In the light of the recent discussion we’ve had at Niti Bhan’s blog about the impact of strategy on design thinking I’d thought that it might be useful to re-post a blog posting I’ve written for the brand new Zollverein School of management and design blog (which I also co-edit for the next couple of months) recently.
The posting is aiming to address the question “What is design management?” in a basic way and tries to address some of the first associations people might have when they hear about design management. I plan to refine these thoughts in the near future by linking the strategic thinking and design management thinking in more detail; so more to be read soon … For now let’s discuss “What is design management?”:
This posting is for Annkathrin Sonn ;-), the new person in charge for Corporate Communications at the Zollverein School of management and design in Essen/Germany. Annkathrin recently joined the Zollverein School and while having a conversation with her last Tuesday I’ve learned that she’s highly interested in the intersection of business, management & design. As with everyone who’s not in too deep into the topic she finally asked for my perspective/definition on/of Design Management … ;-)
Well, somehow this is a real “killer question” since the scope of the design management (at least from my still limited ;-) profession is quite broad. Basically a good starting point to narrow down the field is to make a semantic distinction. Consequently Design Management can be a) The Management of the Design Process as well as b) The Design of the Management Process. Accordingly you can also replace the nouns with verbs resulting in: a) to manage the design process or b) to design the management process. The scope of this semantic space is comprehensive and offers many nodes to enter the domain.
After all my past experiences with business professionals as well as students entering the field showed that they mostly tend to see Design Management closely related to option a) “to manage the design process”. Interestingly this is also the dominant perspective which you will mostly find in Germany (if there is an articulated one at all ;-). This might be due to the fact that traditionally German design has always been strong in the area of product design and consequently senior designers or industrial design agencies mostly identify their responsibilities in the field of “operationally managing the design process” both internally and/or for their clients.
However like many other business disciplines design has never been a static domain as well. Today designers shape products as well as processes. In particular the emergence of digital technologies does enable designers to test and prototype processes and products long before marketing or management has considered thinking about them. And this is particularly true for all of the three main design domains: product, graphic and digital design. Consequently designers are able to raise their voice far earlier in the development process of products and services as they were used to be in the past. Therefore prototyping what actually can be done by using mock-ups, CAD Tools and even 3D empowered PDFs are powerful means to communicate the contribution and consequently value of design. Finally the early engagement of designers in the concept phase releases the design discipline from being responsible for narrowed field of styling only.
As a matter of fact this development requires designers to think about products and processes in a more holistic way as well. Earlier integration into the development process & discussion clearly requires the consideration of far more product/process stakeholders than in the past.
However let’s return to Annkathrin’s quest for a definition of Design Management. It’s almost eight years ago now that the Design Management Institute published an article called “18 views on the definition of Design Management” (DMI Journal, Summer 1998) where 18 executives from various disciplines were asked for their views on the field. As a matter of course you can clearly see the professional background from which the definitions arise (for some more quotes surf this blog), but interestingly each time I re-read the article I find a different perspective which I like most. In the context of this posting I’ve liked the definition of Sohrab Vossughi, President of ZIBA Design most since it describes the changed level of design integration as described above quite well:
Anything to add, dear readers? ;-) What are your views or definitions?“Communication is the essence of design management. Products, uniforms, buildings, Web sites — design management can make a contribution in any area in which communication takes place. The newest frontier is process design. Designers should look beyond the conventional activities, such as packaging, graphics and product design. Designers have an important role to play in defining how companies use information. How is product information documented and communicated? How are new employees trained? How can the customer experience be simplified and refined?”
Mark Fenwick Says:
February 16th, 2006 at 14:48Visit Mark Fenwick
I am not a designer but studied design management on the University of Westminster’s MBA programme and adhere to the second view of design management design of management.
Most organisations state that creativity is a key strategic rescouce in an organisation. Dan Pink in his book ‘A whole new mind’ emphasises the role of the conceptual thinker as being the significant resource for organisations facing the challenges of the 21st Century. As we know designers can both conceptualise and create. I think it is now time for the designers to stop thinking about the creative imperative and start thinking about the commercial imperative of businesses and start using their design thnking skills to resolve many of the managerial probelms that organisations face.
The Uk currently has 50,000 students studying design and yet only 70,000 jobs in the deign sector. Where better place this over capacity than in the role of designing management.
Ralf Beuker Says:
February 16th, 2006 at 18:55Visit Ralf Beuker
Hi Mark,
thanks for the comment! Just read my latest posting on a recent job offer by Pricejamieson/UK? What do you think is their view on design management … what do you think they are looking for?
Cheers, Ralf.
Zollverein School Blog » Blog Archive » Report: Briefing Workshop Nomadic Academy | Ideas Park Says:
May 9th, 2006 at 11:54Visit Zollverein School Blog » Blog Archive » Report: Briefing Workshop Nomadic Academy | Ideas Park
[…] As some of you know, I’m not a trained designer. My educational background is rooted in Business Administration. However working in the domain of design management for many years now has taught me a lot of things about dealing with (design) problems. In contrast according to the notion of the business world problems need to be to be a) addressed with the (single) right methodology/logic and b) to be solved as soon as possible. Accordingly the nature of problems and their solutions (from the perspective of business) are very often perceived as puzzles rather than paradoxes. Puzzles have one defined solution while a paradox offers two different, but at the same time equally helpful solutions. […]
Zollverein School Blog » Blog Archive » Innovation = Engineering? Says:
May 30th, 2006 at 17:23Visit Zollverein School Blog » Blog Archive » Innovation = Engineering?
[…] Adding some even stronger argument for the integration of design (management) thinking into interdisciplinary (say engineering) contexts I’d like to note that design management has always been has been aiming to link different disciplines like engineering, marketing and design. A good example on how these disciplines can work together can be found in the DMI/Harvard Business School Case study: Braun AG: The KF 40 Coffee Machine. Interestingly the case study has made its way to several publications and more importantly into one of the primers on “Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation” by Burgelman, Christensen & Wheelwright. […]
kiran mir Says:
July 6th, 2008 at 16:52Visit kiran mir
well ur article is informative.. but what i really would like to know is how good is MBA in design as a course in general, i mean what good will it be to me, i am not from the design background, but from commerce background, recently i heard about this MBA and am kinda intrested in knowing more, i am unemployed currently so my parents will be funding this, now they would definately want results, u know, good money, nice position, do u think this course will be able to satisfy these wants, u see i dont want to make a wrong decision, i am very much inclined towards this design stuff, thats the reason why this course caught my attention in the first place, since u seem to know a lot about this could u pls guide me
thanking you
kiran mir
From Now On* » Defining Design Management/1 Says:
February 24th, 2009 at 14:16Visit From Now On* » Defining Design Management/1
[…] It’s the second part of the equation that I start to have problems with. As do many others it seems. The usually very readable Ralf Beukar who is a Professor of Design Management no less offers this rambling definition which to leaves me whimpering for a quick career change by the end. The Wikipedia definition rambles further. The University of the Arts offers an post-graduate diploma in Design Management which opens its pitch with the line ” This course has been designed for candidates who are already design leaders or who are looking to move into a role in design leadership.” Is it just me who thinks this is linked but different to design management? […]
catalogue software Says:
March 3rd, 2010 at 15:09Visit catalogue software
Design management is very important especially in designing a website. Management refers to how you put together the entire thing from colors, pictures, texts and the like.