Innovative Design

Presented by: M. Y. Wong

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 We easily come across terms such as:

o Fashion design
o Hair design
o Interior design
o Garden design
.
.
.

But what is design?

• Design is everywhere
• Design is making things better for people. Design
activity is focused on first and foremost on human
behavior and quality of life.
• Design could be viewed as an activity that translates an
idea into a blueprint for something useful

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Definitions of Design:

• A design is the tangible outcome, ie the end product of

the design process, for example a camera or car etc
• Design is a creative activity
• Design is a process by which information is
transformed into a tangible outcome

What is Innovation?

Innovation is the first appearance or use of a particular

practice. It is the commercially successful exploitation of
ideas. This definition associates innovation with a tangible
outcome.

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What is Innovation (Cont.)?

Successful innovation is about creating value. It does so either by

improving existing goods, processes or services (incremental
innovation), or by developing goods, processes or services of value that
have not existed previously (radical innovation). However, both kinds of
innovation require to do the following:

• have an understanding of and insights into consumer needs

• develop imaginative and novel solutions

What is Innovation (Cont.)?

In addition, innovation is generally associated with the following:

• the willingness to take risk

• accepting high levels of ambiguity and uncertainty
• original thinking
• a passion to drive the idea through to conclusions
• the ability to inspire passion in others

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 As a result …

Good innovative design can significantly add value to

product, lead to growth in sales and enable both the
exploitation of new markets and the consolidation of
existing ones.

Core process of product innovation …

Technological Innovations

New products
Investments which meet
Customer
satisfaction

Customer Needs

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Typical elements in the product innovation process …

* concept/ specification * preliminary product test

* generation of ideas * marketing plan
* preliminary screening * test marketing
* feasibility testing * production plant
development
* evaluation
* market launch
* development

* pilot production

Key routines in capturing market signals …

• define boundaries of market

• understand market dynamics

Routines for understanding market signals …

• market forecasting

• working with users

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Market signals …

• continuing interaction with users

• communicating user perspectives within the organization

• ‘voice of the customer’ techniques - e.g. quality

function deployment

• Brainstorming

Technology signals …

• technological forecasting

• external links

• active search

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 Rapid Prototyping …

Mocking up working models helps everyone visualize

possible solutions and speeds up decision-making and
innovation.

Refining …

Narrows down the choices to one possibility.

Implementation …

Bring engineering, industrial design capabilities to bear

when actually creating a product.

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An Innovative Product - Emergency flashlight, the world's
most reliable flashlight, guarantees light without batteries,
forever !

Behind the success …

• Marketing signal – a strong desire for a perpetual and handy

light source

• Technology signals – we have new components available

o space saving and long life white LED as light source
o tiny and yet high capacitance “Super Cap” as secondary
power source

• Strong engineering and industrial design capabilities

o developed the small and efficient power generator as
primary power source
o elegant and ergonomic product outlook

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 Working Principle …
• Faraday’s Law

magnet coil

bumper bumper

o Shaking the torch causes a high strength magnet to pass back

and forth between a wire coil, inducing EMF across the wire
coil
o the induced EMF is stored in the “Super Cap”
o the white LED drains power from the “Super Cap”

CREATIVITY is a key element in innovative design …

Characteristics of the creative personality:

• they are thought to be rebellious and independent.

• they are curious
• they are imaginative
• they are knowledgeable
• they have high observation power
• they are humorous
• they are focus

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Students can be fostered to be creative…

• In order to be creative, train students to view things in new

ways or from a different perspective.
• Encourage students to generate new possibilities or new
alternatives in solving problems
• Encourage students to communicate ideas and values
• Teach students the art of observation
• Help students to build up their knowledge base

End

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