The title of this dissertation is Armchair travelling the innovation journey. ‘Armchair travelling’ is an expression for travelling to another place, in the comfort of one’s own place. ‘The innovation journey’ is the metaphor Van de Ven and colleagues (1999) have used for travelling the uncharted river of innovation, the highly unpredictable and uncontrollable process of innovation. This research study began with a brief remark from an innovation project leader who sighed after a long and rough journey: ‘had I known this ahead of time…’. From wondering ‘what could he have known ahead of time?’ the immediate question arose: how do such innovation journeys develop? How do other innovation project leaders lead the innovation journey? And could I find examples of studies about these experiences from an innovation project leader’s perspective that could have helped the sighing innovation project leader to have known at least some of the challenges ahead of time? This dissertation is the result of that quest, as we do know relatively little how this process of the innovation project leader unfolds over time. The aim of this study is to increase our understanding of how innovation project leaders lead their innovation journeys over time, and to capture those experiences that could be a source for others to learn from and to be better prepared. This research project takes a process approach. Such an approach is different from a variance study. Process thinking takes into account how and why things – people, organizations, strategies, environments – change, act and evolve over time, expressed by Andrew Pettigrew (1992, p.10) as catching “reality in flight”.

In this thesis I investigate how to support designing the appearance of materials in products, specifically how to search for new materials and to explore the interactions between materials and shape. Central in this thesis is a novel design called Skin 2.0. Skin allows designers in the early stages, using their physical models, to experience richness of material visualization found in computer support of the latter design stages. Skin supports the imagination through iterative, highly interactive visualization cycles. It engages designers in trial and error processes, letting them explore new materials as well as the interactions between shape and materials. Skin itself was developed through a series of participative action research cycles. Prototypes of new tools and techniques were developed with practitioners, and evaluated in relevant, real world design situations. These cycles of research and design led to insights in how to support designer¿s thinking process, ultimately leading to recommendations for ¿sketching¿ materials in products. http://studiolab.io.tudelft.nl/skin