Track 5.j Introduction: Innovation Through Design for Meaning

This track brings together researchers and practitioners to share and discuss the approach, subsequent outcomes, contributions and possible futures of the design for meaning landscape. For many fast moving consumer goods, home goods, office goods, vehicles, transport systems and elements of the built environment there are a growing number of instances in which a business opportunity can only be achieved by exploiting a new technology or a new cultural code (Holt and Cameron, 2010). Such cases of disruptive innovation or radical innovation are premised on the possibility of defining a new meaning for the potential consumers. The idea that design is a manner for making sense of things is frequently discussed in professional circles, as is the idea that design involves doing philosophy with the hands (Wendt 2015). For many practicing designers the activity of design cannot be separated from the intended meanings of the artefact which is being designed.