Introduction

In this article, we focus on design innovation, that is, innovation in the external appearance of a product. Design has become an important competitive tool for managers and a fruitful area of research for scholars. The term design is rather elusive, having been attributed very different meanings. For example, when design is defined as an outcome, it has been conceptualized as enhancing product functionality, ease of use, and/or appearance (e.g., Homburg, Schwemmle, and Kuehnl, 2015; Noble and Kumar, 2010). When examining design as an activity, it has been conceptualized in terms of sketching, prototyping, and form giving (e.g., Hise, O'Neal, McNeal, and Parasuraman, 1989). A detailed description of how to define design from a descriptive or normative perspective is beyond the bounds of this article.11 For reviews on different design definitions and how design influences outcomes see, for example: Bloch (1995); Eisenman (2013); Homburg et al. (2015); Moultrie and Livesey (2014); Noble and Kumar (2010); Walsh (1996). Ultimately, what is an appropriate definition of design is dependent on one’s research aims. In the context of this virtual issue, we conceptualize design in terms of a product’s external appearance, which is determined by a specific configuration of visual elements such as colors, shapes, lines, proportions, and materials (Rubera and Droge, 2013).22 We highlight the articles we selected for the JPIM virtual issue on design innovation (see Table 1) in bold the first time each is cited or mentioned. The presence of design innovation is subsequently determined by the degree to which a product’s external appearance deviates from prior designs in a given product category: the more a design is similar to prior, competing designs, for example in terms of color, shape, and proportion, the less innovative it is (Gemser and Leenders, 2001; Mugge and Dahl, 2013; Talke, Salomo, Wieringa, and Lutz, 2009). Conceptualizing design innovation in terms of new product appearance allows us to make a clear distinction between design innovation versus technological innovation (which focuses on the product’s technologies and related functionalities) and builds on prior conceptualizations of design innovation (e.g., Dan, Spaid, and Noble, 2018; Mugge and Dahl, 2013; Noseworthy and Trudel, 2011; Rubera, 2015; Rubera and Droge, 2013; Rubera, Griffith, and Yalcinkaya, 2012; Talke et al., 2009).

One of the early studies demonstrating the importance of design for differentiating new products was by Berkowitz (1987). In subsequent studies, the influence of design on the success of new products, services, or companies has been further corroborated (e.g., Candi, 2010; Candi and Saemundsson, 2011; Hertenstein, Platt, and Veryzer, 2005). Over the years, researchers have identified specific factors impacting the influence of design on performance. One prominent factor identified as influencing performance is the degree to which design is innovative, being more than a simple refinement or extension of extant design (e.g., Gemser and Leenders, 2001; Rubera, 2015; Talke et al., 2009). An often‐used example of innovative design which gathered commercial success is the Apple iMac3, launched in 1998, whose design included the use of translucent colors and soft round forms, revolutionizing the “look and feel” of PCs (e.g., Dell'Era and Verganti, 2007; Eisenman, 2013; Talke et al., 2009). Another well‐cited example is the successful “Family Follows Fiction” product range from Italian household goods manufacturer Alessi, where ordinary kitchenwares were materialized as playful, toy‐like products, using plastic materials, translucent surfaces, and bright colors (Dalpiaz, Rindova, and Ravasi, 2016; Dell'Era and Verganti, 2007; Verganti, 2008). A more recent example is the Cybertruck, from Tesla, an angular, stainless steel, all‐electric pickup truck, which has been described in the popular press as “revolutionary” in design. Although its commercial success is uncertain, preorders for the truck bode well (Mehta, 2019). Overall, a global increase in the number of design patents (Chan, Mihm, and Sosa, 2018; Filitz, Henkel, and Tether, 2015; Rubera, 2015) suggests that investing in novel designs is a general trend across industries, making research on the effectiveness and management of design innovation of particular interest.

In the last 20 years, research on the innovativeness of design has gathered the interest of researchers resulting in valuable insights. However, an organized review of the research on this topic is lacking. This article, and the accompanying virtual issue on design innovation, was developed with two objectives in mind. First, to conceptually clarify design innovation and provide an overview of its evolution, particularly within the Journal of Product Innovation Management (JPIM) which has been one of the most active of business journals in publishing articles in this space. As part of the evolution, we discuss important knowledge garnered about design innovation, clustering this information into four broad research themes. Second, we aim to encourage future research in the area by highlighting fruitful research opportunities that can help progress the field. To reach our objectives, we performed an analysis of research on design innovation as published in JPIM and other relevant academic journals. Based on this analysis, we wrote our editorial and created a virtual issue, composed of prior published articles in JPIM that illustrate relevant research on design innovation.

In what follows, the approach for selecting the articles included in this editorial and concomitant virtual issue is outlined. The paper then proceeds with the insights derived from the analysis of the selected papers, a set of research priorities, and concluding remarks.

