Here’s the deal: Design strategy thinking will be ubiquitous and integral in shaping the corporate culture that produces product x; directing the research, development and innovation of product x; as well as creating the marketing for product x.
3-D printers and CAD guided laser cutters will be widely distributed and whole factories won’t have to be engaged to make a prototype or a product line. This will result in lowered production costs and a lower barrier to making affordable one-off’s marking the start of Mass Customization 3.0. We will be able to produce one customized object for each person that desires it.
We will allow consumers to produce and market their own sub-brands. The Public will be in charge of final design approvals, not the parent brand. The parent brand will take a percentage of all profit and the shared rights to everything that is produced under each consumers franchise. The result is a product line that is open source, with the marketing (each consumer/producer’s experience) built into each product.
We point to Issey Miyake’s APOC circa 1999 as an example of the beginnings of this movement and Quirky as an example of its continuation.