Designing for Emergence and Innovation: Redesigning Design

Abstract This paper reveals the surprising and counterintuitive truth that design is not always at the forefront of innovation; it is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for the success of products and services. The authors argue that design must harness emergence, for it is only through this...

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Main Author: Robert K. Logan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Intellect 2007-06-01
Series:Artifact
Subjects:
Online Access:https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1080/17493460601110525/art.1.2.120_1
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author Robert K. Logan
author_facet Robert K. Logan
author_sort Robert K. Logan
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description Abstract This paper reveals the surprising and counterintuitive truth that design is not always at the forefront of innovation; it is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for the success of products and services. The authors argue that design must harness emergence, for it is only through this bottom-up and massively iterative, unfolding process that new and improved products and services are successfully refined, introduced and diffused into the marketplace. They articulate the similarities and differences of design and emergence, developing the hypotheses that an innovative design is an emergent design, and that a homeostatic relationship between design and emergence is a required condition for innovation. Examples of how design and emergence have interacted and led to innovation include the tool making of early man; the evolutionary chain of the six languages: speech, writing, mathematics, science, computing and the Internet; Gutenberg’s printing press, and the contemporary techniques of collaborative filtering that underlie the meteoric growth of today’s largest Web-based services, including Google and Amazon.com. In closing they describe the relationship between artificial and natural systems, noting that a critical trait of every successful design and living organism is its telos or purpose.
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spelling doaj.art-1387baabfc844a63ab6fb6208fad0f8c2023-06-26T10:01:23ZengIntellectArtifact1749-34631749-34712007-06-011212012910.1080/17493460601110525/art.1.2.120_1http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/ajdp/1/2Designing for Emergence and Innovation: Redesigning DesignRobert K. Logan0Beal Institute for Strategic Creativity, Ontario College of Art and Design, and 2Department of Physics, University of TorontoAbstract This paper reveals the surprising and counterintuitive truth that design is not always at the forefront of innovation; it is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for the success of products and services. The authors argue that design must harness emergence, for it is only through this bottom-up and massively iterative, unfolding process that new and improved products and services are successfully refined, introduced and diffused into the marketplace. They articulate the similarities and differences of design and emergence, developing the hypotheses that an innovative design is an emergent design, and that a homeostatic relationship between design and emergence is a required condition for innovation. Examples of how design and emergence have interacted and led to innovation include the tool making of early man; the evolutionary chain of the six languages: speech, writing, mathematics, science, computing and the Internet; Gutenberg’s printing press, and the contemporary techniques of collaborative filtering that underlie the meteoric growth of today’s largest Web-based services, including Google and Amazon.com. In closing they describe the relationship between artificial and natural systems, noting that a critical trait of every successful design and living organism is its telos or purpose.https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1080/17493460601110525/art.1.2.120_1technologyinnovationorganizationDesignemergenceevolution
spellingShingle Robert K. Logan
Designing for Emergence and Innovation: Redesigning Design
Artifact
technology
innovation
organization
Design
emergence
evolution
title Designing for Emergence and Innovation: Redesigning Design
title_full Designing for Emergence and Innovation: Redesigning Design
title_fullStr Designing for Emergence and Innovation: Redesigning Design
title_full_unstemmed Designing for Emergence and Innovation: Redesigning Design
title_short Designing for Emergence and Innovation: Redesigning Design
title_sort designing for emergence and innovation redesigning design
topic technology
innovation
organization
Design
emergence
evolution
url https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1080/17493460601110525/art.1.2.120_1
work_keys_str_mv AT robertklogan designingforemergenceandinnovationredesigningdesign