Digital Design Blog

Re-Thinking Digital Design: How To Feel Your Way To Innovation

Innovation can be defined simply as “introducing something new for the first time”, according to The Myths of Innovation author, Scott Berkun. Innovation is something that companies struggle to foster because it is seen as a key to differentiation, market leadership and therefore more customers and larger revenues.

Chris Bangle, Director of Design at BMW Group, has achieved amazingly innovative concepts for vehicles by questioning assumptions and taking a fresh look at the materials available to engineers. He also prioritizes emotion as an added value to a product, as well as the humanistic aspects of a product.

Case in point is BMW’s GINA Light Visionary Model, a car whose metal exterior was replaced with a plastic-coated lycra material, essentially cloth. Bangle asked the question ‘What do we need the skin of a car for anyway? Does it have to be made out of metal?’ These provocative questions triggered a philosophy and thinking process of doing things differently. He summarizes the philosophy as one of thinking and acting flexibly and valuing context over dogma.

This reflects Jared Spool’s assertion that user-centred design dogma does less for user experience designers than exploring design tools, tricks, techniques and having a clear, strong vision. Bangle’s view is also a vote for the power of emotion in product design, which is often couched as soft, fluffy, less serious and less important.

When determining a website or other digital interface’s look and feel, it is useful to think of its ‘look & feelings’ in terms of the emotional response it elicits. It was a dimension considered in eBay’s Interaction Audit, presented at the IA Summit 2008. Perhaps the definiton of ‘feel’ might be expanded to mean more than just the interactivity of elements, where the emotional goals of a product can act as a catalyst to innovative ideas.

If it results in more products like GINA, then I’m all for it.