中文翻译：

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设计未来：设计创新研究的过去和未来轨迹

介绍

在本文中，我们着重于设计创新，即产品外观的创新。设计已成为管理人员的重要竞争工具，也是学者研究的丰硕领域。术语“设计”非常难以捉摸，被赋予了截然不同的含义。例如，当将设计定义为结果时，已将其概念化为增强产品功能，易用性和/或外观（例如，Homburg，Schwemmle和Kuehnl，2015年； Noble和Kumar，2010年）。在将设计作为一项活动进行检查时，已将其概念化为素描，原型设计和形式赋予（例如，Hise，O'Neal，McNeal和Parasuraman，1989年））。从描述性或规范性角度对如何定义设计的详细描述超出了本文的范围。11有关不同设计定义以及设计如何影响结果的评论，请参见：Bloch（1995）；艾森曼（2013）; 洪堡等。（2015）; Moultrie和Livesey（2014）；Noble和Kumar（2010）；沃尔什（1996）。最终，对设计的适当定义取决于一个人的研究目标。在这个虚拟问题的背景下，我们根据产品的外观来概念化设计，外观是由视觉元素的特定配置决定的，例如颜色，形状，线条，比例和材料（Rubera and Droge， 2013）.22我们将在第一次引用或提及每篇有关JPIM虚拟设计创新的文章（请参见表1）时，以粗体突出显示。设计创新的存在随后取决于产品外观在给定产品类别中与先前设计的偏离程度：例如，在颜色，形状和比例方面，设计与先前竞争的设计越相似，它的创新性就不那么高（Gemser和 Leenders ，2001；Mugge和Dahl， 2013；Talke，Salomo，Wieringa和Lutz， 2009）。根据新产品的外观对设计创新进行概念化设计，使我们能够在设计创新与技术创新（侧重于产品的技术和相关功能）之间进行清晰区分，并基于设计创新的先前概念化（例如Dan，Spaid和Noble） ，2018 ; 穆格和达尔，2013年；Noseworthy和Trudel，2011年；Rubera，2015年；Rubera and Droge，2013年；Rubera，Griffith和Yalcinkaya，2012年；Talke等，2009）。

Berkowitz（1987）是证明设计对区分新产品的重要性的早期研究之一。在随后的研究中，进一步证实了设计对新产品，服务或公司成功的影响（例如Candi，2010； Candi和Saemundsson，2011； Hertenstein，Platt和Veryzer，2005）。多年来，研究人员已经确定了影响设计对性能影响的特定因素。被确定为影响性能的一个重要因素是设计的创新程度，而不是对现有设计的简单完善或扩展（例如，Gemser和Leenders，2001； Rubera，2015； Talke等人，2009）。苹果iMac3于1998年推出，是获得创新成功的创新设计的一个常用示例，其设计包括使用半透明的颜色和柔和的圆形形状，彻底改变了PC的“外观”（例如Dell'Era和Verganti， 2007； Eisenman，2013； Talke等人，2009）。另一个广为人知的例子是意大利家庭用品制造商Alessi成功的“ Family Follows Fiction”产品系列，在该系列中，普通的厨具使用塑料材料，半透明的表面和鲜艳的色彩被制成玩味类似玩具的产品（Dalpiaz，Rindova，和Ravasi ，2016； Dell'Era和Verganti，2007； Verganti，2008）。最近的一个例子是来自特斯拉的Cyber​​truck，这是一款弯角不锈钢全电动皮卡车，在大众媒体中被描述为设计上的“革命性”。尽管其商业成功尚不确定，但卡车的预购预兆很好（Mehta，2019）。总体而言，全球外观设计专利数量的增加（Chan，Mihm和Sosa，2018年； Filitz，Henkel和Tether，2015年； Rubera，2015年）表明，对新颖外观设计的投资是各行各业的普遍趋势，特别感兴趣的设计创新的有效性和管理。

在过去的20年中，关于设计创新的研究引起了研究人员的兴趣，从而产生了宝贵的见解。然而，缺乏对该主题研究的有组织的评论。本文以及随附的有关设计创新的虚拟问题是根据两个目标制定的。首先，从概念上澄清设计创新并对其发展进行概述，特别是在《产品创新管理杂志》（JPIM）中），这是该领域中发表文章最活跃的商业期刊之一。作为发展的一部分，我们讨论了有关设计创新的重要知识，并将这些信息分为四个广泛的研究主题。其次，我们旨在通过突出有益的研究机会来鼓励该领域的未来研究，以鼓励该领域的未来研究。为了实现我们的目标，我们对在JPIM和其他相关学术期刊上发表的设计创新研究进行了分析。基于此分析，我们撰写了社论，并创建了一个虚拟问题，该问题由JPIM先前发表的文章组成，这些文章说明了有关设计创新的相关研究。

在下文中，概述了选择社论和相应虚拟出版物中包含的文章的方法。然后，本文将对选定论文的分析，一组研究重点和结论进行总结，以得出深刻的见解。