Design management
Encyclopedia
Design Management is a business discipline that uses project management
, design, strategy, and supply chain
techniques to control a creative process, support a culture of creativity, and build a structure and organisation for design. The objective of design management is to develop and maintain a business environment in which an organisation can achieve its strategic
and mission goals through design, and by establishing and managing an efficient and effective system. Design management is a comprehensive activity at all levels of business (operational to strategic), from the discovery phase to the execution phase. "Simply put, design management is the business side of design. Design management encompasses the ongoing processes
, business decisions, and strategies that enable innovation and create effectively-designed products
, services, communications, environments
, and brands that enhance our quality of life and provide organisational success." The discipline of design management overlaps with marketing management
, operations management
, and strategic management
.
Traditionally, design management was seen as limited to the management of design projects, but over time, it evolved to include other aspects of an organisation at the functional and strategic level. A more recent debate concerns the integration of design thinking
into strategic management
as a cross-disciplinary and human-centred approach to management. This paradigm also focuses on a collaborative and iterative style of work and an adductive mode of thinking, compared to practices associated with the more traditional management paradigm.
Over recent years, design has become a strategic asset in brand equity
, differentiation, and product quality for many companies. More and more organisations apply design management to improve design-relevant activities and to better connect design with corporate processes.
On an abstract level, design management plays three key roles in the interface of design, organisation, and market. The three key roles are to:
, packaging design, service design), information (e.g. graphic design, branding, media design, web design), interaction (usability, human-computer interaction), and environment (e.g. retail design, exhibition design, interior design).
, organising, staffing
, leading
or directing, and controlling
an organisation (a group of one or more people or entities), or effort for the purpose of accomplishing a goal. Resourcing
encompasses the deployment and manipulation of human resources
, financial
resources, technological resources, and natural resources
. Towards the end of the 20th century, business management came to consist of six separate branches, namely human resource
management, operations management
(or production management), strategic management
, marketing management
, financial management
, and information technology management
, which was responsible for management information systems. Although it is difficult to subdivide management into functional categories in this way, it helps in navigating the discipline of management. Design management overlaps mainly with the branches marketing management
, operations management
, and strategic management
.
; however, design management and design leadership are interdependent rather than interchangeable. Like management and leadership, they differ in their objectives, achievements of objectives, accomplishments, and outcomes. Design leadership leads from creation of a vision to changes, innovations, and implementation of creative solutions. It stimulates communication and collaboration through motivation, sets ambitions, and points out future directions to achieve long-term objectives. In contrast, design management is reactive and responds to a given business situation by using specific skills, tools, methods, and techniques. Design management requires design leadership to know where to go and design leadership requires design management to know how to get there.
, industrial design
, management
, software development
, engineering
; and movements such as system theory, design methodologies. It cannot be attributed directly to either design
nor to management
.
The practice of managing design to achieve a business objective was first documented in 1907. The Deutscher Werkbund
(German Work Federation) was established in Munich
by twelve architects and twelve business firms as a state-sponsored effort to better compete with Great Britain
and the United States
by integrating traditional craft and industrial mass-production techniques. A German designer and architect, Peter Behrens
, created the entire corporate identity
(logotype, product design, publicity, etc.) of Allgemeine Elektrizitäts Gesellschaft
(AEG), and is regarded as the first industrial design
er in history. His work for AEG was the first large-scale demonstration of the viability and vitality of the Werkbund's initiatives and objectives and can be considered as first contribution to design management.
In the following years, companies applied the principles of corporate identity
and corporate design
to increase awareness and recognition by consumers and differentiation from competitors. Olivetti
became famous for its attention to design through their corporate design
activities. In 1936 Olivetti hired Giovanni Pintori in their publicity department and promoted Marcello Nizzoli
from the product design department to develop design in a comprehensive corporate philosophy. Up to and during the 1960s, debates in the design community were focused on ergonomics
, functionalism, and corporate design, while debates in management addressed Just in time, Total quality management
, and product specification. The main proponents of design management at that time were AEG
, Bauhaus
, the British Design Council
, Deutscher Werkbund, Olivetti, Peter Behrens, and Walter Paepcke
.
(e.g. the "blooming period of design methodologies" in Germany, the US, and Great Britain), as its main contributors had backgrounds in architecture
. Early discussions on design management were strongly influenced by Anglo-Saxon literature (e.g. Farr and Horst Rittel
), methodological studies (e.g. HfG Ulm
and Christopher Alexander
), and theories in business studies. Design management dealt with two main issues:
Instruments and checklists were developed to structure the processes and decisions of companies for successful corporate development
. In this period the main contributors to design management were Michael Farr, Horst Rittel, HfG Ulm
, Christopher Alexander
, the London Business School
, Peter Gorb, the Design Management Institute, and the Royal Society of Arts
. Debates in design disciplines were focusing on design science, design methodology, wicked problems, Ulm methodology, new German design, and semiotic and scenario technique.
, product concepts, projects, communications, and market launch phases—as well as the positioning of products and companies.
Two important works were published in 1990: the Publication of Design Management – A Handbook of Issues and Methods by Mark Oakley (Editor) and the Publication of Design Management – Papers from the London Business School by Peter Gorb (Editor). This new method-based design management approach helped to improve communication amongst technical and marketing managers. Examples of the new methods included trend research, the product effect triad, style mapping, milieus, product screenings, empiric design methods, and service design, giving design a more communicative and central role within organisations.
In the management community the topics of management theory, positioning strategy, brand management, strategic management, advertisement, competitive strategy, leadership, business ethics, mass customisation, core competencies, strategic intent, reputation management, and system theory were discussed. Main issues and debates in design management included the topics of design leadership, design thinking, and corporate identity; plus the involvement of design management at the operational, tactical, and strategic levels.
In 1980 Robert Blaich, the senior managing director of design at Philips
, introduced a design management system that regards design, production, and marketing as a single unit. This was an important contribution to the definition of design as a core element in business. At Philips Design
, Stefano Marzano became CEO and Chief Creative Director in 1991, continuing the work of Robert Blaich to align design processes with business processes and furthering design strategy as an important asset of the overall business strategy.
as a function for corporate advantage of both companies and nations. The main issues and debates included the topics of design thinking, strategic design management, design leadership, and product service systems. Design management was influenced by the following design trends: sustainable design, inclusive design, interactive design, design probes, product clinics, and co-design. It was also influenced by the later management trends of open innovation and design thinking.
" was coined by the architects Brunton, Baden Hellard and Boobyer in 1964 where they highlighted the tension and synergy between the management of individual projects (job management) and the management of the business (office management). Although they did not use the term "design management", they stressed identical issues; while the design community discussed methodologies for design. Christopher Alexander's work played an important role in the development of the design methodology, where he devoted his attention to the problems of form and context; and focused on disassembling complex design challenges into constituent parts to approach a solution. His intention was to bring more rationalism and structure into the solving of design problems.
In 1965 the term design management was first published in a series of articles in the Design Journal. This series includes a pre-publication of the first chapter of the book Design Management by Michael Farr, which is considered as the first comprehensive literature on design management. His thoughts on system theory and project management
led to a framework on how to deal with design
as a business function at the corporate management level by providing the language and methodology to effectively manage it.
(German Work Federation) was established in Munich
to better compete with Great Britain
and United States
. The success of the Deutscher Werkbund
inspired a group of British designers, industrialists and business people after they had seen the Werkbund Exhibition in Cologne in 1914, to found the Design and Industries Association and campaign for a greater involvement of government in the promotion of good design. In 1944 design management by managing design policies was used by the British Government. The British Design Council was founded by Hugh Dalton, president of the Board of Trade in the British wartime government, as the Council of Industrial Design with the objective "to promote by all practicable means the improvement of design
in the products of British industry
".
Germany also realised the national importance of design during World War II. Between 1933 and 1945 Adolf Hitler
used design
, architecture
and propaganda
to increase his power; shown through the annual Reichsparteitage in Nürnberg on September 5. Heinrich Himmler
coordinated several design activities for Hitler, including: the all-black SS-uniform designed by Professor Karl Diebitsch
and Walter Heck in 1933; the Dachau concentration camp, designed by Theodor Eicke
, and prototypes for other Nazi concentration camps
; and the Wewelsburg
redesign commissioned by Heinrich Himmler
in 1944.
Since the 1990s the practice of design promotion is evolving, and governments have used policy management and design management to promote design as part of their efforts of fostering technology, manufacturing and innovation.
In America the Chicago
industrialist Walter Paepcke
, of the Container Corporation of America
, founded the Aspen Design Conference after World War II
as a way of bringing business
and designers together – to the benefit of both. In 1951 the first conference topic, "Design as a function of management", was chosen to ensure the participation of the business community. After several years, business
leaders stopped attending because the increased participation of designers changed the dialogue, focusing not on the need for collaboration between business
and design
, but rather on the business
community’s failure to understand the value of design
.
The Royal Society of Arts
(RSA) Presidential Medals for Design Management were instituted in June 1964. These were to recognise outstanding examples of design policy in organisations that maintained a consistently high standard in all aspects of design management, throughout all industries and disciplines. With these awards the RSA introduced the term design management. In 1965 the first medals were given to four companies; Conran & Co Ltd., Jaeger & Co Ltd., S. Hille & Co Ltd. and W. & A. Gilbey Ltd. in the category "current achievements" and two companies London Transport
and Heal and Son Ltd. in the category "long pioneering in the field of design management". The medal selection committee included representatives of the RSA council and the faculty of Royal Designers for Industry
.
The Design Management Institute (DMI) was founded in 1975 at the Massachusetts College of Art
in Boston
. Since the mid-1980s the DMI has been an international non-profit organisation that seeks to heighten the awareness of design
as an essential part of business strategy, and become the leading resource and international authority on design management. One year later the first conference was organised. The DMI increased its international presence and established the "European International Conference on Design Management" in 1997, and a professional development programme for design management.
