Category disrupting innovation
Challenge
Driven by the need to radically improve the energy efficiency of a public-facing appliance, the engineering and industrial design team asked Plan to help it identify and develop opportunities to redefine the product category. The energy efficiency target could not be achieved through incremental improvement of existing product architecture, which suggested that a new user experience would be required. The appliance also operated in a complex ownership and service structure.
Approach
We began with an innovation audit of human-machine interfaces in adjacent product categories in seven markets worldwide. A complex array of stakeholder needs was identified, tensions highlighted, and key project requirements prioritised. To set the challenge in a longer-term future context, we analysed 10 Long-wave social, cultural, economic and technological drivers of change in the landscape. We then distilled our point of view on the project’s ambition into a Manifesto to engage senior management in the product vision.
Following the research and strategy phase, we were invited to lead two ideation workshops and a digital connectivity strategy workshop with the design and engineering teams.
Impact
- The team aligned around a complex but clearly framed challenge
- Senior management engaged by a foresight-backed and inspiring vision
- Aligned engineers and designers on realistic directions
Testimonial
Plan leap into complex problems and have the skills to quickly understand, untangle and simplify them. Their experience across decades of design and a breadth of industries provides a new perspective to steer teams towards elegant solutions.
Senior Director User Experience & Design
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