📘How Product Designs Evolve
"How Product Designs Evolve" is a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Northumbria at Newcastle for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
How Product Designs Evolve
Marcos Antonio de Lima Filho, PhD.
Research undertaken in the Faculty of Arts, Design, and Social Sciences @ Northumbria University Newcastle
July 2023
Abstract
How do designs evolve? What can evolutionary theory teach us about the development of products, services, systems, and other artefacts? Inspired by grounded theory, this study compared the design evolution of two distinct industries: smartphones and commercial aviation. The first census attempted to cover the product sheets of all mobile handsets introduced between 2000 and 2020. This group includes feature phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and smartphones. It covers the specifications of 13,212 mobile handset models introduced by 297 brands worldwide. The second census covers the historical production of passenger aircraft built for commercial airline service. Between 1932 and 2020, 54 manufacturers from 19 countries produced a total of 54,793 airframes. A comparison with evolutionary theory suggested a possible parallel with natural selection mechanisms. By analogy, I propose four distinct types of innovation: disruptive, directional, stabilising, and purifying innovation. Together, these patterns form a dynamic model of design evolution. Like the evolution of species, the industries studied here have gone through cycles of relative stability punctuated by short periods of radical transformation, such as the Jet Age and the rise of smartphones. These transformations, however, contradict some foundational premises of the current paradigm of disruptive innovation. Grounded in new data and based on the research tradition pioneered by William Abernathy and James Utterback, this thesis calls for a revision of Clayton Christensen’s disruption theory. By reinstating the concept of dominant design into its core, the theory of disruptive innovation can be reconnected with its history and the evolutionary theory of punctuated equilibrium. With these changes, I believe disruption might achieve greater theoretical parsimony, generality, and resolve anomalies that the current disruption paradigm cannot explain.
Acknowledgements
I dedicate this doctoral thesis to my mother, Maria do Socorro Marques de Melo (1963-2021). Mom, it breaks my heart that you are not here to celebrate the completion of this project. God provided me with the fortitude and it gives me comfort to know that you are in a wonderful place.
Also, I’d like to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Stuart English, for persisting with me even when I was close to give up. Last but not least, I want to thank my family, friends, and my beloved Caio.
This work was supported by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq). Grant number: 202448/2014-2.
Ad majorem Dei gloriam.
Declaration
I declare that the work contained in this thesis has not been submitted for any other award and that it is all my own work. I also confirm that this work fully acknowledges opinions, ideas and contributions from the work of others.
Any ethical clearance for the research presented in this thesis has been approved. Approval has been sought and granted by the Faculty Ethics Committee on 22nd February 2016.
I declare that the word count of this thesis is 84,851 words.
Last updated