In 2007 the European Commission
funded the Award for Design Management Innovating and Reinforcing Enterprises (ADMIRE) project for two years, as part of the Pro Inno Europe Initiative, which is the EU’s "focal point for innovation policy analysis, learning and development". The aim was to encourage companies – especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs) – to introduce design management procedures to; improve their competitiveness, stimulate innovation, establish a European knowledge-sharing platform, organise a European Design Management Award, and to identify and test new activities to promote Design Management.
in 1976 and has been taught on a full-time basis since 1982. Peter Gorb, a Life Fellow of the DMI and a long time Fellow of the RSA, has led the design management department for over 20 years and is seen as a "godfather" of design management. He defined his design reclassification in 1976 and published his book Design and its use by managers two years later.
In 1991 the University of Art and Design Helsinki
founded the Institute of Design Leadership and Management and established an international training programme. The International Design Management Conference was organised in the same year by them. In 1995 the Helsinki School of Economics
(HSE), University of Art and Design Helsinki
(TaiK), and University of Technology (TKK) cooperated to create the International Design Business Management Programme (IDBM), which aims to bring together experts from different fields within the concept of design business management.
The Design Leadership Fellowship at the University of Oxford
was founded in 2005. In the same year the Stanford University Institute of Design founded the D-school, a faculty intended to advance multidisciplinary innovation. The Finnish Aalto University
was founded in 2010 and is a merger of the three established Finish universities – the Helsinki School of Economics
(HSE), University of Art and Design Helsinki
(TaiK), and University of Technology (TKK) – that have cooperated on a design management programme since 1995.
in 1989. In the same year the Design Management Review was published by the DMI as a magazine solely focusing on design management.
Design and design management have experienced different generations of theories. In its first generation design focused on the object, in the second on the process, and in the third on the user. Similar shifts can be seen in management and design management in almost parallel steps. For design management this has been illustrated by Brigitte Borja de Mozota, using Findeli’s Bremen Model as a framework. Design management research organised itself into:
It is difficult to predict where design management research is heading.
In product-focused companies, design management focuses mainly on product design management, including strong interactions with product design, product marketing, research and development, and new product development. This perspective of design management is mainly focused on the aesthetic, semiotic, and ergonomic aspects of the product to express the product's qualities and to manage diverse product groups and product design platforms.
Corporate brand design management
Market and brand focused organisations are concerned with the expression and perception of the corporate brand. Corporate design management implements, develops, and maintains the corporate identity, or brand. This type of brand management is strongly anchored in the organisation to control and influence corporate design activities. The design programme plays the role of a quality programme within many fields of the organisation to achieve uniform internal branding. It is strongly linked to strategy, corporate culture, product development, marketing, organisational structure, and technological development. Achieving a consistent corporate brand requires the involvement of designers and a widespread design awareness among employees. A creative culture, knowledge sharing processes, determination, design leadership, and good work relations support the work of corporate brand management.
Product brand design management
The main focus of product brand management lies on the single product or product family. Product design management is linked to research and development, marketing, and brand management, and is present in the fast moving consumer goods
(FMCG) industry. It is responsible for the visual expressions of the individual product brand, with its diverse customer–brand touch points and the execution of the brand through design.
. It is the activity of planning and organising people, infrastructure, communication, and material components of a service. The aim is to improve the quality of the service, the interaction between the service provider and its customers, and the customer's experience. The increasing importance and size of the service sector in terms of people employed and economic importance requires that services should be well-designed in order to remain competitive and to continue to attract customers. Design management traditionally focuses on the design and development of manufactured products; service design managers can apply many of the same theoretical and methodological approaches. Systematic and strategic management of service design helps the business gain competitive advantages and conquer new markets. Companies that proactively identify the interests of their customers and use this information to develop services that create good experiences for the customer will open up new and profitable business opportunities.
Companies in the service sector innovate by addressing the intangibility, heterogeneity, inseparability, and perishability of service (the IHIP challenge):
Service design management differs in several ways from product design management. For example, the application of international trading strategies of services is difficult because the evolution of service 'from a craftsmanship attitude to industrialisation of services' requires the development of new tools, approaches, and policies. Whereas goods can be manufactured centrally and delivered around the globe, services have to be performed at the place of consumption, which makes it difficult to achieve global quality consistency and effective cost control.
/ Design
/ Anthropology
(A/D/A) paradigm which characterises innovative, human-centered enterprises. This paradigm focuses on a collaborative and iterative style of work and an adductive mode of thinking, compared to practices associated with the more traditional Mathematics / Economics / Psychology
(M/E/P) management paradigm. Since 2006, the term Business Design is trademarked by the Rotman School of Management
; they define business design as the application of design thinking principles to business practice. The designerly way of problem solving is an integrative way of thinking that is characterised by a deep understanding of the user, creative resolution of tensions, collaborative prototyping, and continuous modification and enhancement of ideas and solutions. This approach to problem solving can be applied to all components of business, and the management of the problem solving process forms the core of business design management activity. Universities other than the Rotman School of Management are offering similar academic education concepts, including the Aalto University
in Finland, which initiated their International Design Business Management (IDBM) programme in 1995.
Conventional real estate development and urban planning activities are subject to conflicting interests and positional bargaining. The integrative negotiation approach emphasises mutual gains. The approach has been applied in land use planning and environmental management, but has not been used as a coordinated approach to real estate development, city design, and urban planning. Urban design management involves reordering the chain of events in the production of the built environment according to the principles of integrative negotiation. Such principled negotiation can be used in urban development and planning activities to reach more efficient agreements. This leads to integrative developments and more sustainable ways to produce the built environment.
Urban design management offers prescriptive advice for practitioners trying to organise city planning activities in a way that will increase sustainability by increasing satisfaction levels. Real estate development and urban planning often occur at very different decision-making scales. The practitioners involved may have diverse educational and professional backgrounds. They certainly have conflicting interests. Providing prescriptive advice for differing, possibly conflicting, groups requires construction of a framework that accommodates all of their daily activities and responsibilities. Urban design management provides a common framework to help bring together the conventional practices of urban and regional planning, real estate development, and urban design.
The work on Integrative Negotiation Consensus Building and the Mutual Gains Approach
provide a helpful theoretical framework for developing the theory of urban design management. Negotiation theory
provides a useful framework for merging the perspectives of urban planning, city design, and real estate project proposals regarding production of the built environment. Interests, a key construct in negotiation theory, is an important variable that will allow integrated development, as defined above, to occur. The path-breaking work of Roger Fisher and William Ury (1981), Getting to yes, advises negotiators to focus on interests and mutual gains instead of bargaining over positions.
, and even then practitioners appeared to be concerned about the conflict between art and commerce, demonstrating indifference to management. There was apparent conflict between the image of an architect and the need for professional management of the architectural business. Reluctance to embrace management and business as an inherent part of architectural practice could also be seen in architectural education programmes and publications. It appears that the management of architectural design, as well as architectural management in general, is still not being given enough importance. Architectural management falls into two distinct parts: office or practice management
and project management
. Office management
provides an overall framework within which many individual projects are commenced, managed, and completed. Architectural management extends between the management of the design process, construction, and project management, through to facilities management
of buildings in use. It is a powerful tool that can be applied to the benefit of professional service firms and the total building processes, yet it continues to receive too little attention both in theory and in practice.
' products (goods and services). The creative industry workforce is 3.1% of total employment in the European Union (EU), which creates a revenue that is 2.6% of the EU gross value. Creative industries have attained an unprecedented average annual growth rate of 8.7 per cent across the EU between 2000 and 2005.
The increasing importance of creative industries (and especially design) in knowledge-intense industries is reflected not only in the policies and studies on EU levels, but has initiated design and creative policies and programmes in the most advanced economies. Furthermore, design and creativity has been recognised on a regional and local level as a driving force for competitiveness, economic growth, job market, and citizen's satisfaction. The investment in creative and cultural industries are considered a significant component of EU growth in the Lisbon Strategy and the Europe 2020 strategy; and designers are increasingly involved in innovation issues.
To better understand the value of design and its role in innovation, the EU holds a public consultation on the basis of their publication Design as a driver of user-centred innovation and have published the mini-study Design as a tool for innovation. The report highlights the importance of design in user-centred innovation and recommends the integration of design into the EU innovation policy. In addition to the design share in the export of all creative industry products, design can also have a positive impact on all business performance indicators; from turnover and profit to market share and competitiveness. Design management research results can be classified as follows:
If and how design management is applied in a company correlates with the importance and integration of design in the company, but depends also on industry type, company size, ownership for design and type of competitive competence. A research from the Danish Design Centre (DDC) led to the "Danish Design Ladder", which shows how companies interpreted and applied design in differing depth:
The research showed that companies that considered design on a higher level of the ladder were constantly growing. Additionally, the Danish Design Centre published an Evaluation of the Importance of Design in 2006, with the result that most companies considered design as a promoter for innovation (71%), as a growth potential for the company (79%), and to make products more user friendly (71%). With increasing importance of design for the company, design management also becomes more important.
The value of design can be leveraged if it is managed well. Research by Chiva and Alegre shows that there is no link between the level of design investment and business success, but instead a strong correlation between design management skills and business success. This means that efficient and effective design management is crucial for maximising the value of design. Effective design management increases the efficiency of operations and process management, has a significant positive impact on process management, improves quality performance (internal and external quality), and increases operating performance. To measure and communicate the value of design management, Borja de Mozota suggests adapting the Balanced Score Card model and structuring the values in the following four categories:
Depending on the strategic orientation, design management overlaps with other management branches to differing extents:
Marketing management
: The concepts and elements of brand management overlap with those of design management. In practice, design management can be part of the job profile of a marketing manager, though the discipline includes aspects that are not in the domain of marketing management. This intersection is called "brand design management" and consists of positioning, personality, purpose, personnel, project and practice, where the objective is to increase brand equity.
