Design research is about generating data that can unlock innovative ideas.
Kolko talks about innovation as something that isn't just new but also succeeds on the market. In this sense, design and research alone cannot produce something innovative. Other parts other organisation like engineering and marketing must make it happen and succeed, if an idea should be actually innovative.
What design research can do, is find the right problem to solve. It can point to an opportunity. However, a research with focus on human behavior is needed for that:
"...design research that focuses on human behavior – not on a particular object or service – is the most useful at discovering data for innovation"
So research is problem finding. Synthesis, then, is problem understanding. It can describe a solution in terms of characteristics but fundamentally acts as a link between research (generating data) and design (producing something tangible).
In this sense, design synthesis can be a driver for innovation.
Tags: user research design process
ID: 2021-0628-0724
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