Open Design and Innovation

Open innovation, crowd sourcing, democratised innovation, vernacular design and brand fanaticism are amongst a handful of new approaches to design and innovation that have generated discussion and media coverage in recent years. In practice, these ideas are often inspiring propositions rather than providing pragmatic strategies. Open Design and Innovation develops the argument for a more nuanced acknowledgement and facilitation of 'non-professional' forms of creativity; drawing on lessons from commercial design practice; theoretical analysis and a wider understanding of innovation. Specifically this book examines: innovation and design, the reality and myth of mass creativity and the future of the design profession, through a series of case studies of new approaches to open design practices. The text draws on academic research, practical experience of the author in delivering open design projects and first hand interviews with leaders in the fields. The author challenges the notion of the designer as 'fountain-head' of innovation and, equally, the idea of 'user creativity' as a replacement for traditional design and innovation. The book offers a critique of the hype surrounding some of the emerging phenomena and a framework to help understand the emerging relationship between citizens and designers. It goes on to propose a roadmap for the development of the design profession, welcoming and facilitating new modes of design activity where designers facilitate creative collaborations.

Dr Leon Cruickshank is a Reader in ImaginationLancaster, the design research laboratory at Lancaster University. He has been researching new relationships between designers and non-designers for the last 20 years. Driving this research is a desire to allow more people to become more active in shaping our society, environment and media. Requiring a radical change in the way we think about designers and designing this has led to research in design processes, in the role digital technology can play in facilitating new types of interaction and the design of knowledge exchange. It has also led to in-depth research on open design and innovation. He is contributing to or leading a broad range of projects. These include Director of Knowledge Exchange for the £4 million AHRC Creative Knowledge Exchange Hub. He is the UK lead for the €4 million PROUD project looking at knowledge exchange through co-design.