Operations management
: At the operational level design management deals with the management of design projects. Processes and tools from operations management can be applied to design management in the execution of design projects.
Strategic management
: Due to the increasing importance of design as a differentiator and its supporting role in brand equity, design management deals with strategic design issues and supports the strategic direction of the business or enterprise. The debate on design thinking suggests the integration of design thinking into strategic management. Design thinking and strategic thinking have some commonalities in their characteristics, both are synthetic, adductive, hypothesis-driven, opportunistic, dialectic
al, enquiring and value-driven.
Innovation management
: The value of the coordinating role of design in new product development
has been well documented. Design management can help to improve innovation management, which can be measured by three variables: it reduces time-to-market, by improving sources and communication skills and developing cross-functional innovation; it stimulates networking innovation, by managing product and customer information flows with internal (e.g. teams) and external (e.g. suppliers, society) actors; it improves the learning process by promoting a continuous learning process.
Operational level
Operational design management involves the management of individual design projects and design teams. Its goal is to achieve the objectives set by strategic design management. Success of good design management can be measured by evaluating the quality of operational design management outcomes. It includes the selection and management of design suppliers and encompasses the documentation, supervision, and evaluation of design processes and results. It deals with personal leadership, emotional intelligence, and the cooperation with and management of internal communications. Regular management functions, tools, and concepts can often be applied to the management of design on the operational level. It is implemented to achieve specific design objectives and manage the judgment of design proposals. It can help to build brand equity through the consistent creation and implementation of high-quality design solutions that best fit the brand identity and desired consumer experience, in the most efficient way. Depending on the type of company and industry, the following job titles are associated with this role: operational design manager, senior designer, team leader, visual communication manager, corporate design coordinator, and others.
Tactical level
Tactical design management addresses the organisation of design resources and design processes. Its goal is to create a structure for design in the company, bridging the gap between objectives set through strategic design management and the implementation of design on the operational level. It defines how design is organised within the company. This includes the use of a central body to coordinate different design projects and activities. It deals with defining activities, developing design skills and competencies, managing processes, systems and procedures, assigning of roles and responsibilities, developing innovative products and service concepts, and finding new market opportunities. Outcomes of tactical design management are related to the creation of a structure for design within the company, to build internal resources and competencies for the implementation of design. Depending on the type of company and industry, the following job titles are associated with this function: tactical design manager, design director, design & innovation manager, brand design manager, new product development (NPD) manager, visual identity manager, and others.
Strategic level
Strategic design management involves the creation of strategic long-term vision and planning for design, and deals with defining the role of design within the company. The goal of strategic design management is to support and strengthen the corporate visio by creating a relationship between the design and corporate strategy. It includes the creation of design, brand and product strategies, ensuring that design management becomes a central element in the corporate strategy formulation process. Strategic design management is responsible for the development and implementation of a corporate design programme that influences the design vision, mission, and positioning. It allows design to interact with the needs of corporate management and focuses on the long-term capabilities of design. Where strategic design management is applied, there is often a strong belief in the potential to differentiate the company and gain competitive advantage by design. As a result, design thinking becomes integrated into the corporate culture. Depending on the type of company and industry the following job titles are associated with this function: strategic design manager, chief design officer, vice president design and innovation, chief creative officer, innovation design director, and others.
with different sizes and traditions, whilst having different target group
s and markets to serve. Design management is multifaceted, and so are the different applications of and views on design management. The function of design management in an organisation depends on its tasks, authority, and practice.
Task
Similar tasks can be grouped into categories to describe the job profile of a design manager. Different categories in management that encompass design were defined by several authors; those tasks occur on all three design management levels (strategic, tactical, and operational):
Authority and position
The authority and position of the design management function has a large influence on what the design manager does in his or her daily job. Kootstra (2006) distinguishes design management types by organisational function: design management as line function, design management as staff function, and design management as support function. Design management as a "line function" is directly responsible for design execution in the "primary" organisational process and can take place on all levels of the design management hierarchy. The main attributes for design managers in the line are authority over and direct responsibility for the result. Design management as a staff function is not directly responsible for design execution in the “primary” organisational process, but consults as a specialist on all levels of the design management hierarchy. The main attributes for design managers in this function are their limited authority and the need to consult line managers and staff. When the design process is defined as a "secondary" organisational process, design management is seen as "supportive function". In this function it has only a supportive character, classifying the design manager as a creative specialist towards product management, brand management, marketing, R&D, and communication. Various authors use different concepts to describe the authority and position of design management; they can be grouped as follows:
A very comprehensive analysis on the situation of design on national level in Britain is the Cox review. The chairman of the Design Council
, Sir George Cox, published the Cox Review of Creativity in Business in 2005 to communicate the competitive advantage of design for the British industry.
Innovation policies have been excessively focused on the supply of technologies, neglecting the demand side (the user). There have been several initiatives by the European Commission to support and research design and design management in recent years. However, a European-wide policy to support design has never been planned, due to the inconsistencies and differences in design policies in each nation. Nonetheless, there are currently plans to include design in the EU innovation policy.
Design management is usually first taught at business school. Teaching design to managers was pioneered at the London Business School
in 1976, and the first programme of design management at a design school was started in the 1980s at the Royal College of Art
(RCA), DeMontfort, Middlesex, Staffordshire. Although, in the UK, some design management courses have not been sustainable, including those at the RCA, Westminster and Middlesex, other postgraduate courses have flourished including ones at Brunel, Lancaster and Salford with each providing a specific point of view on design management.
The BusinessWeek
annually publishes a lists of the best programmes that combine design thinking and business thinking (D-schools 2009 and D-school Programmes to Watch 2009). The article Finland – World´s Innovation Hot Spot in the Harvard Business Review shows the interest of business leaders in the blended education of design and management. Business Schools (such as the Rotman School of Management, Wharton University of Pennsylvania and MIT Sloan Executive Education) have acted on this interest and developed new academic curricula.
Integrated education models are emerging in the academic world, a model which is referred to as T-shape and π-shaped education. T-shaped professionals are taught general knowledge in a few disciplines (e.g. management and engineering) and specific, deep knowledge in a single domain (e.g. design). This model also applies to companies, when they shift their focus from small T innovations (innovations involving only one discipline, like chemists) to big T innovations (innovations involving several disciplines, like design, ethnography, lead user, etc.). Like in education, this shift makes breaking down silos of departments and disciplines of knowledge essential.
Project management
Project management is the discipline of planning, organizing, securing, and managing resources to achieve specific goals. A project is a temporary endeavor with a defined beginning and end , undertaken to meet unique goals and objectives, typically to bring about beneficial change or added value...
, design, strategy, and supply chain
Supply chain
A supply chain is a system of organizations, people, technology, activities, information and resources involved in moving a product or service from supplier to customer. Supply chain activities transform natural resources, raw materials and components into a finished product that is delivered to...
techniques to control a creative process, support a culture of creativity, and build a structure and organisation for design. The objective of design management is to develop and maintain a business environment in which an organisation can achieve its strategic
Strategic planning
Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy. In order to determine the direction of the organization, it is necessary to understand its current position and the possible avenues...
and mission goals through design, and by establishing and managing an efficient and effective system. Design management is a comprehensive activity at all levels of business (operational to strategic), from the discovery phase to the execution phase. "Simply put, design management is the business side of design. Design management encompasses the ongoing processes
Business process
A business process or business method is a collection of related, structured activities or tasks that produce a specific service or product for a particular customer or customers...
, business decisions, and strategies that enable innovation and create effectively-designed products
Product (business)
In general, the product is defined as a "thing produced by labor or effort" or the "result of an act or a process", and stems from the verb produce, from the Latin prōdūce ' lead or bring forth'. Since 1575, the word "product" has referred to anything produced...
, services, communications, environments
Social environment
The social environment of an individual, also called social context or milieu, is the culture that s/he was educated or lives in, and the people and institutions with whom the person interacts....
, and brands that enhance our quality of life and provide organisational success." The discipline of design management overlaps with marketing management
Marketing management
Marketing management is a business discipline which is focused on the practical application of marketing techniques and the management of a firm's marketing resources and activities...
, operations management
Operations management
Operations management is an area of management concerned with overseeing, designing, and redesigning business operations in the production of goods and/or services. It involves the responsibility of ensuring that business operations are efficient in terms of using as little resources as needed, and...
, and strategic management
Strategic management
Strategic management is a field that deals with the major intended and emergent initiatives taken by general managers on behalf of owners, involving utilization of resources, to enhance the performance of firms in their external environments...
.
Traditionally, design management was seen as limited to the management of design projects, but over time, it evolved to include other aspects of an organisation at the functional and strategic level. A more recent debate concerns the integration of design thinking
Design thinking
Design Thinking refers to the methods and processes for investigating ill-defined problems, acquiring information, analyzing knowledge, and positing solutions in the design and planning fields...
into strategic management
Strategic management
Strategic management is a field that deals with the major intended and emergent initiatives taken by general managers on behalf of owners, involving utilization of resources, to enhance the performance of firms in their external environments...
as a cross-disciplinary and human-centred approach to management. This paradigm also focuses on a collaborative and iterative style of work and an adductive mode of thinking, compared to practices associated with the more traditional management paradigm.
Over recent years, design has become a strategic asset in brand equity
Brand equity
Brand equity is the marketing effects and outcomes that accrue to a product with its brand name compared with those that would accrue if the same product did not have the brand name. Fact of the well-known brand name is that, the company can sometimes charge premium prices from the consumer . And,...
