Innovative Designers, where are you?

A truly innovative product design comes from a truly innovative designer. It comes from the passion, insight, and creativity of one or two people, who together understand the indisputable, psychological process that the user undergoes when seeing and using a new product. It comes from a designer who “eats, breathes, and nourishes” his idea every waking and sleeping moment.

An innovative product does not come from consensus, a committee, a focus group, or a customer review board. Moreover, an innovative product does not need an alpha, beta, or “zeta” test. It stands on its own unique merits; the properties, characteristics, functions, utility, and enjoyment it gives the customer. Yes, I said enjoyment. No one likes a product that is too hard or impossible to use or makes them feel stupid for not being able to make it work right out of the box.

An innovative designer might also be an engineer, but this is not an absolute requirement: In fact, it might be a detriment. Most educated people expect engineers — because of their technical training — to have the wherewithal to design faultless products. But, it takes more intelligence than we can derive from science and math to design a remarkable product. It also takes art. Don’t be surprised; we all have the capacity for art. Remember, art is one of the first skills we learned before going to school and especially in kindergarten. Who can forget the scissors, pencils, brushes, and the wonderful fragrance (and sometimes taste) of paste, cream-colored paper, Crayons, and poster paint. There is a good reason for this training. It is conceptual: Art gives us an extraordinary understanding of perspective, depth of vision, light, a freedom of motion and expression, and an appreciation for life. The best design engineers I have ever worked with were also “artists” in one way or another.

An innovative designer also needs to have the gift of logic. Not the kind of logic that says 2 + 2 = 4, but logic that says a first-time user will be able to use a newly conceived product right out of the box. This is where the psychology of product design is most critical. For example, I believe the hallmark product failure is a tie between the first video tape machine with the unforgivable, impossible-to-set “blinking” clock display and the first generation digital wristwatch. The failure in logic here is what Donald A. Norman calls function mapping in his book, “The Design of Everyday Things.” The products, he claims, most easy to use have a one-to-one function map: one button for one function. Can you think of a new product that you used recently that had such a feature, or did you have one button that turned the device on and off (and moved in the same direction for both), or a button that you had to hold down briefly for one function and longer for another function?

I am sorry to say that most new products today are logical-function failures. One of the most frustrating designs for me is in my “expensive” car that has an “impossible-to-set” automatic, separate, driver and passenger heating and cooling system. I have had it for almost two years and cannot understand, even with the help of the instruction manual, how to set it for comfort. It has a mind of its own, and I don’t like it. In contrast, my “cheap” Mustang has a “heater/AC on-off switch” and a rotating temperature control. What could be simpler?

So who are the innovators? I think they are certain individuals at Apple Inc., Sun Microsystems, IOtech, Inc., National Instruments, Ford Motor Company, Belkin International, Inc., NASA, Battelle Memorial Institute, Orchid Technologies, and a few others. Who are among the “illogical” designers? They are the people who make most digital cameras and the computer and software that I am using to write this article: You can guess who they are. Tell us about your favorites.