“There is yet another problem: the curse of individuality. Designers have to make an individual stamp, their mark, their signature. And if different companies manufacture the same type of item, each must do it differently to allow for its product to be distinguished from the others’. A mixed curse, individuality, for through the desire to be different come some of our best ideas and innovations. But in the world of sales, if a company were to make the perfect product, any other company would have to change it—which would make it worse—in order to promote its own innovation, to show that it was different. How can natural design work under these circumstances? It can’t.”
From the book, “The Design of Everyday Things” by Donald Norman speaking about the forces that work against evolutionary design
posted by Rick Moore
on Tuesday, Aug 28, 2007
tagged with
design,,
innovation