This paper, through an applicative case study, reflects on the new frontiers of Product Design and Design Research applied to products, definable as “technical industrial products”, that are usually either invisible or only accessible to specialized operators. Such products today change their meaning in a market that’s evolving towards the digital world, being similar to commodities. These are often tied to a technical and regulatory dimension that limits their innovation, in both form and usage. What’s the role of design in these cases? How, through design, can these products and their companies’ identities be defined? How can a multi-national corporation, having dozens of brands and several thousand products settled through the years, generated through additive logic and continuous brands acquisition, be distinctly recognized on the market? This paper describes the development of an original Design DNA and Design Language that, starting by analyzing the corporate product ecosystem (circa 6000 unique references for over 80.000 catalogued variants), identifies a renovation process of corporate products capable of granting brand recognizability without intervening on structural elements or already existing production processes.This activity has followed a co-design process that involved the brand’s EMEA management, with a dedicated international staff that worked actively together with the team of professors and researchers, in a coaching and learning process. This kind of activity, other than producing meaningful results in building the given objective, constituted as many training and team building moments on subjects such as design thinking and design management.The case study intends to reflect on the strategic value of both design and design research; this can contribute to the development of businesses even without actually developing any new product, acting on strategic matters1 to enhance what already exists, while at the same time defining coherent and proactive guidelines for the future

Design Research experience for Product Design innovation

V. Arquilla;M. Bisson;M. Zinzone
2019-01-01

Abstract

This paper, through an applicative case study, reflects on the new frontiers of Product Design and Design Research applied to products, definable as “technical industrial products”, that are usually either invisible or only accessible to specialized operators. Such products today change their meaning in a market that’s evolving towards the digital world, being similar to commodities. These are often tied to a technical and regulatory dimension that limits their innovation, in both form and usage. What’s the role of design in these cases? How, through design, can these products and their companies’ identities be defined? How can a multi-national corporation, having dozens of brands and several thousand products settled through the years, generated through additive logic and continuous brands acquisition, be distinctly recognized on the market? This paper describes the development of an original Design DNA and Design Language that, starting by analyzing the corporate product ecosystem (circa 6000 unique references for over 80.000 catalogued variants), identifies a renovation process of corporate products capable of granting brand recognizability without intervening on structural elements or already existing production processes.This activity has followed a co-design process that involved the brand’s EMEA management, with a dedicated international staff that worked actively together with the team of professors and researchers, in a coaching and learning process. This kind of activity, other than producing meaningful results in building the given objective, constituted as many training and team building moments on subjects such as design thinking and design management.The case study intends to reflect on the strategic value of both design and design research; this can contribute to the development of businesses even without actually developing any new product, acting on strategic matters1 to enhance what already exists, while at the same time defining coherent and proactive guidelines for the future
2019
3rd International Conference on Environmental Design
9788855090605
Design Research, Product Design Innovation, Design DNA, Design Language, Design Strategy
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11311/1102943
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