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There are two major forms of product innovation: one follows a natural, slow evolutionary process; the other is achieved through radical new development. In general, people tend to think of innovation as being radical, major changes, whereas the most common and powerful form of it is actually small and incremental. Although each step of incremental evolution is modest, continual slow, steady improvements can result in rather significant changes over time. Consider the automobile. Steam-driven vehicles (the first automobiles) were developed in the late 1700s. The first commercial automobile was built in 1888 by the German Karl Benz (his company, Benz & Cie, later merged with Daimler and today is known as Mercedes-Benz).

Benz’s automobile was a radical innovation. And although his firm survived, most of its rivals did not. The first American automobile company was Duryea, which only lasted a few years: being first does not guarantee success. Although the automobile itself was a radical innovation, since its introduction it has advanced through continual slow, steady improvement, year after year: over a century of incremental innovation (with a few radical changes in components). Because of the century of incremental enhancement, today’s automobiles are much quieter, faster, more efficient, more comfortable, safer, and less expensive (adjusted for inflation) than those early vehicles.

Radical innovation changes paradigms. The typewriter was a radical innovation that had dramatic impact upon office and home writing. It helped provide a role for women in offices as typists and secretaries, which led to the redefinition of the job of secretary to be a dead end rather than the first step toward an executive position. Similarly, the automobile transformed home life, allowing people to live at a distance from their work and radically impacting the world of business. It also turned out to be a massive source of air pollution (although it did eliminate horse manure from city streets). It is a major cause of accidental death, with a worldwide fatality rate of over one million each year. The introduction of electric lighting, the airplane, radio, television, home computer, and social networks all had massive social impacts. Mobile phones changed the phone industry, and the use of the technical communication system called packet switching led to the Internet. These are radical innovations. Radical innovation changes lives and industries. Incremental innovation makes things better. We need both.

Excerpted from ‘The Design of Everyday Things’ by Don Norman