Hacking Meanings.Innovation as Everyday Invention

In a context where technology is growing ubiquitous, human and graspable, Thingk embraces the challenge of transforming simple and archetypical objects by technologically augmenting them. Seeking for primitive, geometric forms with advanced and smart functions, the startup follows an innovation of meaning that goes through hacking the meaning of apparently basic and minimal artefacts, making them “everyday objects with superpowers”. In the following we explore how such innovation, which starts with acting on aesthetics, affects the interface (UI), and impacts on the user experience (UX), influences the entire design process. In particular, we discuss the design-driven innovation, and how it benefits from revolving around the many opportunities and challenges that come from questioning some design conventions by including innovation as the ability to make the unexpected a driving force. We focus in particular on data and end-users as sources of knowledge and innovation, as well as on technological variation as potentialities for experimenting and improving. From combining technological breakthroughs and design opportunities aiming at responding to contemporary and future market trends, to including interdisciplinary knowledge and expertise from Design, Engineering, and Marketing, to the identification of a community of practice and the involvement of prosumers in the co-design: each step of the process is unpacked, highlighting its design impli- cations. As a result, the designer is no longer just an inventor and innovator, but also a researcher, interpreter, and entrepreneur.