19th DMI: Academic Design Management Conference
Design Management in an Era of Disruption
London, 2–4 September 2014
Live, Actionable and Tangible: Teaching
design strategy
Gill WILDMAN*
Plot London
Making design strategy actionable and live for inexperienced designers is an
ongoing challenge. Often educated around a specific design discipline, and
taught to respond to a brief, they have difficulties in setting a strategic intent,
and the means by which to get there. The need is to get the balance right in
terms of getting them to the right level of competency, ensuring sufficient
humility to be effective, being able to see at different scales of view. This
paper presents a new methodology for bringing design strategy to students
from different disciplines to work together and understand the process of
design strategy forming in a transdisciplinary way. The pilot is based upon
strategic design, management and design management theory, as well as
core design approaches, such as iteration, visualisation, prototyping and
sharing. It involved engaging a broad range of design educated students:
architects, game designers, social innovation, visual and interaction
designers, all of whom were new to design strategy. The challenge was to
expose them to a new scale - the strategic scale of thinking; to give them a
chance to become familiar and comfortable with the rich variety of tools from
design management, and management strategy and methods; to help them
become flexible around different perspectives and approaches used by design
strategists; and, in addition, to do this in a short period of time. The approach
involved group exploration through live projects. The scope of learning was
broadened by introducing a wide range of strategic subjects in the form of
commercial, not for profit and social businesses. This range meant everyone
got to consider different business models and impacts, ensuring a deeper
strategic flexibility. In strategic design we can force the design strategy to the
point of tangible output. Extending the proposed strategy by making it real
allows us to imaginatively share our thoughts on its potential. Overall it is
*
Corresponding author: Gill Wildman | e-mail: [email protected]
Copyright © 2014. Copyright in each paper on this conference proceedings is the property of
the author(s). Permission is granted to reproduce copies of these works for purposes relevant
to the above conference, provided that the author(s), source and copyright notice are included
on each copy. For other uses, including extended quotation, please contact the author(s).
Live, Actionable and Tangible: Teaching design strategy
possible to explore how building confidence allows designers to consider
themselves as more than producers, but as authors of strategic futures that
extends out into the entrepreneurial space.
Keywords: design strategy, strategy prototyping, tools, entrepreneurship
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Live, actionable and tangible: teaching design
strategy
The challenge
In their core training, designers are not often exposed to the wider
context of their work. They are not often exposed to the concepts of and
language of business or the variety of impact drivers of a not for profit
organizations.
As a result, when asked to think bigger, at a strategic level, they have
difficulties in seeing where their work fits in with the bigger scheme of
things. They may not be able to see the context in which their design activity
operates and contributes. Their inexperience creates additional limits to
their awareness of these contexts.
This means that they are limited in their understanding of the power of
design to be effective and as such fail to connect their work with the bigger
strategic picture.
In this paper the author proposes an approach for teaching design
strategy as a literacy for designers explained via a case study. This approach
highlights 3 specific aspects of teaching design strategy aimed at expanding
the understanding of nascent designers. The case study demonstrates how
the process works for nascent designers, the value it brings and that it can
be extended to non-designers.
Why is it important to bring design strategy to design
students?
In the future we need our designers to be able to do more than just
design. We need them to be able to argue the case for design as well as to
manage the process. We need them to create a design strategy that
supports commercial business strategy or impact-driven organizational
strategies. The skills needed go much further than the core set of design
education, yet are rarely taught at undergraduate level in any country.
Back in 2006 the Design Council wrote about a new kind of designer
needed: “We need designers on the supply side who are “able to think
systemically, apply design thinking in broader social, economic and political
contexts, collaborate fruitfully with other disciplines, and champion a
human-centred design approach at the highest levels.” (Design Council
2006)
Design strategy is a core aspect of the range of skills now called design
thinking, and design management education. It allows the designer to be
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able to connect the dots between what they are doing and the wider
context.
Taking designers into a more strategic practice is not simply about
adding skills, but also about developing competencies and literacies. It is
also a growing area (Cooper et al, 2011). Design strategy is a core
competency for anyone working in design at a senior level, and as we will
show, this competency can be initiated earlier and increased over the
course of a career.
