ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the philosophical considerations will be used to investigate how each product development in some way is unique and yet a typology can be developed to get grips on the variation of design situations. It shows that product development processes can differ due to different contexts that require adaptions of the model-like handbook schemes and flowcharts. The purpose of product development is to contribute to science by delivering knowledge that will survive even in the most bizarre testing conditions, but it only needs to be valid in normal circumstances, namely those under which the product will function. In terms of product innovation design research, revolutionary developments entail entirely new knowledge to be gained, while evolutionary development research is the further extension of existing knowledge. Most designers probably tend to focus on form analogies: the form of a natural object is copied because the function it fulfills is also present in the product-to-be-designed.
