The essentials of invention
Invention is a creative adventure that starts with an original idea and ends, if all goes well, with the market launch of a novel or radically improved product or process. It’s an adventure that rarely goes smoothly and often ends unhappily. None the less, much of the UK’s economic strength can be traced back to the solo efforts of inventive individuals.
Most significant inventions now appearing on the market are a marriage of inspired thinking and elegant design. It's probably not commercially possible to have it any other way, as today's quality-conscious markets have long lost their tolerance of revolutionary but bug-ridden or 'clunky' technologies.
There's also much less room for the really big invention. James Dyson didn't invent the vacuum cleaner and Apple didn't invent the computer. They invented improvements involving new or unconventional uses of both technology and design.
What Apple, Dyson and other innovators did was reinvent through design. Design is fundamental to invention and is the key to turning a prototype into a marketable and backable product. It's vital to think about design from the very start, as the true value of an invention may not be spotted if it's obscured by an impractical or inappropriate design.
A designer’s input to the invention process can be invaluable, particularly when dealing with manufacturers, who need both detailed specifications before they can make or quote for anything and access to someone who talks their language if problems arise.