There exists a range of competencies and literacies of the designer as
strategist:
They can converse in the new language of management; they have a
strong structural understanding of institutions and corporate affairs;
and they have been taught to be flexible team workers. They do not
abandon their platform of design skills or their understanding of
creative processes. They bring these abilities and insights to the
company, but now they are expressed in a form managers can readily
understand. (Gornick 1998)
Bringing the strategic into an undergraduate curriculum where nascent
designers are busy acquiring craft design skills creates a challenge. Helping
them to understand the existing literacies they have, and improving upon
these requires some new techniques. Developing strategic design
competencies in designers is a longer-term goal, requiring additional
experience over the course of their careers.
“We need the right kinds of strategic design literacy in both managers
and designers”. (Thomson, M., & Koskinen, T., 2012). This applies as much to
the educating of managers of organisations who commission design, as it
does to the designers themselves - that they are sufficiently skilled to be
able to engage the power of design.
We need to provide the structure and frameworks for them to develop
these competencies. In a time when MBA students are regularly being
offered design thinking, we need to equip nascent designers with the
abilities to match their expectations. We cannot wait for them to decide to
pursue post graduate education.
“More could be done to help design graduates to engage with design’s
role in business as a strategy for innovation in order to help them develop
strategic thinking skills for business.” (EU EDII 2012) Indeed, action 6 of the
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EU document talks about Design Competencies for the 21st century, and
as one of the pilot participant students stated a year after completing:
“Learning to work in this way definitely has value for designers. It helps us
better understand the interplay between design and business and also gives
us more power to advocate for a design-driven approach”. Resp 59
What follows is a case study of the pilot, its rationale and format, and
the findings of the follow up feedback project.
Case study: The pilot
The pilot, StrategyLab ran 3 times and included up to 15 in a
multidisciplinary group of undergraduate and postgraduate students
between 19 and 30 years of age.
It exposed the students to understanding the world of design strategy,
being able to see at different scales of an organisation, exploring the value
of design, understanding the tools, setting a strategic intent, and the
understanding the means by which to get there. Calling the class a Lab, set a
stage for more experimental ideas and methods of teaching in a traditional
design school.
The curriculum of the pilot was based upon the blending of theory and
practice, for instance strategic design, management and design
management theory, as well as core design approaches, such as iteration,
visualisation, prototyping and sharing.
The aims of the pilot:
To understand the nature of interest in design strategy
Strategic design is attractive to a younger age group who can use the
skills to differentiate themselves, even if they do not yet have the credibility
or confidence to actually practice. We can give them the chance to start to
understand this way of thinking and working earlier, so they can develop
and hone these skills over time.
To do this together a multidisciplinary group
Students from different disciplines learned to work together and
understand the process of design strategy forming in a transdisciplinary
way: including designers, social innovators, architects and game designers.
They hear each others different perspectives and together resolve these into
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Growth and Prosperity Report
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a new direction. This kind of creative conflict is hard for many, but results in
robust, innovative work.
Bring commercial and social impact work together
Working across both commercial and not for profit prevents more silo-ed
ways of thinking. In a post-manufacturing digital age, where we have a lively
sophisticated social business it makes little sense to concentrate soley on
global corporations.
Learning together in the group sessions extended their understanding
outside of their interests and experience. In the group critique sessions,
everyone explored and understand the dynamic nature of the forces within
business and organizations.
Building confidence fast
The purpose was to build confidence fast, to get them up and ready to
try things out. This was done by breaking down the design strategy making
process into absorbable stages, and starting them off by connecting them
with what they already know and skills they already have. For example, by
getting them to ‘read’ strategic intent from products and services they were
familiar with. Helping them develop those abilities through small and a
larger team based project.
Building confidence helps designers to become open to consider
themselves as more than producers, but as authors of strategic futures that
extends out into new spaces, including the entrepreneurial space. Five of
the students explored their own business ideas through the pilot.
Learning by doing
The combination of weekly activities built to larger projects they
produced as small teams such as experience modelling from new
experiences of a service. This ‘learning by doing’ helped them to deeply
experience the theory and its application and reflect. (Schon 1987) The
group critiques ensured that they all got to hear about different models of
doing things, and extended their understanding.
