The Defining Pronoun: иной
When you want to say "other" or "different," you usually use the word другой. However, in formal, abstract, or professional contexts—like discussing design thinking and strategy—you will often encounter the defining pronoun иной.
It functions exactly like an adjective, changing its ending to agree with the noun's gender, number, and case. For masculine nouns like смысл (meaning) or подход (approach), the nominative and inanimate accusative form is иной.
For feminine nouns, such as методология (methodology) or перспектива (perspective), use the form иная. Notice how formal vocabulary like генерировать (to generate) pairs perfectly with this professional register.
Declining иной
Since иной behaves like an adjective, its endings change predictably across cases. For instance, the verb требовать (to require) often takes a genitive object. The masculine genitive form is иного.
Verbs like казаться (to seem) require the instrumental case for the state or object being described. For a neuter noun like решение (solution), the instrumental form is иным.
Finally, when acting as a direct object in the accusative case, the feminine ending becomes иную to match a noun like концепция (concept).