, differentiation, and product quality for many companies. More and more organisations apply design management to improve design-relevant activities and to better connect design with corporate processes.
Extended definition
The multifaceted nature of design management leads to varied opinion, making it difficult to give an overall definition; furthermore, design managers have a broad range of roles and responsibilities. These factors, combined with a multitude of other influences such as the industry involved, company size, the market situation, and the importance of design within the organisation's activities. As a result, design management is not restricted to a single design discipline and usually depends on the context of its application within an individual organisation.On an abstract level, design management plays three key roles in the interface of design, organisation, and market. The three key roles are to:
- Align design strategy with corporate or brand strategy, or both
- Manage quality and consistency of design outcomes across and within different design disciplines (design classes)
- Enhance new methods of user experience, create new solutions for user needs and differentiation from competitor's designs
Defining quotes
Design
Unlike unique sciences, such as mathematics, the perspective, activity, or discipline of design is not brought to a generally accepted common denominator. The historical beginnings of design are complex and the nature of design is still the subject of ongoing discussion. In design, there are strong differentiations between theory and practice. The fluid nature of the theory allows the designer to operate without being constrained by a rigid structure. In practice, decisions are often referred to as intuition. In his Classification of Design (1976), Gorb divided design into three different classes. Design management operates in and across all three classes: product (e.g. industrial designIndustrial design
Industrial design is the use of a combination of applied art and applied science to improve the aesthetics, ergonomics, and usability of a product, but it may also be used to improve the product's marketability and production...
, packaging design, service design), information (e.g. graphic design, branding, media design, web design), interaction (usability, human-computer interaction), and environment (e.g. retail design, exhibition design, interior design).
Management
Management in all business and organisational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives efficiently and effectively. Management comprises planningPlanning
Planning in organizations and public policy is both the organizational process of creating and maintaining a plan; and the psychological process of thinking about the activities required to create a desired goal on some scale. As such, it is a fundamental property of intelligent behavior...
, organising, staffing
Human resources
Human resources is a term used to describe the individuals who make up the workforce of an organization, although it is also applied in labor economics to, for example, business sectors or even whole nations...
, leading
Leadership
Leadership has been described as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task". Other in-depth definitions of leadership have also emerged.-Theories:...
or directing, and controlling
Control (management)
Controlling is one of the managerial functions like planning, organizing, staffing and directing. It is an important function because it helps to check the errors and to take the corrective action so that deviation from standards are minimized and stated goals of the organization are achieved in...
an organisation (a group of one or more people or entities), or effort for the purpose of accomplishing a goal. Resourcing
Human resources
Human resources is a term used to describe the individuals who make up the workforce of an organization, although it is also applied in labor economics to, for example, business sectors or even whole nations...
encompasses the deployment and manipulation of human resources
Human resources
Human resources is a term used to describe the individuals who make up the workforce of an organization, although it is also applied in labor economics to, for example, business sectors or even whole nations...
, financial
FINANCIAL
FINANCIAL is the weekly English-language newspaper with offices in Tbilisi, Georgia and Kiev, Ukraine. Published by Intelligence Group LLC, FINANCIAL is focused on opinion leaders and top business decision-makers; It's about world’s largest companies, investing, careers, and small business. It is...
resources, technological resources, and natural resources
Natural Resources
Natural Resources is a soul album released by Motown girl group Martha Reeves and the Vandellas in 1970 on the Gordy label. The album is significant for the Vietnam War ballad "I Should Be Proud" and the slow jam, "Love Guess Who"...
. Towards the end of the 20th century, business management came to consist of six separate branches, namely human resource
Human resources
Human resources is a term used to describe the individuals who make up the workforce of an organization, although it is also applied in labor economics to, for example, business sectors or even whole nations...
management, operations management
Operations management
Operations management is an area of management concerned with overseeing, designing, and redesigning business operations in the production of goods and/or services. It involves the responsibility of ensuring that business operations are efficient in terms of using as little resources as needed, and...
(or production management), strategic management
Strategic management
Strategic management is a field that deals with the major intended and emergent initiatives taken by general managers on behalf of owners, involving utilization of resources, to enhance the performance of firms in their external environments...
, marketing management
Marketing management
Marketing management is a business discipline which is focused on the practical application of marketing techniques and the management of a firm's marketing resources and activities...
, financial management
Corporate finance
Corporate finance is the area of finance dealing with monetary decisions that business enterprises make and the tools and analysis used to make these decisions. The primary goal of corporate finance is to maximize shareholder value while managing the firm's financial risks...
, and information technology management
Information technology management
IT management is the discipline whereby all of the technology resources of a firm are managed in accordance with its needs and priorities. These resources may include tangible investments like computer hardware, software, data, networks and data centre facilities, as well as the staffs who are...
, which was responsible for management information systems. Although it is difficult to subdivide management into functional categories in this way, it helps in navigating the discipline of management. Design management overlaps mainly with the branches marketing management
Marketing management
Marketing management is a business discipline which is focused on the practical application of marketing techniques and the management of a firm's marketing resources and activities...
, operations management
Operations management
Operations management is an area of management concerned with overseeing, designing, and redesigning business operations in the production of goods and/or services. It involves the responsibility of ensuring that business operations are efficient in terms of using as little resources as needed, and...
, and strategic management
Strategic management
Strategic management is a field that deals with the major intended and emergent initiatives taken by general managers on behalf of owners, involving utilization of resources, to enhance the performance of firms in their external environments...
.
Design leadership
Design managers often operate in the area of design leadershipDesign leadership
Design leadership is a concept complementary to design management. In practice, design managers within companies oftern operate in the field of design leadership and design leaders in the field of design management. However, the two terms are not interchangeable. Design leadership can be described...
; however, design management and design leadership are interdependent rather than interchangeable. Like management and leadership, they differ in their objectives, achievements of objectives, accomplishments, and outcomes. Design leadership leads from creation of a vision to changes, innovations, and implementation of creative solutions. It stimulates communication and collaboration through motivation, sets ambitions, and points out future directions to achieve long-term objectives. In contrast, design management is reactive and responds to a given business situation by using specific skills, tools, methods, and techniques. Design management requires design leadership to know where to go and design leadership requires design management to know how to get there.
History
Difficulties arise in tracing the history of design management. Even though design management as an expression is first mentioned in literature in 1964, earlier contributions created the context in which the expression could arise. Throughout its history, design management was influenced by a number of different disciplines: architectureArchitecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
, industrial design
Industrial design
Industrial design is the use of a combination of applied art and applied science to improve the aesthetics, ergonomics, and usability of a product, but it may also be used to improve the product's marketability and production...
, management
Management
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...
, software development
Software development
Software development is the development of a software product...
, engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
; and movements such as system theory, design methodologies. It cannot be attributed directly to either design
Design
Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...
nor to management
Management
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...
.
Managing product aesthetics and corporate design (early contributions)
Early contributions to design management show how different design disciplines were coordinated to achieve business objectives at a corporate level, and demonstrate the early understanding of design as a competitive force. In that context, design was merely understood as an aesthetic function, and the management of design was at the level of project planning.The practice of managing design to achieve a business objective was first documented in 1907. The Deutscher Werkbund
Deutscher Werkbund
The Deutscher Werkbund was a German association of artists, architects, designers, and industrialists. The Werkbund was to become an important event in the development of modern architecture and industrial design, particularly in the later creation of the Bauhaus school of design...
(German Work Federation) was established in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
by twelve architects and twelve business firms as a state-sponsored effort to better compete with Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
by integrating traditional craft and industrial mass-production techniques. A German designer and architect, Peter Behrens
Peter Behrens
Peter Behrens was a German architect and designer. He was important for the modernist movement, as several of the movements leading names worked for him when they were young.-Biography:Behrens attended the Christianeum Hamburg from September 1877 until Easter 1882...
, created the entire corporate identity
Corporate identity
In Corporate Communications, a corporate identity is the "persona" of a corporation which is designed to accord with and facilitate the attainment of business objectives...
(logotype, product design, publicity, etc.) of Allgemeine Elektrizitäts Gesellschaft
AEG
Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft was a German producer of electrical equipment founded in 1883 by Emil Rathenau....
(AEG), and is regarded as the first industrial design
Industrial design
Industrial design is the use of a combination of applied art and applied science to improve the aesthetics, ergonomics, and usability of a product, but it may also be used to improve the product's marketability and production...
er in history. His work for AEG was the first large-scale demonstration of the viability and vitality of the Werkbund's initiatives and objectives and can be considered as first contribution to design management.
In the following years, companies applied the principles of corporate identity
Corporate identity
In Corporate Communications, a corporate identity is the "persona" of a corporation which is designed to accord with and facilitate the attainment of business objectives...
and corporate design
Corporate design
A corporate design is the official graphical design of the logo and name of a company or institution used on letterheads, envelopes, forms, folders, brochures, etc...
to increase awareness and recognition by consumers and differentiation from competitors. Olivetti
Olivetti
Olivetti S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of computers, printers and other business machines.- Founding :The company was founded as a typewriter manufacturer in 1908 in Ivrea, near Turin, by Camillo Olivetti. The firm was mainly developed by his son Adriano Olivetti...
became famous for its attention to design through their corporate design
Corporate design
A corporate design is the official graphical design of the logo and name of a company or institution used on letterheads, envelopes, forms, folders, brochures, etc...
activities. In 1936 Olivetti hired Giovanni Pintori in their publicity department and promoted Marcello Nizzoli
Marcello Nizzoli
Marcello Nizzoli was an Italian artist, architect, industrial and graphic designer. He was the chief designer for Olivetti for many years and was responsible notably for the iconic Lettera 22 portable typewriters in 1950....
from the product design department to develop design in a comprehensive corporate philosophy. Up to and during the 1960s, debates in the design community were focused on ergonomics
Ergonomics
Ergonomics is the study of designing equipment and devices that fit the human body, its movements, and its cognitive abilities.The International Ergonomics Association defines ergonomics as follows:...
