Innovation: the combination of something that is new and has value; bringing what could be into the world of what is.
Innovation refers to something that is new and fresh, but which also has value. However there is a fundamental difference between these 2 concepts:
value can be measured in an analytical manner; something that is genuinely new cannot, and has only the belief of the designer to verify that the concept will be successful. This creates a difficult problem for the designer wishing to be ‘innovative’ - you cannot measure the value of something ‘new’. If you do measure it by current standards you will have the wrong measure, and consequently run the risk of losing everything unique and original about it. Therefore as a designer, you must have faith to pursue what looks like the idea with the most potential, and is most likely to have real value in the future. A little bit of gut feeling and intuition helps too.
Creative thinking is thinking in the ‘imaginary’. Reality is scrapped and all attention is drawn to human what could be possible. Arthur Koestler encapsulated the principle of creative thinking when he commented, “The pre-requisite of originality is the art of forgetting at the proper moment, what we know”. In order to think creatively we need to leave the real, tangible world behind, disregarding what we ‘know’ and instead focusing on what we can find out, without any judgement or consideration.
How to do it…
In order to think creatively it is necessary to leave the ‘world as it is’, and think in terms of the ‘world that could be’. Creative thinking involves traversing the land of make believe and, furthermore, believing in it. Everyone has heard of, and probably used the phrase, ‘someone should really invent something to do that, I just don’t know how you’d do it’, and this is exactly the kind of problem you need to focus your mind on. Forget the ‘I don’t know how you’d do it’ part, the important thing is to come up with the idea or project for innovation, regardless of the solution at this point. At this stage analytical thought is redundant, as adding current analytical opinion kills any creative thought. As a bubble bath reacts when soap is added – the bubbles disappear. Your ideas, like the bubbles, will disappear too. Keep in mind that creative thinking requires quantity in order to arrive at quality. You may have a thousand ideas before you stumble across one that has real value in the future.
How to do it…
In order to think creatively it is necessary to leave the ‘world as it is’, and think in terms of the ‘world that could be’. Creative thinking involves traversing the land of make believe and, furthermore, believing in it. Everyone has heard of, and probably used the phrase, ‘someone should really invent something to do that, I just don’t know how you’d do it’, and this is exactly the kind of problem you need to focus your mind on. Forget the ‘I don’t know how you’d do it’ part, the important thing is to come up with the idea or project for innovation, regardless of the solution at this point. At this stage analytical thought is redundant, as adding current analytical opinion kills any creative thought. As a bubble bath reacts when soap is added – the bubbles disappear. Your ideas, like the bubbles, will disappear too. Keep in mind that creative thinking requires quantity in order to arrive at quality. You may have a thousand ideas before you stumble across one that has real value in the future.
The Innovation process:
• The process begins in Never-Never-Land working on either a human need the designer wishes to fulfil, or a technical opportunity. This could be from an advancement in an area of technology, or something completely new – perhaps connecting two unrelated technologies.
• In the case of the human need, the next stage is to experiment with technology to create a solution. This is another important area for creative thinking. The designer must look at what is already around with an eye of what it could be. Conventions should be challenged, questions asked, and assumptions overturned. The key is to never assume that the old way is the right way – it usually isn’t now, even if it was then. As William Blake once said “What is now proved was only once imagined”.
• Another path of innovation begins when a technical innovation is discovered, sparking off a technical opportunity. For example a new material is invented, or an old one adapted, which then instigates a search for the best use of its qualities in the market. This is another point for creativity, and at this point a number of design pathways will present themselves. But remember - when navigating these design pathways that the product’s qualities should constantly be being re-evaluated. Going back to the creative thinking process, you then need to pick a design pathway, which will bring the most real value from the technical opportunity.
• Once the pathway is fixed, you are at the point of bringing the idea back into the real world. At this stage the design process takes on the usual progressions – prototypes will need to be produced, and patents will need to be applied for if the product is truly unique. Here you will need help, and this is best achieved by bringing others into the world of ‘what could be’ as believers. This is easier than trying to bring the idea into the world of ‘what is’ all on your own. All these steps most importantly make the product measurable, and make the imaginary vision of the future into a tangible possibility for the present.
• The current market is consequently brought future innovation as a result of creative thought. In contrast to the traditional design process, this method sees barriers as merely temporary challenges or opportunities, and aims to revolutionise the market by challenging the status quo with energy, creativity and intelligence.
• When we get to the point of patent, approved and measurable we are at the point of entering the world of ‘what is’.
• The process begins in Never-Never-Land working on either a human need the designer wishes to fulfil, or a technical opportunity. This could be from an advancement in an area of technology, or something completely new – perhaps connecting two unrelated technologies.
• In the case of the human need, the next stage is to experiment with technology to create a solution. This is another important area for creative thinking. The designer must look at what is already around with an eye of what it could be. Conventions should be challenged, questions asked, and assumptions overturned. The key is to never assume that the old way is the right way – it usually isn’t now, even if it was then. As William Blake once said “What is now proved was only once imagined”.
• Another path of innovation begins when a technical innovation is discovered, sparking off a technical opportunity. For example a new material is invented, or an old one adapted, which then instigates a search for the best use of its qualities in the market. This is another point for creativity, and at this point a number of design pathways will present themselves. But remember - when navigating these design pathways that the product’s qualities should constantly be being re-evaluated. Going back to the creative thinking process, you then need to pick a design pathway, which will bring the most real value from the technical opportunity.
• Once the pathway is fixed, you are at the point of bringing the idea back into the real world. At this stage the design process takes on the usual progressions – prototypes will need to be produced, and patents will need to be applied for if the product is truly unique. Here you will need help, and this is best achieved by bringing others into the world of ‘what could be’ as believers. This is easier than trying to bring the idea into the world of ‘what is’ all on your own. All these steps most importantly make the product measurable, and make the imaginary vision of the future into a tangible possibility for the present.
• The current market is consequently brought future innovation as a result of creative thought. In contrast to the traditional design process, this method sees barriers as merely temporary challenges or opportunities, and aims to revolutionise the market by challenging the status quo with energy, creativity and intelligence.
• When we get to the point of patent, approved and measurable we are at the point of entering the world of ‘what is’.
