Design Driven Design Driven Innovation – Innovation – AlessiAlessi

An HBS case, powerpoint by Wesley Shu, Ph.D.An HBS case, powerpoint by Wesley Shu, Ph.D.

Why Alessi?Why Alessi?

Michael Graves’ Model 9093 Sold in Costco 好事多 for NT$3,000+

Common Design PrinciplesCommon Design Principles

Alessi Does not follow any of them. Tech push: an improvement in

performance and functionality dictates a modification in design

market pull: the design accommodates consumers' demand for new features.

Open Innovation – P&G, IBM, Intel, etc.

Alessi’s Design PrincipleAlessi’s Design Principle

R&D operation: in which a community of architects, suppliers, critics, publishers, artists, designers, and others immerse themselves in a discourse about the role, identity, and meaning of a product well before they address its form.

I call it “Network Effect of Design” IDEO: outsourced to design studio

BenefitBenefit

The products that result often represent a dramatic break from their predecessors

giving them longer commercial lives creating high consumer expectations for

the brand's future offerings.

Advantage of LombardyAdvantage of Lombardy

the number and quality of the links between components of the design system, such as schools, studios, and manufacturers

strong on imagination and motivation--qualities within reach of any group of businesses

Model 9093 – a kettleModel 9093 – a kettle

Designed by Michael Graves Knockoff by Target Mystery: Alessi, based in Lombardy, Italy,

continued to sell at prices 5 times higher CSF of Alessi – management of innovation –

an Engine of Innovation

Alessi’s Engine of InnovationAlessi’s Engine of Innovation

Process Executives, not artists or artisans

Design-driven innovationDesign-driven innovation

Broadened people’s expectations of what a kettle was and did, and the nature of the breakfast experience

Long before any thought is given to the form an item will eventually take, its role, identify, and meaning have been thoroughly explored.

reconceptualization of a traditional object

Other examplesOther examples

Bookworm bookshelf by Kartell Nokia – mobile phones became accessories,

akin to key chains or wallets Artemide’s Metamorfosi, led by a

MD/psychiatrist iMac

Do We Need Artists to Lead Do We Need Artists to Lead Design? NODesign? NO Graves: American architect Alessi: Lawyer Gismondi, Chairman of Artemide: aerospace

engineer Not all are Italian either

Why ArchitectWhy Architect

The repercussions of a shift in an object's design and meaning explain in part why the Lombardy group shows a special preference for architects

Architects are in the business of creating environments.

Also know that most buildings will outlive the tenancy of their present owners, which compels them to envision the way of life of future generations who will take up residence there.

Design-driven innovation – How?Design-driven innovation – How?

Distant culture and social current alerted designers

Envisioning the way of life of future generations

Combination of aspects of the local and the global

Guns, Germs, and Steel

蒼茫大地，誰主浮沈？我們從歷史研究中期望發現的，是不受時空侷限的睿見；我們想要捉摸的是人類存在的本質。……戴蒙事實上強調的是：人類歷史發展的動力，來自不同個體、不同社群的互動。

Lombardy, what are Lombardy, what are NOTNOT CSF CSF

Italian Artists Schools Manufacturers Studios

Since everywhere has them

Three-phase process of design-Three-phase process of design-driven innovationdriven innovation1. Absorb

2. Interpret

3. Address

AbsorbAbsorb

Entrepreneurs, designers, etc., from different background to discuss trends, styles, materials, technology, etc.

Exhibitions Design journals to debate future of design Alberto Alessi then recognized a sharply new

design language was needed - architects to develop the new vocabulary and grammar – Tea & Coffee Piazza Project

They focused on communicativeness & evocativeness, ignoring cost & functionality

AbsorbAbsorb

“It is easy to make a list of the top ten designers of the past ten years. But I'm virtually certain that fewer than half of them will be among the top ten designers of the next ten years.”

AbsorbAbsorb

“By then, their language won’t be novel anymore, or will be widely imitated. Also, their interest and vitality may fade. Sometimes, too, they are spoiled by success.”

InterpretInterpret

11 architects to design new kettles, focused on evocativeness and communicativeness

The prototypes were exhibited in museums Limited editions were sold to museums Books about the prototypes to extended

design community Exhibitions in high-end department stores Invited comments Graves modified, based on cost and

functionality

Model 9093 Model 9093 Its broad base: facilitated

rapid heating its visible rivets: recalled a

kind of vintage artisanship its superimposed plastic

handle in cool blue: was decorative as well as heat-resistant

its little bird: flew in the face of modernism's insistence on abstract form, earned it the highest rating in Alessi's history.

Compared with Model 9091Compared with Model 9091

• Sapper's model 9091 kettle emits two low, harmonizing whistles evoking ships passing in the night

AddressAddress

After 9093 launched, another round of exhibition

Because advertising is not the ideal explanatory medium, little of it was done.

Continuing to talk and write about the product Own outlets to control the presentation and

underline the traits Heavy literature came with the products

After the KettleAfter the Kettle

Affective impact of form – evoke childhood pleasures and sensations – security blanket

design objects for grownups that would directly appeal to their impulse to invest possessions with personal meaning.

After the KettleAfter the Kettle

Stefano Giovannoni’s Nutcracker

After the KettleAfter the Kettle

Alessandro Mendini’s Corkscrews: Anna G. & Beijing

After the KettleAfter the Kettle

Worried that the ideas underlying the items generated by the Tea and Coffee Piazza had become too familiar after being copied by other companies, Alessi launched a new project called Tea and Coffee Towers in 2001. (The one before was called Tea and Coffee Piazza.)

Partner with non-Lombardy companies, ex. Philips (contact: Philips Chief Creative Director)

After the KettleAfter the Kettle

Philips and Artemide’s examples show creative meaning of lighting

Another Example of Lighting

Can It Happen Here?Can It Happen Here?

Everywhere! Wikinomics/Web 2.0 Home-demand as Michael Porter’s notion Manufacturing culture – knowing the value of

Design

劍道的三層境界劍道的三層境界第一層境界人劍合一，劍就是人，人就是劍，手中寸草也是利器。

第二層境界手中無劍，劍在心中，雖赤手空拳，卻能殺敵於百步之外。

最高境界手中無劍，心中也無劍，是以大胸懷包容一切，那便是不殺，便是和平。