Hi-tech companies that want to innovate their products use, quite often, and quite naturally, technology as a driver. But, technology is only one of several drivers of change within product development. It is becoming more and more accessible and alone, cannot serve as the only mean to stay competitive.  This research sheds light on a different driver of innovation – namely, through the perspective of “meaning”. An innovation, driven by the search for a new meaning of a product, is connected to the purpose of “why” a product is used. It is not about “how” it is used. In this sense, innovations driven by meaning, are connected to a human’s new experience of use – rather than to the improvement of an existing performance. This type of innovation builds on people and their interpretation of why a product or service make sense in their life and therefore, it is subjective rather than objective. It represents a move, from the classic business perspectives of optimization and control to approach the unpredictable and ambiguous views of humans in a wider, cultural context.    A company that reconsidered the meaning of their product, is Germany-based KUKA with their “RoboCoaster”. This product uses existing technology to transform an industrial robot from a powerful, efficient and accurate tool into an exciting amusement ride system, delivering excitement, enjoyment and pleasurable fear. Another example is the Da Vinci surgical system in which, instead of replacing humans in an industrial application, a robot interacts with humans by acting as a surgeon in performing invasive surgery.  Through finding new applications of existing technologies – (the Robocoaster )– or through new technologies (the Da Vinci surgical system) – these products are not “better” than existing industrial robots: they have changed the reason why people use them.  But, theories on how to innovate with a “meaning” perspective, (i.e. on how to develop new interpretations for products and services) are rare. Indeed, dominant streams of innovation research have been connected to problem solving (Simon, 1996, Clark, 1985, Pahl and Beitz, 1988, Clark and Fujimoto, 1991, Teece et al., 1997 , Krishnan and Ulrich 2001) or idea generation (Brown, 2008, Martin, 2007). This research instead, set the focus on the context. It is a move from a cognitive focus to a social one. A move from user driven innovation strategies to also embrace a wider network of actors in the process of interpretation. The nature of this innovation is different and therefore, it requires a different approach. In this licentiate thesis the nature of innovation of meaning is examined and its relevance and practice discussed with the help of hermeneutics. The research suggests that innovation of meaning calls for new theoretical frames in innovation studies: from innovation as a process of problem solving and creative thinking to innovation as a process of interpreting and envisioning.

Submitted by Maicon Juliano Schmidt (maicons) on 2015-05-05T13:38:40Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Priscila Westphal Rodrigues.pdf: 26637362 bytes, checksum: 3a33013e0628ae15f41eecd63f1d44b8 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-05T13:38:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Priscila Westphal Rodrigues.pdf: 26637362 bytes, checksum: 3a33013e0628ae15f41eecd63f1d44b8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-08-20 / Nenhuma / A embalagem é um dispositivo midiático que serve como um canal de transmissão de mensagens para diferentes camadas sociais no cotidiano e que pode contribuir para aprendizagem de uma cultura de consumo mais sustentável, intensificando por meio do design as suas diversas finalidades, entre elas: conter, proteger e identificar o produto. Considerando os aspectos comunicacionais da embalagem, entende-se que ela é integrada à identidade de um produto e influencia na decisão de compra dos indivíduos. O designer pode explorar estrategicamente os significados simbólicos para o desenvolvimento de representações gráficas tanto no nível informacional quanto no nível simbólico. Como objetivo geral deste trabalho, busca-se investigar como o Design Estratégico pode potencializar os efeitos de sentido a partir das percepções sobre a sustentabilidade das embalagens dos produtos da Natura Ekos. Para tanto, estabelecem-se como objetivos específicos: a) investigar e problematizar o Design Estratégico na perspectiva da sustentabilidade; b) explicitar as estratégias de design emitidas pela Natura nas embalagens da linha de produtos Natura Ekos; c) analisar as embalagens de cosméticos Natura Ekos de castanha e buriti a partir da teoria da significação baseada em Barthes e Bourdieu; d) propor diretrizes projetuais para o desenvolvimento de embalagens sustentáveis que potencializem os efeitos de sentido. Como método, utilizando-se de pesquisa exploratória, investigam-se as percepções dos indivíduos com base nos grupos focais de usuários de produtos Natura Ekos, não usuários de produtos Natura Ekos, designers e especialistas na área ambiental ou social. Como resultados, apresentam-se as percepções estratificadas dos participantes dos grupos focais com base na teoria da significação e do Design Estratégico, operando na complexidade das representações de sustentabilidade das embalagens, no nível metalinguístico como ponto de integração entre o metaprojeto, a sustentabilidade e a significação. A partir dos resultados da pesquisa, apontam-se cinco diretrizes projetuais para a criação de sistemas produto-serviço para potencializar os efeitos de sentido das representações gráficas que remetem à sustentabilidade: 1) criando a sustentabilidade; 2) gerando as estratégias de sustentabilidade; 