Design Innovation Management
The value of design: an issue of vision, creativity and interpretation
Mariana Fonseca Braga
Politecnico di Milano
mariana.fonseca@polimi.it
Keywords: design thinking; policy making; interdisciplinarity; policy labs
Abstract
What is the value of design? Why should firms invest in design? The paper aims at clarifying the value of design, its dimensions and its variables (qualitative and quantitative) throughout a literature review and analysis. The premise is that firms invest in design to create value. Design has evolved, becoming closely related to innovation, and the need to clarify its dimensions and relationships to value within firms and society rises. Despite the global growing interest in design, it is not fully understood how it brings benefits to the company. The concept of value is found in a fragmented literature including economics, marketing, business, management, value engineering, design domains, social and environmental sustainability. In conclusion, the value of design still is under-researched and new dimensions emerge. It is shaped by designers and companies visions, creativity and interpretations. Better cross- fertilization is required to identify the mechanisms of value creation by design.
This paper is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence.
→ download the paper (PDF)
Cite this paper: Fonseca Braga, M. (2016). The value of design: an issue of vision, creativity and interpretation. Proceedings of DRS 2016, Design Research Society 50th Anniversary Conference. Brighton, UK, 27–30 June 2016.
This paper will be presented at DRS2016, find it in the conference programme