Dick Powell of Seymourpowell Design visited the agency yesterday evening to give us a fascinating and inspiring talk about design and innovation.

Great to hear from someone who really knows about what
they're doing in this sector (everything from cordless kettles to
spaceships) from a creative and business perspective.

A couple of interesting things:

– seymourpowell's creative process (they call it a 'crucible process') is based on visual concepting – you have to
actually draw the product idea to show how it works, the written word
being too open to varying interpretations.
– they believe that much of the skill of the product designer is in 'plate-spinning' – balancing all the considerations of how people use things, how they're made, how much things cost, what the client's business needs, etc.

– innovation isn't usually about looking for the 'big idea'; it's about bringing together a series of small ideas in a new, surprising and relevant way.

A final thought from Dick, via Shaw, paraphrased by me:

You see things and you ask 'why?' But creative people dream things that never were and ask, 'Why not?'