Title: Framing innovation: negotiating shared frames during early design phases

Authors: Jonathan H.G. Hey, Caneel K. Joyce, Sara L. Beckman

Addresses: University of California, Berkeley Institute of Design, 281 Hearst Memorial Mining Building #1764, Berkeley, CA 94720-1764, USA. ' University of California, Haas School of Business, 545 Student Services #1900, Berkeley, CA 94720-1900, USA. ' University of California, Haas School of Business, 545 Student Services #1900, Berkeley, CA 94720-1900, USA

Abstract: Members of newly formed design teams have different frames – implicit values, goals and assumptions –– each of them hold about what problems are important and how they are best addressed. In the early, informal phases of design projects, these frames, and the degree to which they are shared within the team, have substantial consequences. However, little is known about the interactions and activities that reveal frames and support frame sharing in teams. Our study follows 22 newly-formed multi-disciplinary teams through the early phases of the design process in a New Product Development course. We used a mixed method, interdisciplinary approach to understand the dynamic process through which design frames are socially negotiated and shared. We identified core framing activities of design teams and propose a framing cycle of pseudo-frame setting, making individuals| frames explicit, making frame conflicts salient, and building a common frame.

Keywords: design teams; early design stages; framing; innovation; user-centred; design process; design research; multi-disciplinary teams; new product development; NPD; design education.

DOI: 10.1504/JDR.2007.015564

Journal of Design Research, 2007 Vol.6 No.1/2, pp.79 - 99

Published online: 29 Oct 2007 *

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