Technology First, Needs Last says Norman
Don Norman argues that design research does not help with developing new breakthrough innovations. He concludes that the value of design research is only in incremental product improvements that provide a quick return. When it comes to innovations like airplanes, automobiles, indoor plumbing, electric lighting and the flush, design research had no role to play. Norman then says that using ethnographic observational studies to discover, unmet hidden needs is a myth.
Sorry, Don but I'm not sure if I agree with you completely having led hands on marketing, product and design teams for over a decade. If you're a designer and you look to draw a direct translation from design research to product design then maybe you're depending upon design research. However, if you're using it as one of many inputs (including your own imagination and common sense), you'll discover that design research can only help. Innovation is a complex, unscientific and imaginative process. To try to reduce it to a format (whether that be through design research or the opposite) is an over simplification.
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