Our thinking
Our work is informed by ongoing reflection — on what we see in businesses, what the research reveals, and what happens when design-led methods meet real organisational complexity. These articles and publications are part of that thinking.
Reflections
Strategy
An exploration of the space between intention and achievement — and why the answer isn’t more effort, more data, or more tools.
Read →Organisations
In every organisation we’ve studied, the people who make things happen don’t match the structure diagram. What this means for decisions.
Read →Method
The counter-intuitive finding that investing disproportionate time in understanding the problem produces dramatically better outcomes.
Read →Research & publications
Locus’s methodology is grounded in a body of peer-reviewed academic research spanning 2010 to 2019 — covering design-led innovation, co-creation, value framing, and the surfacing of obscure innovation practices in organisations.
Doctoral thesis
Chatzakis, E. (2015). Maintaining Agility: A study of obscure New Product Development practices in small and medium sized manufacturing enterprises to understand how they maintain relevance to their markets. PhD thesis, Northumbria University.
Journal articles
Bailey, M., Chatzakis, E., Spencer, N. (2019). A design-led approach to transforming wicked problems into design situations and opportunities. Journal of Design Business & Society, 5(1), 95–127.
Bailey, M., Spencer, N., Smith, N., Aftab, M., Knott, C. & Sams, P. (2018). Framing Strategic Value through Design-led Innovation Practice. Project Design Management, 16(82), 54–63.
Spencer, N., Bailey, M., Smith, N. (2018). Delivering Organisational Creative Functionality through Design-led Innovation Practice. International Journal of Design.
Bailey, M., Smith, N., Spencer, N., Aftab, M., Davidson, J., Stalker, B. & Sams, P. (2018). Education for three value frames of design-led Innovation Practice. The International Journal of Design Education.
Qin, S., Van der Velde, D., Chatzakis, E., McStea, T. & Smith, N. (2016). Exploring barriers and opportunities in adopting crowdsourcing based new product development in manufacturing SMEs. Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering, 29(6).
Bailey, M. & Smith, N. (2013). Connecting for Impact — Multidisciplinary Approaches to Innovation in SMEs. FormAkademisk, 5(2), 1863–1876.
Conference papers & book chapters
Sterling, N., Bailey, M., Spencer, N., Lampitt Adey, K., Chatzakis, E. (2018). From conflict to catalyst: using critical conflict as a creative device in design-led innovation practice. Academic Design Management Conference ADMC18: Next Wave, London.
Bailey, M., Spencer, N., Chatzakis, E., Lampitt Adey, K., Sterling, N. & Smith, N. (2018). From wicked problem to design problem: Developing actionable briefs and solution opportunities through a collaborative, multidisciplinary design-led approach. DRS 2018, Limerick, 831–851.
Bailey, M., Spencer, N., Smith, N., Knott, C., Aftab, M. & Sams, P. (2018). Framing Strategic Value through Design-led Innovation Practice. DESIGN 2018, 15th International Design Conference, Glasgow, 1781–1792.
Inoue, S. & Smith, N. (2018). Reductive is Augmentative: How Reduced Information Enhances a Designer’s Imagination. Advances in Psychology Research, 133. Nova Science Publishers, 1–63.
Spencer, N., Bailey, M., Smith, N., Davidson, J. & Sams, P. (2017). What on Earth is Responsible Innovation Anyway? — and how to teach it. E&PDE17, 19th International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education, Strathclyde, 38–43.
Smith, N., Inoue, S., Spencer, N. & Tennant, A. (2016). Creative puzzlement: how deconstructing elements of object facilitates industrial design student’s imagination. EDA12, Design for Next 2017, Rome.
Chatzakis, E., Smith, N. & Bohemia, E. (2016). A Multilevel Approach to Research ‘Obscure’ Innovation Processes and Practices. 50th Anniversary DRS Conference, Brighton.
Bailey, M. & Smith, N. (2016). Making it Work: Integrated Academic Practice. 20th DMI Academic Design Management Conference: Inflection Point, Boston, 2346–2363.
Aftab, M., Spencer, N., Bailey, M., Jeffs, C., Smith, N., Stalker, B. & Sams, P. (2015). A multidisciplinary approach to innovation. The Innovation & Entrepreneurship Teaching Excellence Awards 2015, Academic Conferences and Publishing International, 1–14.
Bailey, M., Aftab, M. & Smith, N. (2015). Hidden Value — Towards an Understanding of the Full Value and Impact of Engaging Students in User-Led Research and Innovation Projects. 3rd International Conference for Design Education Researchers, Aalto, 290–307.
Bailey, M. & Smith, N. (2010). Safe Environments for Innovation — Developing a New Multidisciplinary Masters Programme. E&PDE 2010, 12th International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education, Strathclyde, 60–65.
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