The global market of today is tough and the competition between companies demands new ways of  developing products and services. The current challenge for the design research community is to  provide designers with a wider range of methods and tools to support specific activities within the  design process and to improve its overall coordination.

It is uncertain whether problem-solving alone can be the tool for developing even simple products or  services, as we are less open to the variety of opportunities that arise in the process. When  approaching a problem, the cognitive mindset demanded to solve the problem, differs from that  required when searching for opportunities in creating something completely new. This emphasizes  the importance of design thinking, using tools and methods for conducting Human Centered Design  (HCD), empathy, and intuition, along with the use of visualization.

By focusing on the creative process and the use of sketches and models, this research will explore  the possibility to develop tools and methods for conducting New Product Development (NPD)  projects in a more efficient way.

This research presents a prescriptive model for visualization in NPD projects. This model is a result of  clarifying the research problem, understanding the factors that affect visualization and the need for  development of support. The model works as a supportive tool for project teams and guidelines for  management.

Economic growth and future jobs are dependent on how individuals within organizations are able to  generate ideas and develop them into competitive and sustainable products and services. Today’s  globalized market has resulted in a business environment where change and uncertainty challenges  industry. The idea that low cost and quality focus is sufficient for a competitive market position has  disappeared. For example, environmental challenges and constant innovation are becoming  increasingly important and must be integrated into the development of new products and services,  as well as into the organizations and processes, to achieve those results. These facts make the entire  product realization process of today more complex than ever. In organizations that today struggle to  compete in the global market, there is a need to find and develop new ways to achieve economic  growth and new market shares. Organizations working on qualified, complex, products or qualified  unique manufacturing methods today have the necessary order qualifiers for competition. One way  to become competitive is by implementing new and improved concepts, methods and models that  will support and strengthen the innovation and product realization processes, as well as the  organizations and people pursuing these paths (Jackson, 2009). Combining this with a holistic view of  the entire innovation process, which includes the product realization process, is a way to strengthen  the performance in presenting new products or services on the market. In this project, this means  focusing and integrating the areas of creativity, design, design thinking, design methods and design  research, in a broad sense, into the innovation and product realization processes.

In the knowledge-based global economy of today, even the nature of innovation is changing  (Lengrand, 2002). We can see a change towards a more ´open innovation strategy´, where suppliers,  customers, endusers, universities and other external resources and networks are much more  involved in organizations’ innovation processes (Chesbrough, 2003, 2009). Most organizations have  well-developed strategies for quality and production management systems, for example. But few  have developed clear strategies concerning innovation processes and management from an  integrated technological, organizational and market perspective (Tidd & Bessant, 2009). The  development and design of new products and services within product development and engineering  design originated from and is often based on problem-solving (Pahl and Beitz, 2007). Research  within the area has its origins in systems theory and the design science paradigm influenced by

Hubka & Eder (1988, 1996), for example. The ultimate goal is to quickly present an economically- produced product to the market. For most producers, this is done by working through a chain of  decisions: first establishing clear objectives for the product, then identifying the target market  segment and, finally, trying to systematically determine the customers desires or needs. Structured  design methods have been developed in engineering design by Ulrich & Eppinger (2003) and Pahl &  Beitz (2007), among others. For the development of integrated and complex products, it is often not  enough with the engineering and subject-specific development processes based on problem-solving.  It is uncertain whether problem-solving alone can be the tool for developing even simple products or  services as we are less open to the variety of opportunities that arise in the process. When  approaching a problem, the cognitive mindset demanded to solve the problem differs from that  required when searching for opportunities in creating something completely new.

Design, design thinking, design methods and tools are resources that should be better utilized and  could be better integrated in future management strategies (Utterback et.al, 2006; Brown, 2009;  Verganti, 2009). This emphasizes the importance of design thinking and methods in realizing new  innovative products and services. For example, visual and spatial communication is central in design  and development work. Sketches and models are important tools that can facilitate and support the  development work during product realization.  All kinds of visual representations are exceptional  since they show appearance of objects. Language does not. A sketch can serve as a common  reference for the team. However, to be able to communicate via a sketch, the use of verbal  communication is essential. Sketch-based design processes can eliminate communication problems  as long as the team members involved during the communication are the same. On the contrary, in  handover situations, new team members will interpret the sketches differently because of a  variation in pre-understanding. This is because pictures are arbitrary and can be interpreted in  different ways; therefore, it is necessary to combine the sketches with verbal information (Kress &  van Leeuwen, 1996, 2001; Eriksson & Göthlund, 2004; Eriksson, 2009).

