Design inspires Design

The hidden Problem Behind All Problems

It is almost universal: A design solution as a source of inspiration for the next design solution (iteration) is where most creative ideas have been stuck since day one. To make this creative problem accessible, I like to use an analogy that everybody is familiar with.

The technological "evolution" of computer devices on the hard and software level shows this phenomenon very obvious. The first computers used to complete small calculations had a size of a building. With shrinking transistors the devices have become smaller and smaller.

When Apple revolutionized the computer industry by introducing a personal computer, a product used for industrial services was now accessible to the masses. The big sized computers were scaled down from room size to desktop size. So far so good.



What was not good is the fact that the fundamental idea of the personal computer was a combination of two existing design solutions that were there before: The screen and the typewriter.

Ok, why is that a problem, when recombination is actually a principle of life itself?

Because, the source of inspiration follows the "Design inspires Design" pattern. Instead of using a living thing as a source of inspiration, the personal computer has been based on ideas that were solutions for other problems. The typewriter was used in the industry to capture text based information. The screen was used for moving images.
In a way the input and output devices were the revolutionary parts of the first "Personal Computers" as integrated circuits systems existed from back to the 50th.

An interview with Steve Jobs shows that he actually got it right by making analogues with "our minds". But using again a bicycle as a metaphor to impose that computers are an improvement of the brain can be seen as misleading. Or have you seen a computer that was smarter than a human being. Of course computers can render predictable information faster than humans, but what would they do without our input?



If we go back to the pioneers of computers John Halland and von Neumann, we know that the computer technology in it's birth-days was a highly "Life inspired Artefact". John Holland and von Neumann used nerve systems and the DNA as inspiration when they design the computer architecture.

The usage of a typewriter and a screen as an input and output device can definitely be seen as one of the biggest obstacles that occurred in the process of computer design.

Ever since innovators and designers have been relying on inspirations taken from existing design solutions. This is the problem of all problems as it narrows down more and more the "circle of inspiration" to a level that "Life inspired Design" becomes almost unthinkable.
That's basically why the moving restriction we face today in front of a computer device is inherited from the DID-Principle.



The "advanced" iterative process of computer devices is hindered by ideas adapted from existing design solutions like the "Notebook". A notebook is literally an abstraction of a book. When we look at it from the "Layers of inspiration", we will quickly realize that we're dealing with an abstraction of a book in an electronic device. Using a book as a source of inspiration is the highest possible limitation one can imagine when considering the infinite possibilities of "Living Artefacts" and the "Layers of Inspiration" as a method to abstract ideas.

But this is not the only restriction build into a personal computer. We have something called the "desktop", "trash", "folders" ect. which is again inspired from the items in our office. Trends like "spotlight" and "time machine" are less an advancement of technology but a sign of the superiority of the principle "Life inspires Design". The last features are more life-like than the one abstracted from the office.

To predict the future of the mechanisms in which we will interact with computer devices is pretty simple.

When a revolutionary innovation emerges we witness mostly a transition from "Design inspires Design" to "Life inspires Design". A touchpad is not "there yet". A voice or even thought controlled device is actually something "we all want", right...

The "Design inspires Design" phenomenon can be found in ANY design solution.

This has to do with the overestimation of "Design inspires Design" and unconsciously underestimation of "Life Inspired Design".
A car innovator said to me ones that doors of cars are in a way a silly idea. The doors build in cars are copied from the doors in our homes.

Sliding doors would be more clever as one would avoid crash accidents by passing vehicles. Sure, sliding doors are still "Design inspired Design" solutions.

If we would implement a "Life inspired Design" instead, we would take inspiration from eyes, mouth or any other "smarter" living opening and closing concept and abstract it in our design process.

A window based on inspiration taken from a living thing would be able to "see", "move in together", "clean itself" or the ground using brushs...ect.