Kindle Notes & Highlights
To be a designer, as I understand this ill-defined and much misused word, is to be conscious of, and accept, some responsibility for the physical form of our world; to be continuously aware of the shape, size, color and texture of those parts of our environment which are man-made, of the interrelationship of component parts, whether they be static or in motion, which produce a single object or a system; to be prepared to distinguish between those objects and relationships which are aesthetically acceptable
To be a designer, in the sense that I am now using this generic term, requires not only the skills, but also the willingness to deploy them for the improvement of the environment, rather than its desecration. To this extent design is, or should be, a moral act undertaken within the constraints of the political, economic and social systems.
There are eight stages in the new product development process: 1. Idea generation 2. Screening 3. Concept development and testing 4. Marketing strategy 5. Business analysis 6. Product development 7. Market testing 8. Commercialization
Typically, the designer is invited in at stage 6, product development, when the prototype product is to be developed. Designers, however, should be brought in earlier, preferably in the idea generation stage or at least the concept development and testing stage. Designers are capable of producing ideas that no customers would come up with in the normal course of researching customers for ideas. And, during the concept development and testing stage, designers might propose intriguing features that deserve investigation before the final concept is chosen.