A diverse group of designers
Students were actively recruited across campus as well as through
normal channels and engaged a broad range of design educated students:
architects, game designers, social innovators, business students, visual and
interaction designers, all of whom were new to design strategy.
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“It was also really great to work on a team made up of different types of
designers.” Resp 95 These different perspectives combined to create a
challenging and creative tension from different worldviews of how things
are and how they work.
Everyone came from a different background, which I think really
helped us have a well-rounded strategy. I think it would have been
more difficult if we each had of been from the same major. Resp 68
Design strategy for the changing nature of business and social
innovation
The nature of business is not a static one, and over the past 10 years has
changed significantly. Although the roots of the role of the designer are
within mass manufacturing, the role is now far broader and more complex.
Many traditional case studies are based on commercial manufacturing
companies, some of whom are no longer with us. Contemporary case
studies that reflect our digital age, and the dynamic forms of new
commercial and social business are thin on the ground.
As a result, new activities were created to explore and understand new
kinds of economies such as digital markets, or social innovations, or sharing
economy, the impact of social media, the internet of things and phenomena
such as the long tail.
The aim was to get them to explore numerous exercises using companies
and organizations actively designing products and services right now. For
example, exploring three different drivers of sharing economy models with
existing car companies. Three groups explored what Hertz, Zipcar or
Enterprise could do in the future of car sharing and prioritising profit, social
or environmental impacts. They based their ideas on their past activities,
brand values and used these to identify alternative positioning or
consolidating strategies, and through class discussion articulated the
differences.“They were good primer experiences to understand the depth
and breath of design strategy” Respondent 59
The goal was to encourage them to get a sense of the workings at the
heart of strategy making, and to develop their own perspective on what
businesses do. This had the impact of exciting them about this changing
nature of design, and encouraging them to use this approach to extend their
practice. Being able to understand how things work had the impact of
changing their view about what they are, and developed a growing sense of
a new, emergent form of their practice as a designer.
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Figure 1. Exploring Hertz from new perspectives and envisaging new strategic
futures.
The success criteria for the pilot
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Have a vocabulary for translating design decisions
A process to share with clients and groups
Show the ability to design processes
Have processes and models ready to hand to use in their work
Know how to create design strategy with reference to existing
strategies
Learn the process, and how multidisciplinary design functions work
together
Have a persuasive argument for why design strategy is valuable,
especially for non designers
Demonstrate the ability to deeply understand anothers perspective
Shown a knowledge of different evaluation frameworks to evaluate
strategy
Have a range of methods for articulating design strategy
The flow of the class
Stage 1.
Understand the design strategy space
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The students were introduced to a new scale of thinking – the strategic
perspective in design, and how this connects with business and other
organizational strategies. Using analytical activities to show them how
strategy connects to products and services. Understanding the value of
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design in helping businesses and organisations in achieving their business
goals.
Stage 2.
Explore and understand the tools used in strategic design
Here the students were introduced to a range of tools, given tasks to
achieve with them, to give them a chance to become familiar and
comfortable with the rich variety of tools from design management and
management strategy.
Stage 3.
Create a new strategy for a real or new company, or not for profit.
As a group they were required to identify a company or organisation to
work with; understanding their goals, exploring possible futures; deciding
upon a strategic intent (Hamel and Prahalad, 1994), and developing a design
strategy in response. Visualising that strategy and creating a tangible
example of that strategy in the form of an artefact, indeed, creating the
brief (Humantific, 2011)
Stage 4.
Pitching these strategies to possible ‘investors’. We recruited faculty and
visitors to act as investors for the purposes of the events, and they gave
feedback to the teams in the form of investment cash and a verbal critique.
Reviewing the 3 pilot classes
Evaluation of this pilot was conducted through post-class feedback,
immediately at the end of the semester, and through an additional review at
9 months and 18 months.
The results are characterised by 3 themes: live - they got the dynamic
experience of creating strategy in real time and contemporary; actionable they could apply it right away, it was easily applied, and they could repeat it
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in different circumstances; tangible – they could embody the strategy in a
form that they could design as designers and make it tell a story about that
future strategy in action, so that they could share it with others.
