Innovation happens. Whether designers like it or not. But whenever they play a larger part in driving innovation through design, it affects humans in more profound and positive ways as when businesses or technology drives innovation. There are fireworks around, happiness in the air, grace and beauty in our midst, when designers are at the helm! Designers are supposed to be fountainheads of creativity. And innovation IS a function of creativity. However, true design driven innovation today is rare and happens way too infrequently. Apple, Ideo, just a handful of folks. I believe, we the designers are not seeding or influencing innovation enough because we are towing someone else’s line most of the time. In my personal experience I see less rigor in the design process in organizations. We settle for the obvious and mediocre too soon, too often. We are experimenting less, not iterating enough. We are designing by committee. We must look outside our design briefs and requirements docs for inspirations from life around us. Experimental Art, for instance can be an unexpected breeding ground for innovation. We must infuse thought, reflection, soul into our work. The world needs Thinking Designers as much as it needs Design Thinkers.

1. THE RISE
OF THE
MECHANICAL
DESIGNER
Adobe Design Summit 2010,
Bangalore
Deepak Pakhare
Principal Interaction Designer, Yahoo!
deepux@gmail.com
Twitter: @deepux

2. WANTED: USER EXPERIENCE DESIGNER
HOT
JOB!
You are a transformer! You transform functional You must worry about meeting deadlines
requirements into designs. You are obsessed with and adhering to guidelines. You have a
learning new design tools. As UX designer, you are robotic memory and remember everything
focused on making designs LOOK pretty based on on the cheat-sheet without having to glance
existing templates. at it!

3. ...AND INTO THE
BOX YOU GO!

4. NO ROOM FOR
‘BLUESKY’

5. ISN’T USER-CENTERED
GOOD ENOUGH?

6. WELL YES…USER-CENTERED IS
GOOD ENOUGH ONLY FOR
INCREMENTAL INNOVATION

7. Why User-Centered Innovation
Is Not Sustainable?
• Designers have learnt that user motivations need to
be probed. Most often asking what they want may
be misleading because users may not know what
they want!
• Design-driven innovations do not come from the
market; they create new markets.
• They don't push new technologies; they push new
meanings. It's about having a vision, and taking
that vision to your customers.

8. MAKING A CASE FOR DESIGN DRIVEN
RADICAL INNOVATION
Radical
Change
Technology push
Technology
Design-driven
Market pull
Incremental (user-centered)
Change
Incremental Meaning Radical
Change Change
http://www.designdriveninnovation.com/author.html

9. SO WHY DESIGN-DRIVEN RADICAL
INNOVATION?
• Management literature points to 2 major findings in
the past decades
1. Radical innovation, albeit risky, is one of the major
sources of long-term competitive advantage.
2. People do not buy products but meanings. People
use things for profound emotional, psychological,
and socio-cultural reasons - not only utilitarian
ones.

10. TO DRIVE AND LEAD RADICAL
INNOVATION THROUGH
DESIGN
POWER CREATIVITY
Government Technology
Business Arts
Design education

11. DEVELOPER-DESIGNER BHAI
BHAI!! (BROTHER’S IN ARMS)
LONG LIVE THE USER!
PSSST…HEY, UX
ROCKS!

16. FIND A ‘JAAGA’ TO
NURTURE YOUR
CREATIVITY
http://jaaga.in/
http://www.designwala.org/

17. HOW TO BE ALONE
A video by fiilmaker, andrea dorfman, and
poet/singer/songwriter, Tanya Davis.
http://www.tanyadavis.ca/

18. THE WORLD NEEDS
THINKING
DESIGNERS AS MUCH
AS IT NEEDS DESIGN
THINKERS!

19. THANK YOU!
Presented by: Deepak Pakhare
Twitter: @deepux | blog: http://acrossthinlines.com | deepux@gmail.com