Create Meaningful Stuff

Peter and Johan had been inspired to write the book by some questions they themselves had asked: What is the future for design studios? How can you, as a designer, be meaningful in both strategic and creative terms? And first and foremost: How, as a studio, do you develop meaningful products and services?

Following extensive debate, brainstorming, diagrams and discussion of wide-ranging experiences, an approach emerged which is a combination of design thinking, innovation strategy, product design, service design and digital and strategic marketing.

Nowadays, innovating means turning your approach on its head: it is important to always question all the existing ‘rules’, and additional useful solutions may be identified which are also strategically underpinned in such a way that the ideas can be translated into a financial return.

This ‘radical design’ approach is described in more detail in Create Meaningful Stuff.

The book’s authors want to inspire managers and entrepreneurs via both case studies, described in a comprehensible manner, and their own experiences, and to support them through the process of change. The book itself is split into various core chapters, while the images are interpreted in various ways, with further detailed information being provided in each case.

Peter Van Riet’s and Johan Van Mol’s hope is that Create Meaningful Stuff will help first and foremost to make the disciplines of design, design research and design thinking more relevant, refresh them and underpin them with solid theory.