One: Live
• Making it Live
We broadened the scope of learning by introducing a live group strategy
project. This project would have a new or existing company or not for profit
of their choice as its focus.
Those selected included Amtrak, Pandora, NPR, local food markets,
Pebble, Codeacademy, Vice and a range of their own business ideas such as
Zuum, Pinn Inc and One Finger Studio. This range meant everyone got to
consider different other groups business models and impacts, ensuring a
deeper strategic flexibility of thinking.
An interesting observation was how the groups moved away from
established corporations, and towards new social innovations and not for
profits such as NPR, or early stage startups such as Pebble or Codeacademy.
• A live organistion to work with
These companies or non-profit organizations were selected by the
groups for a range of reasons: choosing one they could get access to, or
were interested in, or were curious about the impact they could have
(turning around a company they considered ‘competitor models were more
successful“…because I thought it was really exciting, contemporary, and a
disruptive technology/service that was challenging the industry that it was a
part of.” Resp
During this live engagement they experienced a depth and active
interaction to their work that was unpredictable and keept them nimble. It
gave them the chance to bump into real language and concepts used by
those businesses. It exposed them to the additional scope of understanding
required by designers. “We did contact someone who did strategy and
design for them. And we used their service directly.” Resp 43
In a class that only lasts one 15 week semester, this kind of engagement
is at most basic, but it can be done. Some found that the company of their
choice was simply non-responsive, whereas others interviewed COO’s or
visited the organization of it were local. Some actually worked with the
companies over the short period, showing their work periodically and the
final output. As one student reflected: “I think it's a great course, but would
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ultimately be most useful if it could be tied in to either real client work, or
pretend client work from a much earlier stage of the course.” Resp 77
This component is the key to igniting interest and creating a dynamic
relationship with the businesses and organisations out there in the world.
• A live presentation of the ideas
Each team shared their final strategies in the form of a pitch
presentation, and in this additional stage forced them to tell a different kind
of story about the idea, aimed this time at people who might invest in them.
“It was really difficult but I think it was a really good thing for designers to
have to pitch ideas because we don't usually get that practice.” Resp 54
This forced them to explain the benefits of the strategy, as well as
severely editing their process and thinking.
Figure 2. Presenting their final ideas with a live audience and the “investors’ gave an
edge to the event and the all raised their game.
A lot of practice went into it because in the end, the way you
communicate your story affects the story itself. "Pitching" the idea
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made us shape the story in a really different way than how we were
thinking about the story from our own perspectives. Resp 75
Increasingly they needed to be able to tell different stories about their
ideas for different stakeholders. The intention was to give them more
experience of this. They saw the benefits of the pressure and understanding
they had the abilities to re-package the narrative for a new audience and
present benefits clearly. Talking about the work and sharing ideas are critical
tools for designers. It is not sufficient to just produce the work.
Two: Actionable
Start where they are
When working with inexperienced designers, starting where their own
abilities lie, assists them in learning to ‘read’ strategy through products and
services. They already have their own sensitivity to the embodiment of ideas
within a designed thing. They were asked to identify what they saw, and also
to analyse and critique the difference between what a company says about
itself and what it does.
To make the work immediately accessible to them, we needed to seek
out any case studies of companies in the press, before introducing more
traditional case studies, so that they could connect to this way of ‘reading’ a
story about strategy.
Slowly they were introduced to business concepts. Moving beyond
manufacturing and service models of business they explored contemporary
business phenomena such as the long tail, sustainable practices, social
media and new forms of economies, such as the sharing economy. These are
the waters our future design strategists will be swimming in.
We also built on the core practice designers have of iteration as a
method of getting to better outcomes. Approaching strategy making as an
iterative practise means they could build their understanding over time. It
allows them to know that they will find their way there using native and
familiar approaches.
Students were given a range of core tools to help them at specific stages
of this process. Additional tools were offered for a range of uses including
understanding the business, revealing current strategic intent, exploring
possibilities, and articulating their ideas as strategies for sharing with others.
