ID 462 Design Management Annotation

Consumer Product Design and Innovation: Past, Present and Future

In this annotation, I am going to talk about the article “Consumer Product Design
and Innovation: Past, Present, and Future” written by Robin Roy. The article has points
on designing for product success, innovation patterns, designs for the environment,
social impacts, and designing for the future. The article has explanations for how
environmental concerns have influenced their design and the effects these products
have had on society.
The focus on sustainable design studies helps us to understand the subject within
the context of product innovation. The different product classes follow similar patterns
of technological innovation and design evolution. The new technologies, materials, and
components may be applied to reduce the costs of and improve existing products. While
many innovations and new products fail to diffuse into widespread use, others have
become highly successful in terms of adoption and/or commercial profitability says the
article. "First to the world products" are that previously did not exist and that consumers
need or want, at an acceptable price. Like iPhones. Before Steve Jobs introduced the first
iPhone there was a device to talk and text, regular cellphones. But with iPhone, the
industry got another level. It gave another branch to industry. Nowadays there are a
bunch of apps in every store of apps. Another example that Robin Roy gave in the article
is Dyson. Dyson made the first cyclonic cleanser. Even the high prices' Dyson is keeping
its place on top. I think having a bagless design and having a unique design in that time
has helped them to rise. I can understand that. In our household, there are two types of
vacuum cleaner, a regular one with a bag and a water-based cleanser. Even they both do
their job great; we are thinking about buying Dyson.
Another topic that the article has point is Designing for Environment. There are
several types of it like Green Design, Eco-design, Sustainable Innovation. All types of this
design had been trying to improve design for the environment. The sustainable design
aims to provide a product’s essential function using the least environmentally harmful
technical solution says the article. Like we read in the article smartphones are an
example of sustainable design. These industry producers like Apple reduce smartphone
energy and resource use by incorporating power-saving software and minimizing
materials use. Nowadays Apple announced that they trying to reduce their carbon
footprint, and they started to use their old models’ part by updating their newer models.
Last but not least, there is a topic about designing for the future. In the user-
centered and inclusive design part there is a sentence that Robin Roy says that if a
product is designed for those who may have difficulties, it should be easy to use by all.
Based on my old studio research I can give some examples of it. Like the article says
“controls of a washing machine can be understood and operated by anyone” it is not
something that 100% possible. In my research I had been studied different age groups of
washing machine users, they all have different problems. Like some groups not able to
use all features or having no control of what they are using.
 To sum up, sustainable design and innovation is something that we are
immediately shifting. Unlike other topics that the article touched, I think the most
important thing we should do is for the thing for the environment. Otherwise, there will
be huge problems in the future.
References
Consumer Product Design and Innovation: Past, Present and Future (2016) Robin Roy,
10.21606/drs.2016.48, DRS2016: Future-Focused Thinking