, functionalism, and corporate design, while debates in management addressed Just in time, Total quality management
Total Quality Management
Total quality management or TQM is an integrative philosophy of management for continuously improving the quality of products and processes....
, and product specification. The main proponents of design management at that time were AEG
AEG
Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft was a German producer of electrical equipment founded in 1883 by Emil Rathenau....
, Bauhaus
Bauhaus
', commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term stood for "School of Building".The Bauhaus school was founded by...
, the British Design Council
Design Council
The Design Council is a United Kingdom non-departmental public body incorporated by Royal Charter and registered as a charity.Registered charity number 272099.- In the beginning :The Design Council started in 1944 as the Council of Industrial Design...
, Deutscher Werkbund, Olivetti, Peter Behrens, and Walter Paepcke
Walter Paepcke
Walter Paepcke was a U.S. industrialist and philanthropist prominent in the middle-20th century.-Biography:A longtime executive of the Chicago-based Container Corporation of America, Paepcke is best noted for his founding of the Aspen Institute and the Aspen Skiing Company in the early 1950s, both...
.
Managing design systematically (1960s–1970s)
The work of designers in the 1960s was influenced by industry, as the debate on design evolved from an aesthetic function into active cooperation with industry. Designers had to work in a team with engineers and marketers, and design was perceived as one part of the product development process. In the early years, design management was strongly influenced by system science and the emergence of a design scienceDesign Science
The term design science was introduced in 1963 by R Buckminster Fuller who defined it as a systematic form of designing. Design science was taken up in Gregory’s 1966 book of the 1965 Design Methods conference where he drew the distinction between “design as a science” and the “science of design”...
(e.g. the "blooming period of design methodologies" in Germany, the US, and Great Britain), as its main contributors had backgrounds in architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
. Early discussions on design management were strongly influenced by Anglo-Saxon literature (e.g. Farr and Horst Rittel
Horst Rittel
Horst Willhelm Jakob Rittel was a German-born design theorist and university professor. He is best-known Horst Willhelm Jakob Rittel (* 14 July 1930 in Berlin, † 9 July 1990 in Heidelberg) was a German-born design theorist and university professor. He is best-known Horst Willhelm Jakob Rittel (*...
), methodological studies (e.g. HfG Ulm
Ulm School of Design
The Ulm School of Design was a college of design based in Ulm, Germany.Founded in 1953 by Inge Aicher-Scholl, Otl Aicher and Max Bill, the latter being first Rector of the school and a former student at the Bauhaus. The HfG quickly gained international recognition and is now viewed as being second...
and Christopher Alexander
Christopher Alexander
Christopher Wolfgang Alexander is a registered architect noted for his theories about design, and for more than 200 building projects in California, Japan, Mexico and around the world...
), and theories in business studies. Design management dealt with two main issues:
- how to develop corporate systems of planning aims
- how to solve problems of methodological information processingInformation processingInformation processing is the change of information in any manner detectable by an observer. As such, it is a process which describes everything which happens in the universe, from the falling of a rock to the printing of a text file from a digital computer system...
Instruments and checklists were developed to structure the processes and decisions of companies for successful corporate development
Corporate development
Corporate Development refers to the planning and execution of a wide range of strategies to meet specific organizational objectives. The kinds of activities falling under corporate development may include initiatives such as recruitment of a new management team, plans for phasing in or out of...
. In this period the main contributors to design management were Michael Farr, Horst Rittel, HfG Ulm
Ulm School of Design
The Ulm School of Design was a college of design based in Ulm, Germany.Founded in 1953 by Inge Aicher-Scholl, Otl Aicher and Max Bill, the latter being first Rector of the school and a former student at the Bauhaus. The HfG quickly gained international recognition and is now viewed as being second...
, Christopher Alexander
Christopher Alexander
Christopher Wolfgang Alexander is a registered architect noted for his theories about design, and for more than 200 building projects in California, Japan, Mexico and around the world...
, the London Business School
London Business School
London Business School is an international business school and a constituent college of the federal University of London, located in central London, beside Regent's Park...
, Peter Gorb, the Design Management Institute, and the Royal Society of Arts
Royal Society of Arts
The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce is a British multi-disciplinary institution, based in London. The name Royal Society of Arts is frequently used for brevity...
. Debates in design disciplines were focusing on design science, design methodology, wicked problems, Ulm methodology, new German design, and semiotic and scenario technique.
Managing design as a strategic asset (1980s–1990s)
In the 1980s several managers realised the economic effect of design, which increased the demand for design management. As companies were unsure how to manage design, there was a market for consultancy; focusing on helping organisations manage the product development process, including market researchMarket research
Market research is any organized effort to gather information about markets or customers. It is a very important component of business strategy...
, product concepts, projects, communications, and market launch phases—as well as the positioning of products and companies.
Two important works were published in 1990: the Publication of Design Management – A Handbook of Issues and Methods by Mark Oakley (Editor) and the Publication of Design Management – Papers from the London Business School by Peter Gorb (Editor). This new method-based design management approach helped to improve communication amongst technical and marketing managers. Examples of the new methods included trend research, the product effect triad, style mapping, milieus, product screenings, empiric design methods, and service design, giving design a more communicative and central role within organisations.
In the management community the topics of management theory, positioning strategy, brand management, strategic management, advertisement, competitive strategy, leadership, business ethics, mass customisation, core competencies, strategic intent, reputation management, and system theory were discussed. Main issues and debates in design management included the topics of design leadership, design thinking, and corporate identity; plus the involvement of design management at the operational, tactical, and strategic levels.
In 1980 Robert Blaich, the senior managing director of design at Philips
Philips
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , more commonly known as Philips, is a multinational Dutch electronics company....
, introduced a design management system that regards design, production, and marketing as a single unit. This was an important contribution to the definition of design as a core element in business. At Philips Design
Philips Design
Philips Design is a global design agency. Headquartered in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, the agency also has offices in Amsterdam, Andover, Atlanta, Gurgaon , Hong Kong, and Singapore...
, Stefano Marzano became CEO and Chief Creative Director in 1991, continuing the work of Robert Blaich to align design processes with business processes and furthering design strategy as an important asset of the overall business strategy.
Managing design for innovation (2000s–2010s)
Design management has taken a more strategic role within business since 2000, and more academic programmes for design management have been established. Design management has been recognised (and subsidised) throughout the European UnionEuropean Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
as a function for corporate advantage of both companies and nations. The main issues and debates included the topics of design thinking, strategic design management, design leadership, and product service systems. Design management was influenced by the following design trends: sustainable design, inclusive design, interactive design, design probes, product clinics, and co-design. It was also influenced by the later management trends of open innovation and design thinking.
Notion of the term "design management"
The term "architectural managementArchitectural management
Architectural management can be defined as ‘an ordered way of thinking which helps to realize a quality building for an acceptable cost’ or as a ‘process function with the aim of delivering greater architectural value to the client and society’. A research by Ar...
" was coined by the architects Brunton, Baden Hellard and Boobyer in 1964 where they highlighted the tension and synergy between the management of individual projects (job management) and the management of the business (office management). Although they did not use the term "design management", they stressed identical issues; while the design community discussed methodologies for design. Christopher Alexander's work played an important role in the development of the design methodology, where he devoted his attention to the problems of form and context; and focused on disassembling complex design challenges into constituent parts to approach a solution. His intention was to bring more rationalism and structure into the solving of design problems.
In 1965 the term design management was first published in a series of articles in the Design Journal. This series includes a pre-publication of the first chapter of the book Design Management by Michael Farr, which is considered as the first comprehensive literature on design management. His thoughts on system theory and project management
Project management
Project management is the discipline of planning, organizing, securing, and managing resources to achieve specific goals. A project is a temporary endeavor with a defined beginning and end , undertaken to meet unique goals and objectives, typically to bring about beneficial change or added value...
led to a framework on how to deal with design
Design
Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...
as a business function at the corporate management level by providing the language and methodology to effectively manage it.
Politic (till 2000s)
Design policies have a history reaching back to the end of the 19th century, when design programmes with roots in the crafts sector were implemented in Sweden (1845) and Finland (1875). In 1907 the Deutscher WerkbundDeutscher Werkbund
The Deutscher Werkbund was a German association of artists, architects, designers, and industrialists. The Werkbund was to become an important event in the development of modern architecture and industrial design, particularly in the later creation of the Bauhaus school of design...
(German Work Federation) was established in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
to better compete with Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
and United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The success of the Deutscher Werkbund
Deutscher Werkbund
The Deutscher Werkbund was a German association of artists, architects, designers, and industrialists. The Werkbund was to become an important event in the development of modern architecture and industrial design, particularly in the later creation of the Bauhaus school of design...
inspired a group of British designers, industrialists and business people after they had seen the Werkbund Exhibition in Cologne in 1914, to found the Design and Industries Association and campaign for a greater involvement of government in the promotion of good design. In 1944 design management by managing design policies was used by the British Government. The British Design Council was founded by Hugh Dalton, president of the Board of Trade in the British wartime government, as the Council of Industrial Design with the objective "to promote by all practicable means the improvement of design
Design
Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...
in the products of British industry
Industry
Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...
".
Germany also realised the national importance of design during World War II. Between 1933 and 1945 Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
used design
Design
Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...
, architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
and propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
to increase his power; shown through the annual Reichsparteitage in Nürnberg on September 5. Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
coordinated several design activities for Hitler, including: the all-black SS-uniform designed by Professor Karl Diebitsch
Karl Diebitsch
Professor Karl Diebitsch was an artist and soldier responsible for much of the Third Reich SS regalia, including the Chained SS Officer's dagger scabbard. Diebitsch worked with graphic designer Walter Heck to design the all-black SS uniform...
and Walter Heck in 1933; the Dachau concentration camp, designed by Theodor Eicke
Theodor Eicke
Theodor Eicke was a SS Obergruppenführer , commander of the SS-Division Totenkopf of the Waffen-SS and one of the key figures in the establishment of concentration camps in Nazi Germany. His Nazi Party number was 114,901 and his SS number was 2,921...
, and prototypes for other Nazi concentration camps
Nazi concentration camps
Nazi Germany maintained concentration camps throughout the territories it controlled. The first Nazi concentration camps set up in Germany were greatly expanded after the Reichstag fire of 1933, and were intended to hold political prisoners and opponents of the regime...
; and the Wewelsburg
Wewelsburg
For the village of Wewelsburg see Village of WewelsburgWewelsburg is a Renaissance castle located in the northeast of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the village of Wewelsburg which is a quarter of the city Büren, Westphalia, in district of Paderborn in the Alme Valley. The castle has the...
redesign commissioned by Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
in 1944.
Since the 1990s the practice of design promotion is evolving, and governments have used policy management and design management to promote design as part of their efforts of fostering technology, manufacturing and innovation.
Promotion and conference (till 2000s)
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
industrialist Walter Paepcke
Walter Paepcke
Walter Paepcke was a U.S. industrialist and philanthropist prominent in the middle-20th century.-Biography:A longtime executive of the Chicago-based Container Corporation of America, Paepcke is best noted for his founding of the Aspen Institute and the Aspen Skiing Company in the early 1950s, both...
, of the Container Corporation of America
Container Corporation of America
Container Corporation of America was founded in 1926 and manufactures corrugated boxes. In 1968 CCA merged with Montgomery Ward & Company, Inc., in a move that was largely intended to thwart takeover bids against either company. MARCOR maintained separate management for the operations of each...
, founded the Aspen Design Conference after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
as a way of bringing business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
and designers together – to the benefit of both. In 1951 the first conference topic, "Design as a function of management", was chosen to ensure the participation of the business community. After several years, business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
leaders stopped attending because the increased participation of designers changed the dialogue, focusing not on the need for collaboration between business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
and design
Design
Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...
, but rather on the business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
community’s failure to understand the value of design
Design
Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...
.
The Royal Society of Arts
Royal Society of Arts
The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce is a British multi-disciplinary institution, based in London. The name Royal Society of Arts is frequently used for brevity...
(RSA) Presidential Medals for Design Management were instituted in June 1964. These were to recognise outstanding examples of design policy in organisations that maintained a consistently high standard in all aspects of design management, throughout all industries and disciplines. With these awards the RSA introduced the term design management. In 1965 the first medals were given to four companies; Conran & Co Ltd., Jaeger & Co Ltd., S. Hille & Co Ltd. and W. & A. Gilbey Ltd. in the category "current achievements" and two companies London Transport
London Transport (brand)
London Transport was the public name and brand used by a series of public transport authorities in London, England, from 1933. Its most recognisable feature was the bar-and-circle 'roundel' logo...
and Heal and Son Ltd. in the category "long pioneering in the field of design management". The medal selection committee included representatives of the RSA council and the faculty of Royal Designers for Industry
Royal Designers for Industry
Royal Designer for Industry is a distinction established by the British Royal Society of Arts in 1936, to encourage a high standard of industrial design and enhance the status of designers. It is awarded to people who have achieved "sustained excellence in aesthetic and efficient design for...
.
The Design Management Institute (DMI) was founded in 1975 at the Massachusetts College of Art
Massachusetts College of Art
Massachusetts College of Art and Design is a publicly-funded college of visual and applied art, founded in 1873. It is one of the oldest art schools, the only publicly-funded free-standing art school in the United States, and was the first art college in the United States to grant an artistic degree...
in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
. Since the mid-1980s the DMI has been an international non-profit organisation that seeks to heighten the awareness of design
Design
Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...
as an essential part of business strategy, and become the leading resource and international authority on design management. One year later the first conference was organised. The DMI increased its international presence and established the "European International Conference on Design Management" in 1997, and a professional development programme for design management.
In 2007 the European Commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
funded the Award for Design Management Innovating and Reinforcing Enterprises (ADMIRE) project for two years, as part of the Pro Inno Europe Initiative, which is the EU’s "focal point for innovation policy analysis, learning and development". The aim was to encourage companies – especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs) – to introduce design management procedures to; improve their competitiveness, stimulate innovation, establish a European knowledge-sharing platform, organise a European Design Management Award, and to identify and test new activities to promote Design Management.
Education (1970 on)
Teaching design to managers was pioneered at the London Business SchoolLondon Business School
London Business School is an international business school and a constituent college of the federal University of London, located in central London, beside Regent's Park...
in 1976 and has been taught on a full-time basis since 1982. Peter Gorb, a Life Fellow of the DMI and a long time Fellow of the RSA, has led the design management department for over 20 years and is seen as a "godfather" of design management. He defined his design reclassification in 1976 and published his book Design and its use by managers two years later.
In 1991 the University of Art and Design Helsinki
University of Art and Design Helsinki
Aalto University School of Art and Design , known commonly as TaiK, is the largest art university in the Nordic countries, and was founded in 1871. Media Centre Lume – the National Research and Development Center of audiovisual media – is also located in the university...
founded the Institute of Design Leadership and Management and established an international training programme. The International Design Management Conference was organised in the same year by them. In 1995 the Helsinki School of Economics
Helsinki School of Economics
The Aalto University School of Economics , known as Helsinki School of Economics until 2009, is the largest and leading business school in Finland and one of the most renowned in Europe...
(HSE), University of Art and Design Helsinki
University of Art and Design Helsinki
Aalto University School of Art and Design , known commonly as TaiK, is the largest art university in the Nordic countries, and was founded in 1871. Media Centre Lume – the National Research and Development Center of audiovisual media – is also located in the university...
(TaiK), and University of Technology (TKK) cooperated to create the International Design Business Management Programme (IDBM), which aims to bring together experts from different fields within the concept of design business management.
The Design Leadership Fellowship at the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
was founded in 2005. In the same year the Stanford University Institute of Design founded the D-school, a faculty intended to advance multidisciplinary innovation. The Finnish Aalto University
Aalto University
Aalto University is a Finnish university established on January 1, 2010, by the merger of the Helsinki University of Technology, the Helsinki School of Economics, and the University of Art and Design Helsinki....
was founded in 2010 and is a merger of the three established Finish universities – the Helsinki School of Economics
Helsinki School of Economics
The Aalto University School of Economics , known as Helsinki School of Economics until 2009, is the largest and leading business school in Finland and one of the most renowned in Europe...
(HSE), University of Art and Design Helsinki
University of Art and Design Helsinki
Aalto University School of Art and Design , known commonly as TaiK, is the largest art university in the Nordic countries, and was founded in 1871. Media Centre Lume – the National Research and Development Center of audiovisual media – is also located in the university...
(TaiK), and University of Technology (TKK) – that have cooperated on a design management programme since 1995.
Research
The first international research project on design management, the TRIAD research project, was initiated by the DMI and the Harvard Business SchoolHarvard Business School
Harvard Business School is the graduate business school of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, United States and is widely recognized as one of the top business schools in the world. The school offers the world's largest full-time MBA program, doctoral programs, and many executive...
in 1989. In the same year the Design Management Review was published by the DMI as a magazine solely focusing on design management.
Design and design management have experienced different generations of theories. In its first generation design focused on the object, in the second on the process, and in the third on the user. Similar shifts can be seen in management and design management in almost parallel steps. For design management this has been illustrated by Brigitte Borja de Mozota, using Findeli’s Bremen Model as a framework. Design management research organised itself into:
- Organisational studies: design in an economic sector or design in large firms, such as Philips or Olivetti
- Descriptive studies of specific methods of design management
It is difficult to predict where design management research is heading.
Different types
Different types of design management depend on the type and strategic orientation of the business.Product design management
Brand design management
In market and brand focused companies, design management focuses mainly on brand design management, including corporate brand management and product brand management. Focusing on the brand as the core for design decisions results in a strong focus on the brand experience, customer touch points, reliability, recognition, and trust relations. The design is driven by the brand vision and strategy.Corporate brand design management
Market and brand focused organisations are concerned with the expression and perception of the corporate brand. Corporate design management implements, develops, and maintains the corporate identity, or brand. This type of brand management is strongly anchored in the organisation to control and influence corporate design activities. The design programme plays the role of a quality programme within many fields of the organisation to achieve uniform internal branding. It is strongly linked to strategy, corporate culture, product development, marketing, organisational structure, and technological development. Achieving a consistent corporate brand requires the involvement of designers and a widespread design awareness among employees. A creative culture, knowledge sharing processes, determination, design leadership, and good work relations support the work of corporate brand management.
Product brand design management
The main focus of product brand management lies on the single product or product family. Product design management is linked to research and development, marketing, and brand management, and is present in the fast moving consumer goods
Fast Moving Consumer Goods
Fast moving consumer goods or Consumer Packaged Goods are products that are sold quickly and at relatively low cost. Examples include non-durable goods such as soft drinks, toiletries, and grocery items...
(FMCG) industry. It is responsible for the visual expressions of the individual product brand, with its diverse customer–brand touch points and the execution of the brand through design.
Service design management
Service design management deals with the newly-emerging field of service designService design
Service design is the activity of planning and organizing people, infrastructure, communication and material components of a service in order to improve its quality and the interaction between service provider and customers....
