How Culturally Scattered COINs are Reinventing the Design Process

As our world's economies continue to overlap and intertwine, designers are increasingly being called upon to re-invent their process in order to develop products, services and other things that are internationally relevant. Collaborative Innovation Networks (COINs) operating within a democratic, virtual environment are, by their very natures, forerunners in this transformation. It can even be argued that multicultural COINs are more effective at tackling design challenges with global import, than design teams whose members work in each other's physical presence.This paper examines necessary modifications to a Western construct of the Design Process uncovered by geographically and culturally scattered COINs working on projects together. The new precepts that govern this updated process will be discussed, from research and product definition through ideation, concept generation, design refinement and prototyping.Several current case studies illustrating the central role that COINs play in defining a contemporary design process will be discussed:Appendix A. How new medical devices appropriate for use in African hospitals are being designed by collaborative innovation networks with members in Uganda, the United States and Israel.Appendix B. How communities of blind users in Mexico, South Africa, Malawi, the United States and India helped define product specifications for a Braille writer using a process moderated by industrial designers. How collaborative innovation networks of design students in Mumbai, and Chicago were able to design culturally relevant products and services for each other's communities.