The Design of Things to Come:How Ordinary People Create Extraordinary Products

What does it mean to deconstruct the process of innovation? While there is no shortage of books on innovation, not too many books address how interdisciplinary teams can help ‘ordinary people create extraordinary products’, making it thereby possible for a company to move from a costcentric strategy to one driven by innovation. The goal of this book is to set out the modalities to make innovation an organic process within a company since, according to the authors, that is ‘the only way the core of your brand can be strategically connected to every product you make and service you provide (p. xxv).’ The book focuses on people involved in innovation as designers/producers and as users; it uses fictitious scenarios in an attempt to provide context for each of the chapters along with accounts of how real people participate in the innovation process. These ‘scenarios are often composites that represent critical aspects of the lifestyle tendencies of the intended market (p. xxv).’