. It is the activity of planning and organising people, infrastructure, communication, and material components of a service. The aim is to improve the quality of the service, the interaction between the service provider and its customers, and the customer's experience. The increasing importance and size of the service sector in terms of people employed and economic importance requires that services should be well-designed in order to remain competitive and to continue to attract customers. Design management traditionally focuses on the design and development of manufactured products; service design managers can apply many of the same theoretical and methodological approaches. Systematic and strategic management of service design helps the business gain competitive advantages and conquer new markets. Companies that proactively identify the interests of their customers and use this information to develop services that create good experiences for the customer will open up new and profitable business opportunities.
Companies in the service sector innovate by addressing the intangibility, heterogeneity, inseparability, and perishability of service (the IHIP challenge):
- Services are intangible; they have no physical form and they cannot be seen before purchase or taken home.
- Services are heterogenous; unlike tangible products, no two service delivery experiences are alike.
- Services are inseparable; the act of supplying a service is inseparable from the customer’s act of consuming it.
- Services are perishable; they can not be inventoried.
Service design management differs in several ways from product design management. For example, the application of international trading strategies of services is difficult because the evolution of service 'from a craftsmanship attitude to industrialisation of services' requires the development of new tools, approaches, and policies. Whereas goods can be manufactured centrally and delivered around the globe, services have to be performed at the place of consumption, which makes it difficult to achieve global quality consistency and effective cost control.
Business design management
Business design management deals with the newly-emerging field of integrating design thinking into management. In organisation and management theory, design thinking forms part of the ArchitectureArchitecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
/ Design
Design
Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...
/ Anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
(A/D/A) paradigm which characterises innovative, human-centered enterprises. This paradigm focuses on a collaborative and iterative style of work and an adductive mode of thinking, compared to practices associated with the more traditional Mathematics / Economics / Psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
(M/E/P) management paradigm. Since 2006, the term Business Design is trademarked by the Rotman School of Management
Rotman School of Management
The Joseph L. Rotman School of Management commonly known as Rotman School of Management is the University of Toronto's business school, located in St. George Street in Downtown Toronto. The school, named after Joseph L...
; they define business design as the application of design thinking principles to business practice. The designerly way of problem solving is an integrative way of thinking that is characterised by a deep understanding of the user, creative resolution of tensions, collaborative prototyping, and continuous modification and enhancement of ideas and solutions. This approach to problem solving can be applied to all components of business, and the management of the problem solving process forms the core of business design management activity. Universities other than the Rotman School of Management are offering similar academic education concepts, including the Aalto University
Aalto University
Aalto University is a Finnish university established on January 1, 2010, by the merger of the Helsinki University of Technology, the Helsinki School of Economics, and the University of Art and Design Helsinki....
in Finland, which initiated their International Design Business Management (IDBM) programme in 1995.
Urban design management
Urban design management involves mediation among a range of self-interested stakeholders engaged in the production of the built environment. Such mediation can encourage a joint search for mutually beneficial outcomes or integrative development. Integrative development aims to produce sustainable solutions by increasing stakeholder satisfaction with the process and with the resulting urban development.Conventional real estate development and urban planning activities are subject to conflicting interests and positional bargaining. The integrative negotiation approach emphasises mutual gains. The approach has been applied in land use planning and environmental management, but has not been used as a coordinated approach to real estate development, city design, and urban planning. Urban design management involves reordering the chain of events in the production of the built environment according to the principles of integrative negotiation. Such principled negotiation can be used in urban development and planning activities to reach more efficient agreements. This leads to integrative developments and more sustainable ways to produce the built environment.
Urban design management offers prescriptive advice for practitioners trying to organise city planning activities in a way that will increase sustainability by increasing satisfaction levels. Real estate development and urban planning often occur at very different decision-making scales. The practitioners involved may have diverse educational and professional backgrounds. They certainly have conflicting interests. Providing prescriptive advice for differing, possibly conflicting, groups requires construction of a framework that accommodates all of their daily activities and responsibilities. Urban design management provides a common framework to help bring together the conventional practices of urban and regional planning, real estate development, and urban design.
The work on Integrative Negotiation Consensus Building and the Mutual Gains Approach
Mutual Gains Approach
The Mutual Gains Approach to negotiation is a process model, based on experimental findings and hundreds of real-world cases, that lays out four steps for negotiating better outcomes while protecting relationships and reputation...
provide a helpful theoretical framework for developing the theory of urban design management. Negotiation theory
Negotiation theory
The foundations of negotiation theory are decision analysis, behavioral decision making, game theory, and negotiation analysis.Another classification of theories distinguishes between Structural Analysis, Strategic Analysis, Process Analysis, Integrative Analysis and behavioral analysis of...
provides a useful framework for merging the perspectives of urban planning, city design, and real estate project proposals regarding production of the built environment. Interests, a key construct in negotiation theory, is an important variable that will allow integrated development, as defined above, to occur. The path-breaking work of Roger Fisher and William Ury (1981), Getting to yes, advises negotiators to focus on interests and mutual gains instead of bargaining over positions.
Architectural management
Architectural management can be defined as an ordered way of thinking which helps to realise a quality building for an acceptable cost or as a process function with the aim of delivering greater architectural value to the client and society. Research by Kiran Gandhi describes architectural management as a set of practical techniques for an architect to successfully operate his practice. The term architectural management has been in use since the 1960s. The evolution of the field of architectural management has not been a smooth affair. Architectural practice was merely considered a business until after the Second World WarWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and even then practitioners appeared to be concerned about the conflict between art and commerce, demonstrating indifference to management. There was apparent conflict between the image of an architect and the need for professional management of the architectural business. Reluctance to embrace management and business as an inherent part of architectural practice could also be seen in architectural education programmes and publications. It appears that the management of architectural design, as well as architectural management in general, is still not being given enough importance. Architectural management falls into two distinct parts: office or practice management
Practice management
Practice management software is a category of software that deals with the day-to-day operations of a medical practice. Such software frequently allows users to capture patient demographics, schedule appointments, maintain lists of insurance payers, perform billing tasks, and generate reports.In...
and project management
Project management
Project management is the discipline of planning, organizing, securing, and managing resources to achieve specific goals. A project is a temporary endeavor with a defined beginning and end , undertaken to meet unique goals and objectives, typically to bring about beneficial change or added value...
. Office management
Office management
Office manager is a profession related to office supervisory positions.People that hold office management positions conduct special studies and based on the results of these special studies, they develop reports. Apart from developing reports, they also provide input to management on the...
provides an overall framework within which many individual projects are commenced, managed, and completed. Architectural management extends between the management of the design process, construction, and project management, through to facilities management
Facility management
Facility management is an interdisciplinary field primarily devoted to the maintenance and care of commercial or institutional buildings, such as hospitals, hotels, office complexes, arenas, schools or convention centers...
of buildings in use. It is a powerful tool that can be applied to the benefit of professional service firms and the total building processes, yet it continues to receive too little attention both in theory and in practice.
Value for business
Design plays a vital role in product and brand development, and is of great economic importance for organisations and companies. Creativity and design in particular (as an activity: design skills, methods and processes) play a growing role in creating products and services with high added value to consumers. Design generates 50% of world export revenue in the creative industriesCreative industries
The creative industries refers to a range of economic activities which are concerned with the generation or exploitation of knowledge and information...
' products (goods and services). The creative industry workforce is 3.1% of total employment in the European Union (EU), which creates a revenue that is 2.6% of the EU gross value. Creative industries have attained an unprecedented average annual growth rate of 8.7 per cent across the EU between 2000 and 2005.
The increasing importance of creative industries (and especially design) in knowledge-intense industries is reflected not only in the policies and studies on EU levels, but has initiated design and creative policies and programmes in the most advanced economies. Furthermore, design and creativity has been recognised on a regional and local level as a driving force for competitiveness, economic growth, job market, and citizen's satisfaction. The investment in creative and cultural industries are considered a significant component of EU growth in the Lisbon Strategy and the Europe 2020 strategy; and designers are increasingly involved in innovation issues.
To better understand the value of design and its role in innovation, the EU holds a public consultation on the basis of their publication Design as a driver of user-centred innovation and have published the mini-study Design as a tool for innovation. The report highlights the importance of design in user-centred innovation and recommends the integration of design into the EU innovation policy. In addition to the design share in the export of all creative industry products, design can also have a positive impact on all business performance indicators; from turnover and profit to market share and competitiveness. Design management research results can be classified as follows:
- Design improves the performance of the innovation policy and of the communications policy of the firm
- Design improves the global performance of the firm; it is a profitable investment
- Design is a profession that creates value on a macro economic level
- Design improves the competitive edge of a country in the international competition; it develops exports
- Design can help the restructuring of an economic sector in regional economic policy
If and how design management is applied in a company correlates with the importance and integration of design in the company, but depends also on industry type, company size, ownership for design and type of competitive competence. A research from the Danish Design Centre (DDC) led to the "Danish Design Ladder", which shows how companies interpreted and applied design in differing depth:
- Non-design: Companies that do not use design (15% in 2007).
- Design as styling: Companies that use design as styling appearance (17% in 2007).
- Design as process: Companies that integrate design into the development process (45% in 2007).
- Design as innovation: Companies that consider design as key strategic element (21% in 2007).
The research showed that companies that considered design on a higher level of the ladder were constantly growing. Additionally, the Danish Design Centre published an Evaluation of the Importance of Design in 2006, with the result that most companies considered design as a promoter for innovation (71%), as a growth potential for the company (79%), and to make products more user friendly (71%). With increasing importance of design for the company, design management also becomes more important.
The value of design can be leveraged if it is managed well. Research by Chiva and Alegre shows that there is no link between the level of design investment and business success, but instead a strong correlation between design management skills and business success. This means that efficient and effective design management is crucial for maximising the value of design. Effective design management increases the efficiency of operations and process management, has a significant positive impact on process management, improves quality performance (internal and external quality), and increases operating performance. To measure and communicate the value of design management, Borja de Mozota suggests adapting the Balanced Score Card model and structuring the values in the following four categories:
- Internal business processes: Design management as an innovation process, providing improvements in company performance and processes. Here, these innovations and processes are totally invisible to outsiders.
