In September 2013, after
successfully defending
my Ph.D. dissertation,
“Perceptive Qualities in
Systems of Interactive
Products,” I moved from the
academic environment of
the Eindhoven University
of Technology to Philips
Design. At Philips I work
in the Design Research and
Innovation group, where I
am mainly involved in design
innovation and strategy
processes—an interesting
move after finishing a
rather theoretical Ph.D.
on designing for product
behavior and intelligent
systems. In this role I get a
chance to further investigate
what designing for complex,
intelligent systems means
in a corporate environment.
Rethinking Value in a
Changing Landscape:
A Model for Strategic
Reflection and Business
Transformation (Reon Brand
and Simona Rocchi, 2011)
Making Sense of the Chaos:
From Data Mining to Data
Meaning (Philips Design,
2012) Within Philips, digital
innovation and designing
for product-service systems
is an important point of
focus. In this respect, Philips
Design has published several
interesting papers that I would
recommend reading. These
two are particularly relevant
to designing for product-
service systems. In my current
projects I heavily build upon
the learnings and insights
derived from these papers.
Designing Smart Textile
Services through Value
Networks, Team Mental
Models and Shared
Ownership (Martijn ten
Bhömer et al., 2012)
Setting the Stage for the
Design of Highly Interactive
Systems (Joep Frens and
Kees Overbeeke, 2009)
From Collection to
Reflection – On Designing
Freed, a Tool for Free and
Flexible Organization of
Designers’ Digital Work
(Philip Mendels, 2013)
In my work at Philips I often
refer to various works of
my former colleagues from
the Designing Quality in
Interaction research group.
Bhömer et al. gives strong
clues on how to facilitate
the co-creation of product-service systems in a multi-stakeholder setting. Frens
and Overbeeke clearly
Eva Deckers
Specs
Focus: Design
innovation and
strategy processes.
Heavily involved
in coordinating
collaboration with
academic partners.
Base: Philips Design,
Eindhoven,
The Netherlands
DOI: 10.1145/2627691 COP YRIGHT HELD BY AUTHOR
articulate characteristics of
highly interactive systems
and the design skills needed
to design for them. Mendels
is very relevant to my work,
as we are looking for ways
to deal with ever-growing
collections of data and
analyzing them, respecting
the skill of our people
researchers who collect and
deal with this data.
Designing for Adaptive
Lighting Environments:
Embracing Complexity
in Designing for Systems
(Remco Magielse, 2014)
Magielse’s doctoral
dissertation is very
informative on how to design
for complexity, openness,
and growth, a question
I think is at the core of
designing product-service
systems. This work
naturally informs the
various connected-lighting
projects we run.
Innovation Paradigms: How
Design Needs to Evolve to
Deliver Value (Paul Gardien
et al., 2014) Last, I would
recommend keeping an eye
for this to-be-published
(August 2014) collaborative
work between my former
and new colleagues in the
International Journal of
Design. This work deepens
the story of Rocchi and
Brand mentioned earlier,
placing it in design history
and especially providing
insights into the tools and
skills we need to develop to
respond to the challenges
and opportunities brought by
new economic paradigms.
Eva Deckers is a consultant
in the Design Research and
Innovation Group and domain lead
for the Parents & Kids Experience
Domain at Philips Design.
Magielse’s
doctoral
dissertation is
very informative
on how to design
for complexity,
openness, and
growth.
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