The process and the foresight of the process is the absolute most critical aspect of design. Sure design is a very broad term and it can apply to many things in many ways, but what I want to focus on is production of real objects & reproducing similar items is where this foresight is quite easily obtainable but it is in the unknown that if foresight is achieved success will follow.
This may not make sense but I would like to take this opportunity to explain myself. Involvement in a tried and tested manufacturing process, assumptions can be made about the outcome or the result of certain actions. For example cabinet making is an established industry with proven techniques and processes that we can rely on in order to achieve an outcome that is guaranteed. We know how certain timbers will react and we know if we cut a sheet of melamine up and screw it together in certain ways we will create a box that is structural and will last for years.
I see this as pure production and provided the process is adhered to the result is guaranteed due to our prior knowledge and ability to draw on past experience. Although if one element of the process is skipped or not followed through to its full extent the outcome will fail and the result is guaranteed to be unsatisfactory. So how does this relate to foresight in design? Well good design can fall into many categories but a good designer has an uncanny knack for predicting the outcome of certain actions and predicting the way certain materials will react under certain circumstances.
Innovative and new design is then an interesting methodology and it cannot exist without the close relationship to the prototyping phase. Risk is always an element that cannot be avoided but it most definitely can be minimalised with careful planning and prototyping of each and every process involved in achieving the desired outcome.
