INNOVATION THROUGH DESIGN FOR EMOTION

Innovation represents a key role in firm success. Though the literature provides much advices and methods, companies sometimes do not know how to proceed when they feel they have exhausted all innovation possibilities or when they are in need of a specific type of evolution. The present paper proposes an overview of product innovation types and emotional design methods to make competitive products, bringing emotional benefits to the final users. Based on the synthesis of existing methods and tools from the literature and on our experience in design for emotion, we propose to illustrate how to design for emotion in the three main types of product innovation: incremental, disruptive and forecasting. We propose a visual tool, a brochure, dedicated to SMEs, to help understanding the differences between these types of innovation and how design for emotion can contribute to each type of innovation. Each case is supplemented with a toolbox of relevant tools, allowing company’s design team to understand and to start innovation through design for emotion.