7. Intrinsic versus extrinsic innovation

We’ve just gone over the role design has in product development: economically useful information generated through prototyping and testing.

The technology used in the design process and the eventual product doesn’t have to be new, which is an insight that is arguably the only reason Nintendo still exists as a company. It’s one of the few companies that do this habitually. They build innovative consoles and games using well-established technologies. Gunpei Yokoi, a game designer at Nintendo, called it “lateral thinking with seasoned technology”. It’s been described as an approach that fosters creativity with mature tools (Scott Warren and Greg Jones, 2014)