Design Quarterly articles from January 1996

Design Quarterly archives from January 1996

Breakthroughs. (social change)(Editorial)
January 1, 1996... ONE OF THE GREAT MYSTERIES of our planet's history is the time paleontologists call the Cambrian explosion. During this period, about 540 million years ago, the Earth experienced an unprecedented fertility. spawning new life forms at an...

Lego: extending a simple idea - piece by piece. (includes related article on Lincoln Logs toy)
January 1, 1996... AT THE HEART OF THIS BREAKTHROUGH with the funny name is a company much greater than the sum of its parts. As the world's fifth largest toy maker, LEGO has used systematic thinking to extend a simple core concept -- plastic building bricks --...

Sears catalog: right at home. (includes related article on electronic shopping)
January 1, 1996... THOUGH TIRED AND OUTDATED when it closed up shop in 1993, the Sears catalog was a singular triumph with broad influence on 20th-century America. Richard Sears launched more than a mere retail catalog in the late 1800s, a fact easily missed in...

The camera goes casual. (disposable cameras) (includes related article on creation of the Gillette Sensor razor)
January 1, 1996... SINGLE-USE CAMERAS MADE no fuss-no muss photography possible and changed how we think about taking pictures. It is little wonder why disposable point-and-shoots have been the hottest product in the photo industry for several years running:...

Kinko's: reproducing itself to fit the culture. (Kinko's Copies) (includes related article on printing history)
January 1, 1996... NOT JUST THE COPY SHOP down the block, Kinko's is a burgeoning worldwide chain of more than 850 business careers that support the needs of a decentralized and mobile work force. As a breakthrough, the Kinko's story is about attacking to a...

Audio cassette: the sound of success. (includes related article on what applications the laser has when manufacturers believed it has none outside the military)
January 1, 1996... THE COMPACT DISC IS WIDELY VIEWED as an important breakthrough in consumer electroniccs, a market littered over the years with failed audio formats and technologies. But a far more significant and influential innovation for end-users --...

Breaking out breakthroughs.
January 1, 1996... Components Products/services Systems What do Sears' big book, audio cassettes, and Kinko's all have in common? Each of these cases illustrates how breakthroughs can eventually become huge factors in the culture. Each is also from...

Creating breakthrough industries.
January 1, 1996... TRUE BREAKTHROUGHS RARELY STAND ALONE. Most of them use some form of interdependence -- they rely on multiple technologies, enterprises, markets, and geographies. The fact that produces and services are increasingly digital has magnified the...

What this all really means. (how breakthroughs affect society)
January 1, 1996... BREAKTHROUGHS DEMAND MULTIPLE PARTICIPANTS. The single biggest difference between a breakthrough and a mere good idea is the way breakthroughs cut across multiple entities. They require the participation of multiple players, all of whom...