IDEO’s Tim Brown has written a great article on Design Thinking for The Harvard Business Review. This one sure did the rounds in the studio! Recently, I discovered that there is a pdf version available right on their IDEO website.
Do Enjoy!
I recently read a really insightful interview with the members of the Griffin product development group on how they go about creating their wonderful accessories for the iPhone and iPod. One comment, in particular, struck a chord:
How does the process begin?
TC: Regardless of where the idea originates, the front end of the process is wide open; any one at Griffin can pitch a new product idea by writing up a one-page concept summary and presenting it to the team in a weekly product development meeting. That group bats it around, beats it up and decides whether it has enough potential to warrant further exploration.
TC: A great product idea can come from anywhere. We all use and love the technologies that we build products to support, so sometimes we’re just creating solutions that let us use our iPods and iPhones to do the things that we want to do. We also interact constantly with our customers to learn about their needs and pain points. Other times, we find an exciting technology and come up with unique, innovative ways to apply it to create solutions.
I was really happy to see that this manner of generating ideas during their product development process was something that I also suggested in my post “Innovation is Everyone’s Responsibility“.
Another way to look at it is to consider this as a “Controlled Democratic Design Process”. While a true Democratic Design process engages the masses with Crowd-Sourcing, in this case you only cast your net only as far as the members of your organization.
As a result, rather than a free for all “shotgun” approach of ideas from Crowd Sourcing, engaging your non product development colleagues can get you a more controlled but fresh perspective of ideas that are based on their view of your business.
I really enjoy reading blogs where the author shares his or her musings and anecdotal thoughts. I find that this gives a good insight into how that author thinks. Even better if these thoughts come from a designer. Check out Smart Design’s co-founder Tom Dair share his thoughts about redesigning the Rock-Paper-Scissors game. Tom argues that it does not seem logical that Paper trumps Rock, and sets out looking for a new Tri-factor that makes sense.
As I was growing up, my mom had a lot of advice, especially when it came to safety. I used to hear “it’s better to be a live chicken than a dead duck” a lot. Here’s another one: “if there is ever an electrical storm, whatever you do, don’t stand under a tree. The safest place during an electrical storm is in a car. The rubber tires protect it from the lightning”. One day some teenagers in a fast moving Camaro hit a tree down the street from my house. The car was totaled; fortunately the teenagers survived. Mom, as usual, had a rule to cover just such an event: “if you’re going to hit something with your car, don’t hit a tree. A car is no match for a tree.”
Once in a while, it is nice to read a post on Design Thinking that is fun, less serious, and not just about making money.
Designers often wonder or whine about how their work is not recognized, accepted or even respected in their organization. What many designers don’t realize is how they or their designs are treated has to do with how the discipline of design is viewed within their organization. In this article I will frequently reference Design Management methodology in organizations that have in-house design teams, however most of the topics we will cover today can also apply to consultancies working with businesses that buy design services.
There are many levels of how Design is viewed or integrated within an organization. This is what I like to call “The Design Functionality Axis” as illustrated above. The Axis stretches from a low level Supplier relationship at the base of the triangle to a Strategic Design Leadership relationship.
In the next few paragraphs, I hope to explain in detail what it means for a company to operate at these different Design functional levels, what designers working at these levels can expect and some hints on what can be done to push the value of design in your organization up this axis.
A Supplier Relationship
This is the lowest relationship denominator and is no coincidence that it is at the bottom of the pyramid. In a Supplier relationship, design and designers are often put in an execution role. In other words, a design is treated a means to an end. It is often seen as being done “off the corner of the table” and in a few hours. Often very styling in nature, the majority of consulting and freelance work often operates at this level. With in-house designers, it is no different. Here a designer mostly works alone, does almost everything remotely creative, and has a hard time trying to convince his/her boss the value of design. Ironically such companies know that they need design, but do not have any enabling factors to take it past the superficial. Furthermore they make the mistake of hiring the cheapest designer or service they can find, often including designers fresh out of school.
A Supporting Role
It gets a little better here. Designers are seen as very tactical in nature. In other words, Design is seen as useful in articulating a required need. Here designers are found as part of and doing the bidding of established departments like R&D, Engineering or even Marketing. While much better than a supplier, a designer in a supporting role still suffers from working with down stream information, and have very little influence in the brief requirements. What is worst, is that designers will have to deal with departmental politics of diverging objectives, an awful design decision-making process, and many opportunities to rework designs due to changing requirements.
In a Functional Position
Often, strong designers with a great track record, or who have been in a company for a long time, will often evolve their contribution into a functional role. Here a young organization starts to mature in regard to their view of Design. Such functional roles are evident with a creation or the existence of a Design Department. Now on par with the other functional departments like R&D or Engineering, Design in a Functional role starts to really provide value to a company by having equal say in solutions. Even though you are now closer to the decision maker, you will still need to negotiate different environments to get things done, and have to live with recommendations as you may still have little say in decisions made.
