I’d wish there was a german business magazine reporting that often about design like Business Week :-( with the holiday season officially being started this weekend consumer interest in design seems to be on an all time high (anyone out there who’s not interested in an Apple iPod :-))
in contrast design management, let it be in the field of industrial or communication design still seems to be a topic reserved for dominant market players. for many small and medium sized enterprises design is not really an issue, yet. [I will dedicate a separate posting to evaluate the resons for this] however communication of the topic in the business press definitively helps to increase the understanding of the importance of design and the management of the related processes.
in the latest issue of Business Week Online you’ll find an interview with Samsung’s head of Design. interestingly almost in his first answer he addresses what design management education is aiming at. raising the understanding of designers for strategic management and strategic issues is exactly what I try to do in my design management courses. consequently this understanding enables designers to become what Chung Kook Hyun calls “integrators”. here’s an excerpt from the interview:
“A key player in that drive is Chung Kook Hyun, a senior vice-president who heads the company’s design center. Chung recently sat down with BusinessWeek’s Asia Editor David Rocksand Seoul Bureau Chief Moon Ihlwan to discuss Samsung’s design operation. Edited excerpts of the conversation follow:
Q: How are you changing your approach to design?
A: In the past we regarded designers as people merely carrying out the role of designing products. In the future, we believe designers will have to be integrators, combining everything from initial research to the use of products. We must invest more in researching user behavior and discovering what’s happening in the market. The first concrete step is expanding design labs overseas. Their focus will be shifted to uncovering consumer trends, what’s hidden beneath the surface, instead of more visible things such as color or materials. Design comes from experience. One of the most important activities of a designer is to figure out how to take that experience and turn it into products that fit a specific market …
