Designing Your Legacy With Innovation [Part 1]

This is the first blog in a 10-part series examining how to apply Dieter Rams’ principles of good design to your legacy.

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Renowned industrial designer Dieter Rams developed 10 principles of good design. These principles have applications in designing your legacy. 

The first principle is that good design is innovative. 

Too often people will limit innovation to new technology.  While this is common, it misses the fundamentals of design. Design needs to be rooted in building a relationship with individuals. To this pursuit, innovation should offer 1) an improvement on available options, 2) a reduction in effort and uncertainty, and 3) increased bonding between product/service and the intended audience.  

In designing our legacies, are we fulfilling these three elements of innovation?  Have we examined how we interact and influence others?  Do we identify barriers to improving connectivity?  Have we taken the needs of others into account, and have we determined what would build trust and social capital?  And do we take a long-term view of our relationships?

Innovation does not provide value to your legacy through bells and whistles. It does so by increasing clarity of vision and streamlining the steps to stronger relationships.