3) reconhecendo as informações; 4) reconhecendo os materiais; 5) repensando as formas do design. / The packaging is a media device that serves as a channel of message transmission for different social strata in daily life and can contribute for the learning of a more sustainable consumption culture, intensifying through design their various purposes, among them: contain, protect and identify the product. Considering the communicational aspects of the packaging, it is understood that it is integrated into a product’s identity and it influences in the individuals’ purchase decision. The designer can strategically explore the symbolic meanings to the development of graphic representations both in informational level as in the symbolic level. As a general objective of this work, it is sought to investigate how Strategic Design may potentiate the effects of meaning from the perceptions about the sustainability of the packaging of the Natura Ekos products. For this, it is established as specific objectives: a) investigate and discuss the Strategic Design from the sustainability perspective; b) explicit the design strategies issued by Natura on the packaging of Natura Ekos line of products; c) analyze the cosmetic packaging of Natura Ekos chestnut and buriti from the signification theory based on Barthes and Bourdieu; d) propose project guidelines to the development of sustainable packaging that enhance the effects of meaning. As a method, using exploratory research, it is investigated the individuals’ perceptions based in the focus groups of users of Natura Ekos products, non-users of Natura Ekos products, designers, and experts in environmental and social area. As results, it is presented the perceptions that were stratified from the focus groups’ participants based in the signification theory and in the Strategic Design, operating in the complexity of sustainability representations in the packaging, in the metalinguistic level as integration point between the metaproject, sustainability and signification. From research results, it is pointed five project guidelines for creating product-service systems to enhance the sense effects of graphic representations that relate to sustainability: 1) creating the sustainability; 2) generating the sustainability strategies; 3) recognizing the information; 4) recognizing the materials; 5) rethinking design forms.

[pt] O uso da energia solar fotovoltaica como fonte para geração/consumo de energia elétrica traz benefícios sob diversas perspectivas, desde a financeira até o estímulo à geração de emprego, passando pela questão ambiental. Mesmo assim, ainda não há amplo engajamento dos cidadãos para geração solar em suas residências devido ao caráter inovador do produto-serviço, que deixa dúvidas nas pessoas. Dado esse quadro, propusemos a especificação de um serviço de apoio a tomada de decisão para adesão à Geração Distribuída Fotovoltaica (GDFV). O design para apoio a tomada de decisão do cidadão para a GDFV deve considerar os diversos motivos que influenciam a decisão das pessoas. Os atributos que influenciam os cidadãos no processo decisório foi o objeto de estudo. Como metodologia, efetuamos pesquisa documental e bibliográfica sobre o contexto da GD em alguns países e o estado da arte no Brasil, discutimos o novo significado que a geração distribuída trouxe para o cenário energético a partir da gestão da inovação e principalmente pelo Design Drive-Innovation (VERGANTI, 2012). Realizamos entrevistas exploratórias semiestruturadas e aplicamos um questionário para ampliar a lista de atributos influenciadores numa amostragem não probabilística por conveniência. Os resultados nos permitiram construir um Mapa de Atributos, que são os fatores chave do processo decisório. Utilizamos uma série de técnicas do Design da Serviços para modelagem de um serviço de apoio à tomada de decisão (SATD). Ancorado em plataforma web, o SATD permitirá a união de oferta e demanda a partir de um autodiagnóstico do cidadão, conduzindo-o ao modelo de negócio mais aderente ao seu perfil. / [en] The use of photovoltaic solar energy as a source for the generation/consumption of electric energy brings benefits from different perspectives, from financial perspectives to encouraging job creation, including environmental issues. Even so, there is still no broad engagement of citizens for solar generation in their homes due to the innovative nature of the product-service, which leaves people with doubts. Given this situation, we proposed the specification of a decision-making support service for joining the Photovoltaic Distributed Generation (GDFV). The design to support citizen decision-making for the GDFV must consider the various reasons that influence people s decision. The attributes that influence citizens in the decision-making process was the object of study. As a methodology, we carried out documentary and bibliographic research on the context of DG in some countries and the state of the art in Brazil, we discussed the new meaning that distributed generation brought to the energy scenario from the management of innovation and mainly through Design Drive-Innovation. (VERGANTI, 2012). We conducted semi-structured exploratory interviews and applied a questionnaire to expand the list of influencing attributes in a nonprobabilistic convenience sample. The results allowed us to build a Map of Attributes, which are the key factors in the decision-making process. We use a series of Service Design techniques to model a decision support service (SATD). Anchored in a web platform, the SATD will allow the union of supply and demand based on a self-diagnosis of the citizen, leading him to the business model that is most adhering to his profile.