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Tools for strategists
Design toolkits have become de rigeur for design companies and
organisations in order to codify their work and approaches. Like magpies,
design strategists use a wide range of tools - some sourced from
management, design management, strategic marketing and design. We
drew from the Design Council’s methods cards, IDEOs methods card deck,
Nesta Creative Business, Service Design Toolkit, or Luma Institute’s HumanCentred Design Planning Cards to name a few.
What’s important here is to help students to put together their own kit
of tools. They need to know how to select the right tool for the right
purpose and knowing why. Ideally they learn how to extend and adapt these
existing tools to fit their needs and those of their clients.
Clear impacts in view
As they established a strategic intent for each of their chosen companies
or organisations, they were asked to outline the kinds of impacts each
strategy should create, across financial, social and sustainable dimensions.
This was a stretch for most, but ultimately valuable in being able to consider
impact defining as a process. They had to imaging it and thinking about
impact fleshed out that vision. These impacts created the targets for the
strategy-forming.
“It was generally fine - sometimes a little difficult because it made
me have to expand my imagination and vision for what I could see
happening with the company way into the future. Even from when
the company didn't exist - and when I didn't fully even understand
what my company was specifically going to do.” Resp 75
It is no longer sufficient to measure success of a business soley by
financial means, and they were asked to explore additional bottom lines of
social and environmental impact. Once unpacked, the different impacts
became focal points for specific parts of their strategy-making. This became
clearer as the strategy progressed.
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Three: Tangible
Collaborative strategy
The biggest challenge for each group was to take the leap into
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considering what their possible strategy might be. Using the possible
futures tool they explored high and low risk possible futures for each
company.
They made the strategy tangible by making it together step by step on
the wall, using the here to there framework given. Huge sheets of paper
lined the walls as they discussed and noted possible versions of each stage.
They were shown how to create the right scale of work - to work on the wall
at least A0 size. Each week the large-scale strategy captured their work in
progress on the wall. They could physically stand in the time frame, in the
short or long-term future, and to see things from that perspective.
They had clearly different views and need to negotiate the best option in
a respectful way. This is a vital skill in practice - to robustly explore an area
without personal attachment to any one idea. In building this big vision
collaboratively, they could go off and complete different aspects with one
conceptual model in mind.
Some was really good and productive, but some things I found more
difficult. This unfortunately really depending in the group of people I
was working with during all of those things. The second half of the
semester went swimmingly because we were able to feed off of each
other's energy, but certain groups I felt like I was pulling teeth to get
good stuff out of and then I also didn’t get as much out of those
exercises because then I got less enthusiastic. Resp 43
Working together with new people, and exploring new ways of seeing
and working can be challenging, and put a pressure on each group to make
it work. They were encouraged to explore different perspectives and to use
these to develop a common purpose, using the goals and desired impacts as
filters to decisions, resolving these together.
The objective was to build their flexibility of thought and develop the
ability to think at both scales and to be able to move from one scale of
thinking to another with ease.
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Origin Gillian Crampton-Smith, Lecture Royal College of Art, Computer Related Design
Tutorial
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When crafting our strategy we started working through the very high
level details and goals. Midway through the project we started
jumping back and forth between the "fine details" and the "big
picture" to begin creating our artifacts. This was really useful to us as
a group because it allowed us to make sure we were effectively
executing the strategy we envisioned. Resp 53
They collectively iterated the strategy around the business goals over the
6 weeks until they settled on a best possible strategic plan. Creating the
strategy together comes with its challenges and is productive in helping
create a shared model of what is going on and what should happen.
“There was some revelation about the scope of people's
imaginations, desires and biases which makes it easier to
communicate in a group.” Resp 33
Figure 3. One of the groups presenting an iteration of their developing strategy for
class feedback.
As the weeks progressed, they made the strategy into a designed graphic
form to crystallize the work done and make it shareable. By codifying their
thinking, they needed to make explicit the assumptions they had put into
their work, and to make it accessible to others.
Creating tangible evidence
Whilst strategy as an activity remains in the boardroom, its form remains
in language until that is it emerges as a set of instructions at operational
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levels. Whilst it stays in language, it remains open to interpretation and in
that state can become fluid.
In business and sometimes in not for profits, strategy is shared via a
Powerpoint presentation, a document or a spreadsheet plan. Design
strategy allows us to improve n communication of the work through
designed visual materials, such as diagrams and well-designed
communications. A shareable strategy becomes an implementable strategy.
