry that Apple's devices were contributing to copyright infringement - later stage creative problem solving in the development of new products and how this can also impact your firms new product development activities.

                                

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When Kliner Perkins hires designers it's official: 7 Tips From Leading Design Entrepreneurs

When Silicon Valley's most prestigious VC in Q4 2012 sets up the Kliner Perkins Design Fellowship, and a National Design Award is given due to a designer's design entrepreneurial work you know the US is finally catching on. But what are the secrets to design breakthroughs? Here's a starting point: 

                                       

      1) Learn to code and understand web analytics: because in the beginning you can't afford a full web development effort and you will have to sell your goods online - there is no more door to door anymore and if you can't push the BUY button because there is no system to make that happen, your project is not going to make it.
      2) Never underestimate how important design is: if your product looks bad, if your site does not work on tablet and smart phones it's all over. Customers know 1st impressions mean everything and now almost as much as the product itself.
      3) Don’t allow design to damage your focus: if your not Steve himself, then you may have to work with someone that is and in that, be flexible as your design might not be your own
      4) Keep a side project: Google allows 20% of time to employees own projects. Use this as your guiding principle as you can't "design" all day many times your building what has already been designed
      5) Read everything. Listen To everything. Experience as much new as possible: design inspiration is the key to disruptive design and zigging when others are zagging - the point to "winning" new clients in a sea of also-rans
      6) A prototype is worth 1000 words: this is an absolute must. Prototype fast and Prototype often. The faster you and clients can see what is going on the faster you get to the endpoint
      7) Think like a student as that is what a designer is: if you can't think outside the box you just created you can't innovate. The tighter the rules the harder it is to be "different" and different can sometimes be disruptive or even fully "innovative" by Schumpeters definition.

And there are many more, but with these your products will be that much further ahead of the competition.

                                

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Apple 'got' design for $2.5M in 1982 and by a Frog. Here's how Steve did it.

Ever wonder how Apple 'got' design? Like Gates bought DOS, Steve bought design for $2.5M/yr in 1982. Here's how Steve did it and not as Fast Company says: 

Even Fast Company scrubs the data & history but not as Christopher Mims @ Quartz magazine reports it and described here. Like any market advantage, a competitive advantage starts well before personal popular culture (read advertising and 'news') has us believe or is even aware of the advantage itself. Microsoft exists because Gates bought DOS for $50K and turned it into Windows for IBM. AC and DC were fought after by Thomas Edison who developed the opposing format to thwart competitors and performed hundreds of experiments on filaments with a whole team of researchers not inventing the lightbulb, Ive's didn't usher design into the entire culture of Apple: I've's entire group was the prodigy of a Frog - the son of Hartmut Esslinger.

It isn't often that we stop to may homage to the firms whose shoulders that we here at iGNITIATE stand on top of, but after years of knowing Hartmut and the folks at Frog, and the recent articles on design at Apple being always there from the beginning, we thought to jump in on the "correction" of the marketing machine that is Apple, Issacshons book, and Ashton's movie on the late, great Steve. However in the beginning, there was Hartmut and his firm Frog and fact that Apple bought design, brought it right into the boardroom and did it all for $1m/yr in 1982 or $2.5M 2013 dollars and the article How I Taught Steve Jobs To Put Design First tells all.

Hartmut goes on to describe how From Phones To Tablets: 26 Apple Designs That Never Came To Be and How to Innovate, Step by Step which Hartmut know exactly what he is talking about.

                                

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Infographics - Your Savior in New Product Launches

It has happened to every designer,  entrepreneur & product developer & it even happens to international firms launching new services - the launch black hole. How is it that designers of new products, businesses and even services miss what's out there? The solution: not utilizing design & market infographics. How do world class companies do it? They do it here:

And, as shown in this infographic of every kitchen utensil made, by type the playing field is defined. More, there are any number of similar examples for every other product and even service out there. A quick look, the 10,000 meter view is what separates innovators from the also rans. How does your firm stack up in the way it looks for new opportunities?

                                

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Design Leaders – How to Make Them

Is there a delineation between designers and managers and can there be a back and forth training? Yes and no. 

In Delineating Design Leaders we see the clear identification and breakdown of the way that design and design managers are utilized. Can there be a difference in the way that these groups operate and the way they are able to encourage each other as a mechanism for further creative output? Yes. The key is content and creation. As evidence clearly uncovers, it is design leaders, who relentlessly focus on product and operate as a profoundly design-centric function involving a ‘hands-on’ approach. These individuals provide the vision that is catalyzed by actively leading designers and broader team members to produce differentiation and rapid change in response to demanding environmental factors [ibid].

  

                    

   

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