4. Motive of Design: Roles of Pre- and Post-design in Highly Advanced Products

In this chapter, the motive of design is discussed in terms of the fundamental issues we face in designing highly advanced products. First, the framework of the design process is outlined. A framework composed of the Pre-design, Design, and Post-design stages is introduced to allow the explicit capture of the motive of design that links the Post-design and Pre-design stages. On some occasions that link has gone unrecognized. Second, the motive of design is categorized into four types based on two viewpoints: the difference between personal motive and social motive and the difference between outer motive and inner motive. Third, this chapter discusses the essential nature of personal inner sense as an aspect of the motive of design. The author demonstrates that the same type of mechanism operates during the process of the receipt of impressions that initiates the Post-design stage as the mechanism that operates during the process of new idea generation that occurs during the Pre-design stage. Fourth, the latent functions of products are discussed as an additional aspect of the motive of design. The author demonstrates that considerations of the latent function are also effective for both the Post-design and Pre-design stages. These findings and considerations related to the two aspects noted above indicate that it is possible to connect the missing link and enhance the motive of design.