Good Design-Driven Innovation

Abstract

Radical innovations are designs that alter the meaning of our life experiences. In order to realize such innovation, a designer needs a vision, a strong personal view on the world. The identity and values of designers however, are often denied in modern design processes. onsequently, (junior) designers have difficulties in connecting with their values and standing for their ideals, especially when designing within a corporate setting. We report a case study that demonstrates how nurturing a designer’s personal understanding of ‘good design’ and integration of this understanding in his work, influences a design-driven innovation project and outcome. Our findings suggest that a designer’s principles for good design, enable him to design more in tune with his identity and related ideals. Personal principles for good design empowered the designer’s creativity, decision making, process planning, and drive to design and promote the acceptance of a radical idea within a corporate setting. We hope to inspire designers to use personal values and identity for design-driven innovation, and would like to start a discussion with design research and education communities to ponder on how designers can be supported in this journey.