Fluent in visual representation, the strategic designer uses this skill as
an important and iterative means of communicating complex, even
contradictory, relationships—which would be difficult or impossible to
explain in text and numbers alone. (Boyer et al 2011)
In strategic design we can also force the expression beyond a plan or
strategy document to the point of a tangible output.
The students were then asked to make the intended strategy visible and
tangible through the selection, design and production of an artefact they
thought would embody the strategy as if it had been implemented.
Possible formats of the artefact included:
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a Kickstarter project proposal (or similar platform) with a small video
and pledges worked out as incentives for investors.
a report to real/prospective client
service evidence of the strategy in active use, such as an invoice,
manual or a receipt, an instruction book, or some souvenir of the
experience
a service blueprint targeted to present to an organisation about the
new strategy about to be implemented
a video of the strategic story
an experience prototype that clearly tells the strategic story
a diagrammatic/infographic vision of the strategy plus a narrative of
the strategic story
The intention was to get them to express the thinking behind the
suggested strategy and to use the core skills they have to express the logic
of the strategy. The artefacts took many forms: for Amtrak, it became an
application on an iPhone that connected the train planning with other
transport systems in a single purchasing operation, and a Report on the
companies progress; or Pandora the artifact was a web service showing the
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unique music matching algorithm; for Vice, it was a communications
package, Pebble had a promotional video. For Codeacademy, a certificate of
completion of a new set of classes, visuals of the new service and a fully
working interactive physical cursor were produced.
To create, turning strategy to artifacts actually took a lot of
considerations. You needed to step away to find what was necessary
from what you wanted to say. Resp 59
For Environmental Defense Fund the social media handbook for staff, for
Fishes and Loaves, a local food bank, the artefact was the food bank
noticeboard which told multiple stories about the future service and how it
would appear to users.
Figure 4. The final output for the Amtrak team was a brochure to accompany the
Town Hall meeting from the future. It spoke from the future, when
infrastructure investment had been implemented, and this new commuter
service could exist.
We made a bunch of "iPhones" that people could use to imagine the
changes to a service. For us it became a powerful point of
imagination. By having it for ourselves, we were somehow able to
imagine more about what it could do. Resp 33
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Figure 5. The Codeacademy team produced a working prototype of a new coding
service for children, to encourage them to get into coding earlier.
When shared, such prototypes can be used to “…elicit market feedback
before final production” (Schrage 1996).They can also be used to engage
people imagination in what could be, right across the organization and
create to provoke discussion, reveal bottlenecks and trouble spots, or even
to attract understanding, support and common models of success.
Students benefitted from making it real: “I learned how much I can learn
about something by forging it :)” Resp 89 Using their core design skills in a
new way, helps them to value its role in embodying ideas and strategies. It
helps them value what they already know well, and how extendable these
skills are.
Overall impact
When asked about what they can do now, one of our participants stated
her new state. “(I) Believe that I can do this kind of work.” Resp 77 whilst
others are more sceptical about their new skills…“Drawing a long-term
roadmap of the service. Imagining multiple future scenarios and choosing
what to focus. It all boils down to this: designing the future” Resp 89. For
others, they have had a literacy of design strategy successfully ignited: “I can
backwards think a design intent and strategy. Now (I am) able to understand
larger parts and necessary implementation details. I can backwards think a
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design intent and strategy. Now able to understand larger parts and
necessary implementation details.” Resp 59 Once these capabilities have
been initiated, they grow with experience over the course f a career.
Encouraging entrepreneurial thinking
In each of the 3 pilots some students went beyond possible companies
and developed their own commercial and social business ideas. They used
the methods to develop their emergent business ideas. They were often
working alone, which put a huge pressure on them. The methods helped
them work out an initial user-centred proposition that they could pitch to
the ‘investors’. They re-concieved themselves as designers or creators of
new vehicles for their own actions, as well as designers of things. This
entrepreneurial possibility rippled through each of the pilots.
Confidence building is key
In the case of recent graduates, where real life experience is limited, it is
vital to get the balance right in terms of getting them to the right level of
confidence and competency, whilst also retaining sufficient humility to be
effective.
