“There is a great gulf between the research community and practice. Moreover, there is often a great gull between what designers do and what industry needs. We believe we know how to do design, but this belief is based more on faith than on data, and this belief reinforces the gulf between the research community and practice. I find that the things we take most for granted are seldom examined or questioned. As a result, it is often our most fundamental beliefs that are apt to be wrong. In this talk, deliberately intended to be controversial.”

The consumerism baked into the talk is troubling (“who cares if you need it - you’re going to buy it”) but the hill climbing analogy is an interesting one. Norman claims that in an innovation landscape we can use human centered design and design research methods to move incrementally up to peaks that are local maxima. To try other peaks using a version of random restarts we need radical innovation either from technological insight or “meaning change” (ex: wii makes gaming about family). 

Don Norman at IIT Design Research Conference 2010 (by IIT Institute of Design)