ID 462 Design Management Annotation

Innovating Through Design

In this annotation, I going to talk about the article “Innovating Through Design”
written by Roberto Verganti. Article has points about the teakettle that designed by
Graves, market of teakettle, design process and innovation.
In 1985 the architect Michael Graves designed his first consumer product—a
famous teakettle—for Alessi, the northern Italian home-furnishings manufacturer. This
broadening reflected years of discussion and generations of design concepts preceding
Graves’s realization of model 9093. Far from being an annoyance or merely a signal, the
birdlike whistle the kettle emits draws its owners to the breakfast table as powerfully as
the aroma of freshly brewed coffee. The little plastic bird visually confirms that
beckoning sound, and the delightfulness of the kettle’s shape is its own reward. Like we
read on the article a small change or adding can create huge differences. One mentioned
that he wakes and make tea every day. I think this is very important detail to think
because while designing something designers usually thinks bigger but this shows the
importance of details. On one point of article it says, money is not what makes talented
designers. The designers appreciate being able to learn from their colleagues and stretch
their talents. On this point thinking about my life, as an ungraduated designer, I saw
good examples of it. Sometimes my other ungraduated friends ‘perspective is the thing
that my design needs. It is about the looking from different angle like innovation. In that
time Graves’ idea could not make it. But it is all about management. Having good idea is
not enough on the market. Even with good management, good strategy sometimes it is
hard to stay on the market. Because market is not something stable, it changes even
weekly, it is hard to stay in it. It becomes to just number. Just business. So it is become
about money.
To sum up this perspective focusses on radical innovation: design, if well
managed, leads to radical innovation, through the process of design-driven innovation. I
think design should be done no matter what but in this market if a designer wants to stay
on the line, s/he go on with what is rising on the market because at the end it is just
about money for the company.

References
Verganti, R. (2006). “Innovating through Design”, Harvard Business Review, December