A Partnership
This is probably one of the best places a designer can be in. In a partnership arrangement, a designer gets to be part of the decision-making process, as well as influence the business strategy of a company. With close partnerships, a designer has a lot of trust within an organization and his word has a lot of weight. It takes a designer with quite a lot of skill to be successful in this role as he has to frame complex design problems into a language the business can understand. It is not only about strategy, but designers in this situation, have not only established trust through good communication, but able to deliver the goods by seeing it through to the end. Here the design partnership will often have a strong team of designers that support its success.
Strong Design Leadership
Finally we end this post with the future of the function of Design within an organization, Design Leadership. With a strong partnership in place, the logical next step is for design to own the competence of design within an organization. Here the role of design is naturally very strategic, where design plays a part in high-level business discussions, or even the main driver leading key initiatives. Design does this by identifying potential opportunities and articulates solutions that are vital for a successful brand or business. It takes an organization with a very mature and strong understanding of the value of design to accept Design in a leadership role. Design has now gone beyond form, as it resides in the DNA of a company and integral to its daily operations.
Image from AllMoviePhoto
That is right friends, I like to introduce to you a new activity on Design Sojourn and that is our very own Designer Mentoring Program.
But before I go on, you might be wondering why I’m doing this? Let me share the reason with you.
I often get a lot of email requests and questions for design advice. However, as I’m often very busy I don’t get a chance to respond properly or even not at all. Not only that, I wonder if my advice really works, as I often don’t get the full story or context of the problem. Worst still, when I do take the effort to give hearty advice, I don’t even get an email reply of thanks! Who are these people? (Boo-hiss!) Because of all these point, I now want a much higher level of interaction and engagement with the people I’m helping. Hence my thoughts of running a Designer Mentoring Program here at Design Sojourn.
Now, back to the program details.
This program is targeted to designers of all levels looking to better themselves and the quality of their design work. They will get a chance to interact closely with me and I will get a good opportunity to give them advice that is specifically targeted to their strengths and weaknesses.
To celebrate the launch of Design Sojourn’s Designer Mentoring Program, we are going to start this exclusive program with an initial intake of 5 people!
Well there are a few things you will have to do to be considered. First off you need to be an Industrial Designer. Well I did think about opening this to Graphic or Interaction Designers, but I’m no expert in these fields and I believe I would provide no additional value add. (Apologies to all my Graphic/Web Designer friends. But if you are still keen I may make an exception, just let me know?)
Next, as my objective is for greater engagement and successful helping, I would need to be familiar with you. I would have to either met you personally or via the web. The very least is you must have some kind of “relationship” with me (being hot helps? Kidding!). This basically means:
1) You subscribe to Design Sojourn by RSS feed or by email.
2) You visit Design Sojourn frequently AND leave engaging comments.
3) You follow and engage me via Twitter.
For me to get to know you better you should also do the following:
1) If you have a blog, great! Write a post on this Designer Mentoring Program and why you would like to be part of it. Link back to me and I’ll come visit to get to know your thoughts and writings better.
2) If you are on Twitter, Re-Tweet it this post and pass the word around to show me the people you know and allow me to learn about you by who you are following. Oh, if you can do Digg or Stumble this site too?
3) Have a professional network, either on Linkedin, or professional portfolio sites like Core77 or Behance.net. Add me if you are on any. Again this is so that I can learn a lot more about you.
4) Finally leave me a comment below stating your interest to be considered, and perhaps leave some links to your online presence as indicated in point 1-3.
In fact why not do all 4 points? This is about being Internet savvy. Though not the deciding factor, I do require basic Internet skills, as this Mentoring Program will run online. I don’t want to have to waste time explaining what a blog is right?
On a more serious note, if you are considered to be part of this Mentoring Program this is what you can expect:
1) A Portfolio Critique and Tune-up, by me and another prominent or experienced designer.
2) A complete skills assessment, review and improvement program.
3) Progressive Career Management and Advice.
4) Membership to a private and exclusive discussion forum where we can have in depth discussions about things not fit for public consumption! You will find answers to all your questions on design that you were afraid to ask!
———-
So that’s about it folks, and it is looking like I’ve bit off more than I can chew! I’m still fleshing out the details of the program and all I can say at this moment is that the program will leverage on the body of work I have shared in the this blog’s 4 year history. Do note that the selection process will close at the end of this month. May 31, 2009 at 11.59pm. I look forward to reading your comments, tweets, blog post and links!
Edit 1: Just to clarify, having an online network or presence is good, but not a key factor in my decision making process. The important thing is engagement, passion, and dedication to the program. I like to know that my effort put in, is reflected back with similar effort by the designer!
Edit 2: With 1 week to go before we close up our first intake of the 5 lucky designers for the Designer Mentoring Program, I thought to compile a list of designers who have expressed interest to be considered. So in no particular order:
1) Fecsx
2) Ingo Rauth
3) Raph Goldsworthy
4) Waikit Chung
5) Eugene Cheong
6) Louise Cochrane
7) Danny Chhang
8) Jason Cooper
9) Mendel Heit
10) Paavani
11) Jonning
12) Tiffany Wan
13) Arjan Schoof
14) Brian Moy
15) David Emmett
16) Raghuraj Ananthoj
17) Jason Phillips
18) Calvin Botha
19) Stephen Donald
20) Michael Greedrick
21) Munwar Khan
22) Robert Bell
Do drop me a message if I have accidentally missed out anyone?
