There are some common themes that encompass the development of original ideas.

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There are some common themes that encompass the
development of original ideas.

• These eight themes or categories provide a link
  between how designers generate innovative
  products and or processes and the types of
  products we see emerging throughout our society.

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Eight themes

•      SUPERIOR SOLUTION TO AN OLD PROBLEM
•     APPLICATION OF NEW TECHNOLOGY
•      GREEN DESIGN
•       EXPLORING NEW SHAPES
•       ADDRESSING A NEW USER GROUP
•       APPROPRIATE MINIATURISATION
•      DOWN-TECHING
•     COMBINING FUNCTIONS
•  
•  

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1. SUPERIOR SOLUTION TO AN OLD PROBLEM

• Many aspects of an innovation address an existing
  problem in a new way. New materials or processes
  may be incorporated into a design or invention of
  a solution to a problem.
• The problem may be accepted by society as the
  limits of a product until a further development
  is undertaken and this new ground-breaking
  solution emerges.

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• An example of this type of innovation is the
  Dyson vacuum cleaner. Society had accepted the
  limits of efficiency of vacuum cleaners available
  to consumers. James Dyson developed a new system
  for dust extraction/ capture and challenged
  consumers preconceived idea of the limits of
  domestic cleaning appliances.

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• Other examples include the new materials
  developed for swimsuits used by Olympians and
  other athletes to gain an edge upon their
  competition, e.g. Ian Thorpe. The governing body
  had to assess the new swimsuit technology to
  categorise its effectiveness and aide capacity.

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2. APPLICATION OF NEW TECHNOLOGY

• New technology provides society with the raw
  materials to enable designers to approach a
  problem from a different aspect. For example, how
  we receive and process information has been
  totally changed by the development of the
  Internet. Some designers may find new ways of
  using technology.

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How much information can mobile phone systems
handle?

• Photonics is an area of new technological
  development that will provide for emerging
  development of products and systems. For example,
  Fibre Bragg Gratings, a new Australian
  technology, will assist the communication
  industry in developing an optimum network.

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• Other examples are infrared transmission and
  robotics and the controversial genetic
  modification of plants and animals. Even the
  facelifting BOTOX injections have revealed a side
  effect found useful in treating migraine headache
  and muscular spasms associated with cerebral
  palsy. Interestingly BOTOX was originally
  developed as a biological warfare tool (used in
  higher doses than current applications).

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3. GREEN DESIGN

• The impact on society and the environment of
  products and systems developed by designers is
  becoming increasingly important. Whether by
  choice, or because of legislation, many designers
  are now considering the effects their designs may
  have on the environment human ergonomics and the
  natural environment.

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•  1. Via their processing throughout production,
  usage and waste at the end of the products life
  cycle.
• 2. Designers of domestic appliances and personal
  computers are also considering design for
  disassembly. This involves making components that
  can easily be identified and processed at the end
  of their life cycle.

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• This can be seen with common household
  appliances that have become designed for extended
  use. For example, food processors, blenders and
  extractors that share a common power centre so
  that only one item needs to be purchased to
  perform multi-functions instead of three or more.
  Power tools have also undergone a similar trend
  in design.

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• The energy source utilised by products such as
  photovoltaic cells in solar appliances has
  undergone recent re-design to provide greater
  efficiency and viability for domestic use.
  Examples include items from climate control
  systems for housing to the simple outdoor garden
  light.

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4. EXPLORING NEW SHAPES

• Design fashion and styles often determine how the
  end product will appear to/ for the consumer.
  Products may have a status attached to them
  without regard for the products function. Trends
  in the fashion of design in recent years have
  been towards curves in many product exterior
  components. For example, the Eveready Dolphin
  Torch has changed from the brick shape to a more
  curved form without major changes to its
  functioning components.

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• The function of a product may also drive the
  design towards changing form and aesthetics. This
  can be evidenced in the development of the carbon
  fibre bicycle.

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5. Addressing a new user group

• Mainstream design caters for the majority of a
  projected market population. Some groups within
  the community may require specific design needs
  to be addressed by adaptation of existing
  products or the development of products
  specifically for a need. Examples of this type of
  design may be evidenced in areas of physical
  ability mental ability disposable income.

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• Products such as a keyboard adapter for computer
  use by cerebral palsy sufferers. Also, devices to
  aid limited grip as experienced by arthritis
  sufferers, such as tap turners and jar openers.
• A product to suit a specific need may be seen in
  the design of the Cochlear implant. This product
  assists a deaf person to hear and is part of a
  system implanted to benefit a new user group.

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6. APPROPRIATE MINIATURISATION 

• Some large products may find an increased
  application when miniaturised. For example, the
  telecommunication industry has undergone rapid
  innovation and emerging technology focus in
  recent years. This may be evidenced in the
  development of mobile phones and associated
  systems laptop computers home theatre systems.

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• Inappropriate miniaturisation may include those
  items that have been rendered functionally
  inadequate due to changes in form. For example,
  wristwatch calculators that have buttons so small
  thereby making the task of using the calculator
  nearly impossible. A portable television/DVD
  player that does not have sufficient screen size
  for comfortable viewing.

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7. DOWN-TECHING

• Many products in our society are aimed towards
  the consumer market. There are extensive
  opportunities for designers to improve the
  quality of life for the non-consumers of the
  world.
• Designers may also provide products for those
  members of society who wish to reverse the trend
  of high resource use and dependency.

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• A high tech product such as a radio or electric
  system for a community can find a new application
  through down-teching. Radios have been developed
  with power sources from solar to wind up
  mechanisms. Solar street or village lighting and
  water heating systems as well as electrical
  supply for domestic appliances.

