*We run a lot of groovy, out-there design-fiction on the ol' blog here, and every once in a while, a brisk corrective is in order. Why don't mind-bending ideas from design fiction rule the world? Why is design fiction, just, well, design-flavored fiction?
*This swell Don Norman article could be retitled "why corporate capitalism makes even searingly brilliant ideas either hopelessly impractical or just stupid." And, yeah, Don pretty well sums that up.
*Read another way, however, this article makes one wonder if there isn't a gaping hole for design within social media, or even the art scene. In other words, brilliant design ideas that aren't tethered by the discipline of pleasing bureaucracies and making a marketplace profit. Is there a way to spread radically innovative design ideas, to realize them as real-life objects and services, without undergoing the Procrustean mutilation of major capital expense and the resource constraints of traditional mass production?
*One clever answer is, "Yeah, don't actually make anything at all! Just make a cool YouTube video about it and dress it up in costume with some one-off props we made up," but, well, that's design fiction, which is not design.
*Design under socialism (design without the capitalism and the corporation) simply removes the profit and the customer, and amps up the bureaucracy; you get East German industrial design, under those circumstances.
*But what would industrial design really look like if it was, somehow, all skunk works, all the time? Would it rather look like techno music made in bedrooms, maybe? No bureaucratic orchestra, no expensive recording studio – just massive streams of warped blips and bloops (often without any listeners)? Would consumer items become transparent, clumsy and self-assembled looking, like open-source open hardware?
*Maybe we're about to find that out.
http://www.core77.com/blog/columns/why_great_ideas_can_fail_17235.asp
(...)
"Making Innovation Succeed
"Creative ideas are never sufficient. (((They look great in a novel, though.))) After the fun part of creativity comes the difficult, dull, painstaking efforts to make those ideas fit the true needs of the organization and the customers, to make sure they are practical, implementable, cost-efficient, and profitable. These practical, hard-headed business and marketing issues are just as important as the creative side, conceivably even more important. In fact, most of the value of innovation comes from small, incremental change, not massive, paradigm-shifting change, in part because these enhancive the market size and efficiency of the operations, but also because they are readily accepted by the organization.
(((I don't want to get all Mike Godwin here, but whenever I hear that it's "practical and hard-headed" to surrender one's will to the checklist needs of a bureaucracy, I think of Adolf Eichmann. Exceptional organizational talents, a loyal employee, stickler for detail, all that good stuff, Mr Eichmann.)))
"Most innovations are simple enhancements of products, enhancements in supply chains, in manufacturing, packaging, marketing, and distribution. These small, incremental innovations are not as much fun to invent as the groundbreaking, revolutionary new product concept, but they add far more value. ((("Work isn't fun, that's why they pay you for it," etc.))) These innovations build on existing products. They refine the designs and manufacturing process to lower costs, enhance the user base, and expand the marketing and distribution. This is true whether the product be hardware, software or service. Moreover, small, local innovations are much more readily integrated into the product process than larger, more radical change. (See Larry Kelley's videos and writings.)
"Creative, paradigm changes are essential. But think about your own life. How many truly revolutionary changes have you experienced? And how long did each one take to become established? The number of truly revolutionary ideas is surprisingly small, perhaps just a few a year. The really revolutionary ones then took decades to become accepted. (((They may take decades to be commercially accepted, but if you'd like some swift, revolutionary change in your life, try marrying a foreigner.)))
"Innovation only succeeds when all the stars are aligned. The company has to have complete buy-in. The technology must be ready: inexpensive, robust, and effective. The supporting infrastructure must be in place. And the customer base must have already had sufficient exposure that they are willing to buy. Put all these together plus the funds and patience to wait the decade it takes for market size to become reasonable and you have an instant success.
"Is it any wonder that most startup companies fail, that most novel ideas don't take root in established companies, and that most radical ideas do come from startups that are willing to accept small market share for long periods?
"How is a design firm to cope?" (...)
