Design Sojourn | Strategic Industrial Design Blog

Came across your blog by accident and the question asked if an intriguing one. If I may add my two cents I would think it’s a bit of both.

Hi DT,

The view of “visualize” and “articulate” go hand in hand when design comes into picture. The visualization of the stratergy is very important to articulate the same. If one fails the other one doesnt survive. Both are more like soul and body of a human being.

Designers need to understand this part that nothing is irrevelant when coming to the design strategy and only develops with time and experience.

reagrds,
Raj

I use the term ‘make tangible’ because it is the job of the receiver to solidify the strategy in their mind. The designer’s job is to create a tangible representation of the elements of the strategy… of course great companies co-create the strategy anyway and then design becomes a social science!

Hi All,

Thanks for sharing your insights.

@Raghuraj and @Jacqueline, quite right. They both go hand in hand. The problem is sometimes it one or the other is only used and then the misunderstanding happens especially to those that are not designed trained.

@Jim, “make tangible” is a good way to put it.

To be a visionary you must visualize!

I believe that you must use visionary techniques to design and one persons vision will be different from anothers when only words define the vision. It is only when we materialize the vision are we forced to articulate its details.

With regards to what your boss would like i think he would like to see a defined, detailed tangeiable direction for your customers design strategy.

Or perhaps only once a vision is articulated does it really have any meaning?

Hi DOHboy,

Your last point is the key to this discussion. Just visualizing implies we are just thinking, dreaming, and/or creating beautiful pictures. That is what an editor friend from a design blog calls “vapor-ware”. The difference here is once it is articulated, you give meaning to the creation, and that is why I rather designers “articulate” rather than sit around in self-gratifying design talk or in our case “visualization”.

Thanks for point these points out.

Hi
Vision goes beyond the dimensions of time and space. The visualization happens then and there, but next moment it might not be there.
Articulation kind of binds the vision to the dimensions of time and space and eventually make it happen in the real world.
The designers rather visualize and then articulate, than just articulate.

I think this discussion is not about the absence of “visualization” in a designer’s work flow, but rather to be mindful that what we do is simply beyond visualizing for people who do not have the spacial capabilities we do. Simply visualizing all the time means we just replicate ideas as a graphic translator instead of giving a direction or recommendation to move projects forward. If there is no application, then all we have is basically “art”. We as professionals give recommendations to aesthetic direction, mechanical innovation, ergonomics, new market frontiers, and even business innovation.

Great point. I agree with it and like it.

This is very interesting way to think about design. The ability to articulate the strategy lends itself for designers to better visualize the result. Both go hand in hand, but should follow a certain flow leading to a more captivating result. After all, design is becoming a more critical factor in influencing the sale a product at the time of purchase. At Schawk, we have found that packaging is an increasingly critical factor in delivering a successful brand — with more than 70% of purchase decisions made today occur while shopping.

As branders, if we can better articulate what the end result should look like, then the end result is a design that creates an enhanced visual experience allowing a brand to resonate with a consumer. Although design is important, it remains only one factor in the marketing equation. With over 30,000 SKUs introduced each year there is greater pressure for brands to perform, which is causing a shift in how brands are managed. In order for a brand to resonate with consumers, it needs to deliver a compelling and consistent brand experience across all touchpoints – in the store, on the shelf, in a magazine on a billboard, digitally, etc …

Earlier this year, Schawk repositioned itself to offer brand point management services, which design is a central element of the category. Brand point management integrates strategic, creative and operational excellence to deliver consistent and compelling brand experiences across mediums and geographic locations. To learn more, here is some information about brand point management: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/854644/Brand-Point-Management.

Schawk has created a new online community to facilitate discussion around the issues and ideas that lead to having quality brands that resonate with consumers. The community is free for anyone to join, but registration is required. To check it out, please visit http://www.brandsquare.com” rel=”nofollow”>http://www.brandsquare.com.

I mentioned Bill Buxton above…just thought that this presentation of his is “food for thought”
http://snipurl.com/3soy0 [linkenfuego_wordpress_com]

Project Oxygen at MIT is looking at sketching of the future. This article is interesting http://snipurl.com/3tajj [rationale_csail_mit_edu] . It talks about sketching and talking.

i think we mainly visualize, makes you easy get a good global picture and usually i am more creative in this way this is why the job use to be good (I hope)