Design and the Creation of Value

John Heskett

John Heskett was a pioneering British design historian, with a particular interest in design and economics.Design and the Creation of Value' publishes for the first time his groundbreaking seminar on design and economic value. In remarkably clear and accessible prose Heskett explores the how the key traditions of economic thought conceive of how value is created. Critically teasing out the role of design in this process, Heskett shows how design's role in innovating and creating value creating value for organisations and products can be given a firm grounding in economic theory.Featuring examples of businesses which have successfully responded to the value of design in their practice, as well as others who have failed because of their inability to understand value-creation, Heskett looks in detail at the relationship between producers, markets, products and consumers, using these instances to offer a both a strong critique of the limitations conventional economic thought and new model of the economic importance of design thinking in value creation.

Illustrated with case studies of the role of design within business and industrial design practice - examples include Dyson vacuum cleaners, Apple products, and Ford motor cars

Clive Dilnot: Introduction to Design & the Creation of ValueCameron Weber: A note on John Heskett's economicsSabine Junginger: Design as an economic necessity for governments and organisationsClive Dilnot: Notes on editing the manuscriptDesign and the Creation of ValuePreface
1: Design in Economic Life?Part One: Economic Theory & Design
2: Neo-Classical Theory
3: Austrian Theory
4: Institutional Theory
5: New Growth Theory
6: The National SystemPart Two: Design & the Creation of Value
7: Design from Standpoint of Economics
8: Economics from the Standpoint of Design
9: Design and Value from the Standpoint of PracticeAppendix 1: Socialist TheoryAppendix 2: Value and Values in DesignSharon Helmer Poggenpohl: Afterword