Innovation in Design Pt1 : A Three-Part Exercise for Freethinking
Recently, I gave a presentation to my design team about fostering innovation and encouraging more freethinking. The focus was on applying a design consultancy approach—one that produces wild, boundary-pushing ideas—to established products, where many stakeholders and business constraints are already baked in. To help my team put this into practice, I created an exercise that trains the mind to think more innovatively, and I’m excited to share it with all of you. In this three-part blog series, I’ll break down the exercise so you can follow along and try it yourself. Stay tuned!
Why write about innovation?
I still remember one of my first brainstorming sessions at Whipsaw. The assignment was to design a Wi-Fi router for TPLink. As someone who was still finding my footing in design, my first thought was to reimagine the shape or maybe play around with cool CMF (color, material, finish). After all, it's just a Wi-Fi router—how innovative could it really be?
But as I sat down to sketch, I found myself stuck in a repetitive loop, drawing the same ideas over and over with minor variations. I looked around the room, and my colleagues were sketching Wi-Fi routers that looked like futuristic spaceships or even ones inspired by animals. I was embarrassed. Why wasn’t my approach producing anything exciting? What were they doing differently?
Looking back, I realized it wasn’t just about what they were designing—it was about how they were thinking about the problem. While I was focused on aesthetics, they were rethinking the very concept of a router. They questioned everything: the orientation of the PCB board, the shape of the antennas, the user experience. That was the moment I understood that innovative thinking is about becoming an expert in the user's problem and then offering multiple solutions—solutions that don’t just meet the basic needs but solve them in a creative, clever way.
What are some examples of innovation?
Humans are hardwired for innovation—not just for survival and adaptability, but also due to our intrinsic motivation for curiosity. We like to build, test, and improve the world around us. We're driven to make things easier, more efficient, and more ergonomic for ourselves. Below are a few examples of innovations that have drastically changed the course of human society.
These innovations have radically transformed society, but why? It's because they didn’t just solve a problem—they solved it in a new, creative way. And that’s the essence of innovation. If we don’t innovate, design and technology stagnate.
Why innovate in an established product?
Over time, products can become stagnant. A design system is established, stakeholders have strong opinions, and business goals take center stage. While all of these are important, it’s innovation that keeps us from getting stuck in the status quo. It’s what allows us to stay fresh, stand out from competitors, and continue to offer value to users.
In the next two posts, I’ll walk through how I apply innovation to established products, using the same principles I learned from consulting. I’ll discuss common blockers and explore when innovation is necessary. In the final post, I’ll share a small exercise that anyone can use to help spark more innovative thinking.