 Gildan Media, a division of recorded books, presents The Future of Design, Global Product Innovation for a Complex World, by Lorraine Justice, narrated by Catherine Fenton. Publishers note, this audiobook has bonus material. Please contact whomever you purchase this audiobook from to request the material. All figures and tables referenced in this audiobook can be found in the bonus material. Introduction The Future of Design Design, at its best, feels good. It brings people into the moment through their senses and gives them a great experience. Whether you're designing a functional object, a temporary shelter for victims of natural disasters, a theme park, or interactive technology, well-designed products and services should make people's experiences and lives better, if not enjoyable in some way. Good design can alleviate problematic experiences, too. People want to feel safe in a hospital, hotel room, or walking down a street at night. Improving the impact of spaces, the delicit feelings of discomfort, confusion, or fear helps designers create an environment that is comfortable and reassuring. This also applies to convenience. Improving airline check-in counters, online banking, or hospital protocol can be a goal of designers when implementing the design process, an important part of which is to work directly with consumers and users on improving the experience. Good design is efficient. It can turn cumbersome and complicated processes into clear instruction. Complex problems can be visualized through steps to help bring about solutions and opportunities. Countries such as Australia, Finland, and Sweden have included their citizens in the design process to create easier tax forms and simplify other governmental functions. These are examples of design thinking in action. Design thinking is an overarching term that includes the design process and can spur large and small innovations. It encompasses two fundamental ways of thinking, divergent and convergent thinking. Convergent thinking enables you to broaden your thinking in the pursuit of ideas. Convergent thinking enables you to narrow your thoughts to eliminate solutions and ideas that do not fit the problem. Trying to find a solution to a design problem or opportunity can be mentally taxing and intense, but it can also be exhilarating and satisfying when ideas come together. Students and their teams need to maintain a positive yet critical mindset when considering new ideas. They synthesize large amounts of information from various sources in relation to the problem or opportunity. They actively work to connect the information to create insights that might form solutions. Using information to drive insights is a form of design reasoning, a key concept within the design thinking process. Design and innovation rarely follow a linear path, so it may take several iterations of the design process to come up with something unique that addresses the original challenge. Design reasoning helps designers move between divergent thinking and convergent thinking. It is often a fast process, but it is iterative and reactive, which helps to move the designer and the team toward a solution. Design reasoning occurs when disparate pieces of information are compared for usefulness. Those disparate pieces of information are accepted or rejected. Diverse ideas are held for equal consideration. Design reasoning is a mental give and take that allows you to move through many solutions in order to find the best ones. Through the design reasoning process, ideas may be evaluated and rejected, rearranged, changed, stripped of attributes, and held as contradictory solutions to the same problem if there are many ways to approach it. Design reasoning may use visualization or sketching techniques to help determine the best shapes or attributes for the solution. Design drawings or quick sketches are used to capture and record these ideas so they can be evaluated. Sample complete. Ready to continue?