“I can't think in any other way without comparing it to my notions of the
larger goal. Whenever I hear designers say they like making cool shit, it
bothers me a bit. I don't have a good handle over my definition of strategy
yet, but I know it's more than just making cool shit, a lot more.” Resp 85
The kinds of design strategists we need in the future are both
knowledgeable beyond their core discipline, both humble and confident.
Knowing what they don’t know but knowing how to find out is an essential
skill. “I learned how to dream the future we want to create and sell it to the
stakeholders who can help us build it.” Resp 89 is how one participant saw
this, but also a rise in confidence emerged: “Besides knowing lots of useful
methods, I now feel far more comfortable talking about design and business
strategy with senior business colleagues at work” Resp95
Building in space for getting better at group work
Strategy making is a social process, requiring multiple perspectives in
order to be sufficiently comprehensive. However, for some, group dynamics
can be a blockage to working well together, as they “…really effected the
work in this class, maybe more than other classes that I have been in.” Resp
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Live, Actionable and Tangible: Teaching design strategy
Getting practice in this highly valuable skill helps designers to develop
better interpersonal skills. These students had not been explicitly taught
how to work effectively in groups, but did have plenty of group project
experience of differing success. The pilot reinforced just how vital successful
team and group work education is for designers.
Recommendations
The case study contains a practical approach to bringing strategic design
to nascent designers. Undoubtedly there is a need to produce more
strategic designers who can work at multiple levels of thinking, whether
they be in commercial or not for profit settings. This approach produces
strategic designers who can see the bigger picture as well as the small
details, and grow their competencies throughout their careers.
This approach helps them raise their heads above the brief, and to get a
connection with the world in which they are operating. In the case of these
students, this viewpoint fires a passion for the system they are in - the
economic, or social systems they are connected with, and then gives them a
sense they can be more active in their participation. As we see, firing up the
mind allows them to think bigger, be open to new experiences, and grasp
the know how to connect the dots.
It is repeatable in both design and design management education. Our
objective is to open it up, and share the approach as fast as possible. It is
currently being extended to work with creative entrepreneurs to extend
their approaches to creating new businesses, and five new pilots are in
process, taking this approach to new audiences.
Acknowledgements: Heartfelt thanks to all of the students
who came through StrategyLab at Carnegie Mellon School of
Design, our sharks Mark Gross, Kristin Hughes, Eric Anderson,
Laurene Vaughan, Brett Bowman, Nick Durrant, our guests
Nathan Shedroff, Bethany Tucke, Despina Papadopoulos,
Chris Paccione, Cameron Tonkinwise.
References
Thomson, M., & Koskinen, T. (2012). Design for Growth & Prosperity (pp.
91). Helsinki, Finland: The European Design Leadership Board.
Naomi Gornick (1998) A New Management Role:The Designer as Strategist, ,
DESIGN MANAGEMENT JOURNAL VOL. 9, NO. 2 SPRING
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GILL WILDMAN
Schrage, M. (1996). Cultures of Prototyping. Bringing Design to Software (ed.
T. Winograd). USA: ACM Press. pp. 191-205.
Design Council, (2006) RED PAPER 02 Transformation Design, February 2006
Hamel and Prahalad, (1994) Strategic Intent, Harvard Business Review
Design Council (2005) Design Index: The Impact of Design on Stock Market
Performance Report to December 2004
Bryan Boyer, Justin W. Cook & Marco Steinberg, (2011) In Studio: Recipies
for Systemic Change, Helsinki Design Lab, Sitra, The Finnish Innovation
Fund
Rachel Cooper, Martyn Evans and Alex Williams (2011) New Design Business
Models: Implications for the Future of Design Management
Humantific, (2011) Design Thinking Made Visible project, Finding 5, p 124
Toolkits
IDEO, (2002) Methods Cards
Design Council (2004) Methods cards
Nesta (2009) Creative Enterprise Toolkit, Nesta UK
Service Design Toolkit (2014), http://www.servicedesigntoolkit.org
Luma Institute (2012) Innovating for People: Human-Centred Design
Planning Cards
StrategyLab: http://strategylab3.wordpress.com
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