DESIGNING RELATIONSHIPS
As we move from mass-produced, one-size-fits-all products to personalised, adaptive, and evolving Product Service Systems, this changes not only the way we do design, but the design deliverables also take on other forms. In this section, we look at ‘what comes out of the box when the user unpacks what they paid for’; the effect or goal that is the result of designing. This is the same question Bas Raijmakers referred to in the cover story of the first CRISP magazine: “Don’t you design chairs anymore?” The answer is: no, not chairs, or… not just chairs, or… not the chairs themselves primarily, although chairs can still be a part of the solution… somehow.
The results of PSS design extend beyond the ‘product as thing-in-a-box-that’s-yours-to-keep’ in at least four ways, all of which we have repeatedly encountered in CRISP. These four aspects are addressed on the following pages. At the end of this section, Donald Norman reflects on the new results that design should bring.
More often than not, products are an integral part of a wider Product Service System that is carefully designed and developed. No longer can we simply put our designs into boxes, put them on display, or present them in a catalogue with a single picture on a white background, without losing the gist of the wider story. If it is no longer chairs that we design, what, exactly is it that we design?
- more time
- more growth
- more people
- more framing
- NO MORE CHAIRS
read more
As we move from mass-produced, one-size-fits-all products to personalised, adaptive, and evolving Product Service Systems, this changes not only the way we do design, but the design deliverables also take on other forms. In this section, we look at ‘what comes out of the box when the user unpacks what they paid for’; the effect or goal that is the result of designing. This is the same question Bas Raijmakers referred to in the cover story of the first CRISP magazine: “Don’t you design chairs anymore?” The answer is: no, not chairs, or… not just chairs, or… not the chairs themselves primarily, although chairs can still be a part of the solution… somehow.
The results of PSS design extend beyond the ‘product as thing-in-a-box-that’s-yours-to-keep’ in at least four ways, all of which we have repeatedly encountered in CRISP. These four aspects are addressed on the following pages. At the end of this section, Donald Norman reflects on the new results that design should bring.
More often than not, products are an integral part of a wider Product Service System that is carefully designed and developed. No longer can we simply put our designs into boxes, put them on display, or present them in a catalogue with a single picture on a white background, without losing the gist of the wider story. If it is no longer chairs that we design, what, exactly is it that we design?
- more time
- more growth
- more people
- more framing
- NO MORE CHAIRS
read more
About Themes
Wondering about the results of CRISP? Longing to dive into the outcomes of the eight projects? Watch this! We have taken CRISP to a higher level and discovered four overarching themes: designing rela- tionships, orchestration, embracing complexity, and strategic value. Call it serendipity if you want; in our view, these are the future themes
of PSS research!
In the past four years, the Creative Industry Scientific Programme
has explored how we can create knowledge that will help creativity assume a more strategic role in ser- vice innovation for society and the economy. We started the eight pro- jects to stimulate synergy between the two traditional paradigms of product design and service design. But in designing and research-
ing PSS, we found ourselves on completely new ground. About a year ago, we began to ask ourselves, “Can we capture this? Can we find deeper themes that transcend these projects?” To answer these higher level questions, we organised creative sessions where we zoomed out in search of the most relevant, overarching CRISP lessons on
PSS design.
These four overarching themes offer up fresh perspectives on
PSS design. Enjoy reading CRISP’s epilogue.
Wondering about the results of CRISP? Longing to dive into the outcomes of the eight projects? Watch this! We have taken CRISP to a higher level and discovered four overarching themes: designing rela- tionships, orchestration, embracing complexity, and strategic value. Call it serendipity if you want; in our view, these are the future themes
of PSS research!
In the past four years, the Creative Industry Scientific Programme
has explored how we can create knowledge that will help creativity assume a more strategic role in ser- vice innovation for society and the economy. We started the eight pro- jects to stimulate synergy between the two traditional paradigms of product design and service design. But in designing and research-
ing PSS, we found ourselves on completely new ground. About a year ago, we began to ask ourselves, “Can we capture this? Can we find deeper themes that transcend these projects?” To answer these higher level questions, we organised creative sessions where we zoomed out in search of the most relevant, overarching CRISP lessons on
PSS design.
These four overarching themes offer up fresh perspectives on
PSS design. Enjoy reading CRISP’s epilogue.
As we dived under the surface, we discovered four intriguing common themes and took the opportunity
to dive even deeper. When CRISP started, the word relationships didn’t seem to be relevant. However, after four years, it became clear that, across the eight projects, a PSS is all about maintaining a relationship between the user/consumer and the provider. When we defined designing relationships as a theme, it felt like we had hit a research goldmine.
We all recognise the problem of multi-ownership in PSSs. They are networks! Gradually, it became clear that the system only works well when every player in the system reads the same score. Orchestration is the term that emerged from our discussions and this became the second of our four themes.
We noticed that the extreme com- plexity was an important factor determining how PSS design works. Trying to overcome complexity through forced attempts to simplify things, for instance, led to frus- tration. The only way forward is to acknowledge and accept the intri- guing dynamics of PSSs. This led to the theme of embracing complexity.
Initially, we thought that ‘strategy’ and ‘value’ in all their aspects were the sole domain of the CASD pro- ject; the acronym stands for Com- petitive Advantage through Strategic Design. That proved not to be the case. In other projects insights also emerged that contributed to this field. Strategic value is the fourth
of our broad themes and is part and parcel of all CRISP projects.