Design research – A soft innovation method

As a child, I was raised into the idea that creativity and masterpieces were gifts from god. Let me tell you what I think: It is 90% of the time wrong.

Design research is proving firms with the tools adapted to discover new territories as well as refining their existing offer or products in a totally new manner. Indeed, unlike a market research approach, design research understands people and practices in the context of their whole life, not a narrowly defined customer experience.

Also, while market research is a track record of the past, design research, through its participative and user center approach pushes further the boundaries of innovation. This is what I call “ consumer pulled soft innovation”

Those tools range from focus group, creative session to prototyping and can be applied not only to product development but also to business models design, online user experience or branding.

Listen to your customers, they know what they want.