Indd 84 Harvard Business Review: Design
Art Credit
Design
84 Harvard Business Review
1237 Brown.indd 84
|
June 2008
|
hbr.org
5/1/08 8:45:11 PM
Thinking like a designer can transform the way you develop products, services, processes – and even strategy.
Thinking by Tim Brown
Photos courtesy of IDEO
T
HOMAS EDISON created the electric lightbulb and then wrapped an entire industry around it. The lightbulb is most often thought of as his signature invention, but
Edison understood that the bulb was little more than a parlor trick without a system of electric power generation and transmission to make it truly useful.
So he created that, too.
Thus Edison’s genius lay in his ability to conceive of a fully developed marketplace, not simply a discrete device. He was able to …show more content…
Durbut he invariably gave great consideration to users’ needs and ing the latter half of the twentieth century design became preferences. an increasingly valuable competitive asset in, for example,
Edison’s approach was an early example of what is now the consumer electronics, automotive, and consumer packcalled “design thinking” – a methodology that imbues the aged goods industries. But in most others it remained a latefull spectrum of innovation activities with a human-centered stage add-on. design ethos. By this I mean that innovation is powered by a
Now, however, rather than asking designers to make an thorough understanding, through direct observation, of what already developed idea more attractive to consumers, compapeople want and need in their lives and what they like or disnies are asking them to create ideas that better meet consumlike about the way particular products are made, packaged, ers’ needs and desires. The former role is tactical, and results marketed, sold, and …show more content…
In less than a year the program attracted 2.5 million customers. It is credited with 700,000 new checking accounts and a million new savings accounts. Enrollment now totals more than
5 million people who together have saved more than $500 million. Keep the Change demonstrates that design thinking can identify an aspect of human behavior and then convert it into both a customer benefit and a business value.
Thomas Edison represents what many of us think of as a golden age of American innovation – a time when new ideas transformed every aspect of our lives. The need for transformation is, if anything, greater now than ever before. No matter where we look, we see problems that can be solved only through innovation: unaffordable or unavailable health care, billions of people trying to live on just a few dollars a day, energy usage that outpaces the planet’s ability to support it, education systems that fail many students, companies whose traditional markets are disrupted by new technologies or demographic shifts. These problems all have people at their heart.
They require a human-centered, creative, iterative, and practical approach to finding the best ideas and ultimate
Design
84 Harvard Business Review
1237 Brown.indd 84
|
June 2008
|
hbr.org
5/1/08 8:45:11 PM
Thinking like a designer can transform the way you develop products, services, processes – and even strategy.
Thinking by Tim Brown
Photos courtesy of IDEO
T
HOMAS EDISON created the electric lightbulb and then wrapped an entire industry around it. The lightbulb is most often thought of as his signature invention, but
Edison understood that the bulb was little more than a parlor trick without a system of electric power generation and transmission to make it truly useful.
So he created that, too.
Thus Edison’s genius lay in his ability to conceive of a fully developed marketplace, not simply a discrete device. He was able to …show more content…
Durbut he invariably gave great consideration to users’ needs and ing the latter half of the twentieth century design became preferences. an increasingly valuable competitive asset in, for example,
Edison’s approach was an early example of what is now the consumer electronics, automotive, and consumer packcalled “design thinking” – a methodology that imbues the aged goods industries. But in most others it remained a latefull spectrum of innovation activities with a human-centered stage add-on. design ethos. By this I mean that innovation is powered by a
Now, however, rather than asking designers to make an thorough understanding, through direct observation, of what already developed idea more attractive to consumers, compapeople want and need in their lives and what they like or disnies are asking them to create ideas that better meet consumlike about the way particular products are made, packaged, ers’ needs and desires. The former role is tactical, and results marketed, sold, and …show more content…
In less than a year the program attracted 2.5 million customers. It is credited with 700,000 new checking accounts and a million new savings accounts. Enrollment now totals more than
5 million people who together have saved more than $500 million. Keep the Change demonstrates that design thinking can identify an aspect of human behavior and then convert it into both a customer benefit and a business value.
Thomas Edison represents what many of us think of as a golden age of American innovation – a time when new ideas transformed every aspect of our lives. The need for transformation is, if anything, greater now than ever before. No matter where we look, we see problems that can be solved only through innovation: unaffordable or unavailable health care, billions of people trying to live on just a few dollars a day, energy usage that outpaces the planet’s ability to support it, education systems that fail many students, companies whose traditional markets are disrupted by new technologies or demographic shifts. These problems all have people at their heart.
They require a human-centered, creative, iterative, and practical approach to finding the best ideas and ultimate