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Alternative material use

• Developing countries have many needs that may be
  addressed by alternative material use for
  products. For example, bicycle frames made from
  bamboo, demountable wheelchairs made from wood/
  bamboo. Resources may also be recycled from
  consumer rich countries. For example, in
  Australia there are programs that currently
  disassemble unwanted bicycles to utilise their
  components to reuse as raw materials for
  wheelchairs. These are made available for
  individuals from developing countries who would
  otherwise be severely hampered in mobility.

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8. COMBINING FUNCTIONS 

• The design of a product that incorporates a range
  of functions may be considered innovative.
  Combination products such as the Swiss Army knife
  are an example of a range of functions within a
  product. However, some of the individual
  components may be seen as having little value and
  are more of a sales gimmick on multi-functionality
  .

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• Other products such as a floor rug that may be
  easily converted into a lounging chair, or a
  cradle rocking chair stretch the limits that
  society pre-conceives for the use of particular
  products.
• Function is not always the driving force or the
  ultimate state for a product to achieve.
  Aesthetics of products are a feature that society
  may place value upon. Combining functions may
  also challenge creative urges to design products
  that respond to the environments we live in.
• Examples can be evidenced in Australian society
  in common products such as caravans, camper
  trailers, yachts, multi-function ovens, kitchen
  appliances, power-tools, sofabeds.

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TRENDS

• By looking at innovative products and analysing
  what makes them innovative, we may find features
  that could be incorporated into future design. We
  can see the trends that emerge throughout society
  as fashion and innovation tempt the consumer the
  driving force behind product acceptance and
  financial success.
•  

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• Often innovation is linked to problem
  redefinition, that is, looking at a problem in a
  different way. This allows for the designer to
  have a clear picture of the whole problem and
  re-evaluate accepted limits. This is perhaps the
  highest form of innovation.

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INGENUITY OR STUPIDITY?
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• Trends in Australian society today are largely
  governed by the needs of the community.
• Design and production activities aim to satisfy
  the needs of the community.

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• The following examples are a small indication of
  innovative design activities that are currently
  being undertaken by Australians either
  independently or as part of a team.

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CURRENT TRENDS 1. BIOTECHNOLOGY

• The mission of Prana Biotechnology is to develop
  therapeutic drugs to treat the central disease
  pathways that cause degeneration of the brain and
  the eye as we age.
• Prana aims to play a major role in providing
  therapies for age-related disease, initially
  focussing on the treatment of Alzheimer's disease
  and thereby preserving the "life force", the
  "Prana", within each and every sufferer of the
  disease.

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• Prana Biotechnology is developing therapies for a
  broad spectrum of age-related diseases, based on
  technology arising from a series of discoveries
  about the causes of major age-related diseases.
• The discoveries have emerged from the
  laboratories of Professor Ashley Bush and
  Professor Rudolph Tanzi, at the Massachusetts
  General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and
  the laboratory of Professor Colin Masters at the
  University of Melbourne and the Mental Health
  Research Institute.

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CURRENT TRENDS 2. ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY 

• The Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems (CSES)
  is part of the Faculty of Engineering and
  Information Technology at the Australian National
  University
• CSES invented a thin crystalline silicon solar
  cell technique called Epilift. In this process a
  thin layer of silicon (50 microns thick) is grown
  on a conventional silicon wafer. The grown layer
  is peeled off and converted into a solar cell.

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• Over the next year Origin Energy will make a
  decision about commercialisation of the
  technology. Recently Origin Energy was awarded
  1 million by the Australian Greenhouse Office
  (RECP6) towards the cost of building a pilot
  plant.

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CURRENT TRENDS 3. HEALTH
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CURRENT TRENDS 4. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

• Redfern Photonics is an investor in start-up
  companies within in the Information and
  Communications Technologies (ICT) sector.
  Australian based, with a focus on international
  markets, their investment reach is global, with
  portfolio companies having their headquarters in
  the USA, Germany and China as well as in
  Australia.

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CURRENT TRENDS 5.  MANUFACTURING

• Hypersonic aerodynamics has been a major research
  activity at The University of Queensland over the
  last 20 years. The researchers in this group have
  been active internationally and, during that
  period, have been involved in collaborative
  research programs with about 20 universities and
  research organisations around the world.

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CURRENT TRENDS 6.  TRANSPORT 

• The Permo-Drive system harnesses the previously
  wasted braking energy of a vehicle, stores this
  energy and is able to release it back into the
  drive shaft as required. For example, a truck
  going down a hill or braking can store that
  energy for use at a later time. If the truck
  needs to accelerate or go up a hill, or through a
  gear change, the Permo-Drive system can be
  automatically activated to deliver additional
  torque to the drive shaft during periods of peak
  engine demand.

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Environmental benefits 

• Reduction in exhaust, carbon and noxious
  emissions. 
• Reduction in engine exhaust braking noise.
• Reduction in brake dust pollutants.

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CURRENT TRENDS 6.  ORGANISATIONS

• The development of co-operative research centres
  enables both government and private sponsorship
  organisations to develop design solutions in many
  varied areas especially those that are related to
  scientific technological advancement.
• University research centres also act
  independently and in co-operation with the CSIRO
  in many endeavours. For example, latest diet for
  well being on CSIRO web site.

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CONCLUSION

• Where do these trends lead ?
• In wealthier countries trends of design in our
  society are related to capital investment
  strategies and the role of Co-operative research
  centres (CRCs). This aims to bring together
  isolated groups towards sharing limited resources
  of expertise and finance to achieve goals in a
  competitive timeframe.