Edit 3:
The intake of the first ever Designer Mentoring Program is now officially closed. I have been spending the weekend learning about the Designers who have expressed interest in this program. Believe you me it has not been an easy task doing the selection!
I will be posting the names of the lucky 5 designers on this blog soon. Do stay tuned!
Resonance from Continuum on Vimeo.
Check out this really slick film about design strategists, the methodology or tools they use, and how they identify the right ideas to go with. I can identify with this, as I always say these days it’s not “what can we make?”, but “what is the right thing to make?”.
This film was produced by the global innovation consultancy Continuum to share their strategic design process with the world. Nice work guys and thanks for sharing.
Enjoy!
I slipped early into a meeting right before it was about to start with a cup of hot tea in my hand. My second for the day, freshly brewed and in a freshly washed cup. Not wanting to create wet rings on the wooden table, I unconsciously did the same thing I usually do, I used a post-it pad as my coaster.
My colleague next to me, pointed to the cup and asked me, “you use a post-it pad as a coaster?”.
It dawned on me, why not? A post-it pad is the perfect coaster! It’s the perfect size for a cup, and it’s thick enough to insulate the table top from my hot cup. Also if you have spilled beverage from a full cup collecting at the cup’s base, you would just need to peel away and dispose the stained sheet of wet rings, and you have a fresh coaster top!
Only problem is that post-it pads are not waterproof and tend to soak up the wet stains creating crinkly and warped pads or sheets. Perhaps I should start a project creating recyclable post-it pads made up of thicker paper or plastic sheets? What do you think, would you buy one?
Ah, the joy of creative exercises for the mind.
Ok, I might as well spill the beans. One of the big reasons why I have been really busy, is that I am helping organize the next icsid congress 2009 here in Singapore! The congress will run from November 23rd-25th, and if you are interested to go the early bird registration (about 25% off!) is currently open to all !
So back to this discussion. I was invited to be the Chair of the Special Operations Sub-Committee. We were originally meant to sort of be a fast-response, stop-gap group, looking at issues or “dirty jobs” that no one else has the time to do. However the role has since evolved into social media strategy and networking. Strange things I get up to these days, no?
The interesting thing about this congress is that we planned this congress to be like no other! The congress will be a platform to communicate a bigger all encompassing story called “Design2050″, or “It is not what will, but rather, what can our world be in 2050?”.
Central this story or theme are The Design2050 Studios. Lead by recognized Design Thought Leaders from industry, the Studios will explore key topics like Mobility, Farming, Sustainability etc. in 2050. These Studios will not only brainstorm what the world will be in 2050, but will also use Social Media to engage people from all around the world to share their thoughts on the world in 2050. That is where I will also come in!
As you can see this effort will span in the time before the congress and far beyond the end of the congress. The final objective is to put together a global “manifesto” and a commitment to how we will get to 2050. Great stuff don’t you think?
Anyways do check out our official icsid congress website which I helped co-creative direct and managed. Also follow our updates on our design2050 twitter and soon to be launched design2050 blog. If you do come to Singapore, do give me a “shout” and we can catch up during the congress?
I recently had a discussion with my better half on how “Loyalty Points” are pointless these days. (Please excuse the pun!) I rather have a clutter free wallet than carry my Ikea or local hardware store loyalty card.
Why accumulate points and work for delay gratification when I can get immediate satisfaction with more money in my wallet? I believe this has become more important in our current economic crisis.
Marketers or retailers need to know that loyalty cards are out dated to moment globalization happened. Why?
1) Brand loyalty is to the product not the store you buy from.
2) That being said, I will take a leap to say brand loyalty will soon become, if it has not already happened, a thing of the past. With multiple companies offering products that all good and very much the same. People brand switching is as common these days as salt. If I need a shirt, I don’t really care if its H&M, Mexx or Zara, they are all good and fit me well.
3) This means loyalty points will be useless to you as you will likely shop less and subsequently accumulate less points. In a vicious cycle, trying to upkeep a loyalty program becomes a struggle to even remember to bring the card!
4) Not only that, considering all things equal, there will be someone around the world that will have the same product cheaper than you can sell it. Worst that someone can be easily found on the internet.
So if you want my loyalty, and encourage me to keep coming back for more, give me a discount instead. I might even pay a membership fee if the discount is good enough.
On the flip side, there is one loyalty program I will continue to maintain. That is my Singapore Airlines Krisflyer membership. Why?
1) The delayed gratification or reward (for example, to get yourself upgraded) is worth the struggle for the points.
2) The product and its experience is important to that individual. For some flying budget air is good enough. This is the key, what is important to that individual.
3) The rewards are quite exclusive and not easily obtainable by most people.
Marketers will need to do their homework to see if a loyalty program is right for a brand or product. Just look at Apple, do you think they need a loyalty program?
[ More Strategic Design Stuff? ]
All opinions expressed on this blog are solely the author's own and should not be attributed to his employer, business partners or clients.
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