- Learning and growing: Beyond advanced design management. Design explicit knowledge is applied to strategic focus and improves the quality of staff.
- Customer and brand: Design management as perception and brand. Design knowledge is applied to corporate difference building and strategic positioning.
- Financial: The historic design management economic model. Design management as an explicit and measurable value for company reputation and stock market performance.
Relation to other disciplines and departments
Three different orientations for the choice of design management can be identified in companies. These orientations influence the perception of management and the responsibility of design managers within the organisation. The strategic orientations are; market focus, product focus and brand focus.- Product-driven organisations often have design responsibility in their research and development (R&D) departments.
- Market-focus driven organisation often have design responsibility in their marketing departments.
- Brand-focus driven organisations often have design responsibility in corporate communication.
Depending on the strategic orientation, design management overlaps with other management branches to differing extents:
Marketing management
Marketing management
Marketing management is a business discipline which is focused on the practical application of marketing techniques and the management of a firm's marketing resources and activities...
: The concepts and elements of brand management overlap with those of design management. In practice, design management can be part of the job profile of a marketing manager, though the discipline includes aspects that are not in the domain of marketing management. This intersection is called "brand design management" and consists of positioning, personality, purpose, personnel, project and practice, where the objective is to increase brand equity.
Operations management
Operations management
Operations management is an area of management concerned with overseeing, designing, and redesigning business operations in the production of goods and/or services. It involves the responsibility of ensuring that business operations are efficient in terms of using as little resources as needed, and...
: At the operational level design management deals with the management of design projects. Processes and tools from operations management can be applied to design management in the execution of design projects.
Strategic management
Strategic management
Strategic management is a field that deals with the major intended and emergent initiatives taken by general managers on behalf of owners, involving utilization of resources, to enhance the performance of firms in their external environments...
: Due to the increasing importance of design as a differentiator and its supporting role in brand equity, design management deals with strategic design issues and supports the strategic direction of the business or enterprise. The debate on design thinking suggests the integration of design thinking into strategic management. Design thinking and strategic thinking have some commonalities in their characteristics, both are synthetic, adductive, hypothesis-driven, opportunistic, dialectic
Dialectic
Dialectic is a method of argument for resolving disagreement that has been central to Indic and European philosophy since antiquity. The word dialectic originated in Ancient Greece, and was made popular by Plato in the Socratic dialogues...
al, enquiring and value-driven.
Innovation management
Innovation management
Innovation management is the discipline of managing processes in innovation. It can be used to develop both product and organizational innovation. Without proper processes, it is not possible for R&D to be efficient; innovation management includes a set of tools that allow managers and engineers to...
: The value of the coordinating role of design in new product development
New product development
In business and engineering, new product development is the term used to describe the complete process of bringing a new product to market. A product is a set of benefits offered for exchange and can be tangible or intangible...
has been well documented. Design management can help to improve innovation management, which can be measured by three variables: it reduces time-to-market, by improving sources and communication skills and developing cross-functional innovation; it stimulates networking innovation, by managing product and customer information flows with internal (e.g. teams) and external (e.g. suppliers, society) actors; it improves the learning process by promoting a continuous learning process.
Hierarchy
Like the management of strategy, design can be managed on three levels: strategic (corporate level or enterprise wide), tactical (business level or individual business units), and operational (individual project level). These three levels have been termed differently by various authors over the last 50 years.| strategic level | tactical level | operational level | author / source |
|---|---|---|---|
| corporate strategy | business strategy | functional strategy | Haberberg and Rieple, 2001 |
| corporate strategy | business strategy | operational strategy | Johnson and Scholes, 1999 |
| business management / office management | individual project / job management | Brunton, 1964 | |
| corporate / innovation design management | design agency management | design project management | Topalian, 1980 |
| design policy management | operational design management | Oakley, 1984 | |
| strategic design management | operational design management | Olins, 1985 | |
| strategic (macro) | organisational (meso) | team / individual (micro) | Francis and Fischbacher, 1996 |
| corporate design management | design organisation management | design project management | Chung, 1998 |
| anticipative / strategic design management | functional design management | operational design management | de Mozota, 1998 |
| strategic design management | tactical design management | operational design management | Joziasse, 2000 |
| board / top function | middle / business function | design activity function | Cooper, 1995 |
| design strategy management | design resource management | design project management | Kootstra, 2006 |
Operational design management involves the management of individual design projects and design teams. Its goal is to achieve the objectives set by strategic design management. Success of good design management can be measured by evaluating the quality of operational design management outcomes. It includes the selection and management of design suppliers and encompasses the documentation, supervision, and evaluation of design processes and results. It deals with personal leadership, emotional intelligence, and the cooperation with and management of internal communications. Regular management functions, tools, and concepts can often be applied to the management of design on the operational level. It is implemented to achieve specific design objectives and manage the judgment of design proposals. It can help to build brand equity through the consistent creation and implementation of high-quality design solutions that best fit the brand identity and desired consumer experience, in the most efficient way. Depending on the type of company and industry, the following job titles are associated with this role: operational design manager, senior designer, team leader, visual communication manager, corporate design coordinator, and others.
Tactical level
Tactical design management addresses the organisation of design resources and design processes. Its goal is to create a structure for design in the company, bridging the gap between objectives set through strategic design management and the implementation of design on the operational level. It defines how design is organised within the company. This includes the use of a central body to coordinate different design projects and activities. It deals with defining activities, developing design skills and competencies, managing processes, systems and procedures, assigning of roles and responsibilities, developing innovative products and service concepts, and finding new market opportunities. Outcomes of tactical design management are related to the creation of a structure for design within the company, to build internal resources and competencies for the implementation of design. Depending on the type of company and industry, the following job titles are associated with this function: tactical design manager, design director, design & innovation manager, brand design manager, new product development (NPD) manager, visual identity manager, and others.
Strategic level
Strategic design management involves the creation of strategic long-term vision and planning for design, and deals with defining the role of design within the company. The goal of strategic design management is to support and strengthen the corporate visio by creating a relationship between the design and corporate strategy. It includes the creation of design, brand and product strategies, ensuring that design management becomes a central element in the corporate strategy formulation process. Strategic design management is responsible for the development and implementation of a corporate design programme that influences the design vision, mission, and positioning. It allows design to interact with the needs of corporate management and focuses on the long-term capabilities of design. Where strategic design management is applied, there is often a strong belief in the potential to differentiate the company and gain competitive advantage by design. As a result, design thinking becomes integrated into the corporate culture. Depending on the type of company and industry the following job titles are associated with this function: strategic design manager, chief design officer, vice president design and innovation, chief creative officer, innovation design director, and others.
Role and responsibility
Design management is not a standard model that can be projected onto every enterprise, nor is there a specific way of applying it that leds to guaranteed success. Design management processes are carried out by humans with different responsibilities and backgrounds, who work in different industries and enterprisesBusiness
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
with different sizes and traditions, whilst having different target group
Target Group
Target Group is a provider of software and outsourcing solutions to financial services and insurance companies. It specialises in delivering business solutions to the following markets: loans and mortgages, investments, general insurance, utilities and finance brokers.Target operates...
s and markets to serve. Design management is multifaceted, and so are the different applications of and views on design management. The function of design management in an organisation depends on its tasks, authority, and practice.
Task
Similar tasks can be grouped into categories to describe the job profile of a design manager. Different categories in management that encompass design were defined by several authors; those tasks occur on all three design management levels (strategic, tactical, and operational):
| strategy and purpose | personnel and organisation | organisational culture and presence | projects | practice and process | author / source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| strategy and purpose | projects | Topalian, 1980 | |||
| strategy and policy | human resources | projects | Oakley, 1984 | ||
| process | Hetzel, 1998 | ||||
| strategy and policy | human and material resources | Blaich, 1998 | |||
| strategy | organisation and human resources | information resources | projects | Chung, 1998 | |
| strategy and purpose | human resources | organisation culture | projects | process, practice and support | Powell, 1998 |
| strategy and vision | human resources, organisational structure | organisational culture | process, tools and methodologies | Joziasse, 2000 | |
| strategy, planning | structure, finance, human resources | information and communication, link to R&D, link to branding | project management | evaluation | de Mozota, 2003 |
| strategy and policy formation, goals, targets, objectives | people and structure, investment and finance, training and learning, resourcing | communication | projects, planning and scheduling, implementation, monitoring, documentation | process planning, evaluation | Cooper, 1995 |
Authority and position
The authority and position of the design management function has a large influence on what the design manager does in his or her daily job. Kootstra (2006) distinguishes design management types by organisational function: design management as line function, design management as staff function, and design management as support function. Design management as a "line function" is directly responsible for design execution in the "primary" organisational process and can take place on all levels of the design management hierarchy. The main attributes for design managers in the line are authority over and direct responsibility for the result. Design management as a staff function is not directly responsible for design execution in the “primary” organisational process, but consults as a specialist on all levels of the design management hierarchy. The main attributes for design managers in this function are their limited authority and the need to consult line managers and staff. When the design process is defined as a "secondary" organisational process, design management is seen as "supportive function". In this function it has only a supportive character, classifying the design manager as a creative specialist towards product management, brand management, marketing, R&D, and communication. Various authors use different concepts to describe the authority and position of design management; they can be grouped as follows:
| organisational structure & decision-making | leadership / management style | collaboration / intergroup conflict | process integration | author / source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
Cooper, 1995 |
|
|
Mozota, 2003 | |||
|
|
Kootstra, 2006 | |||
|
|
|
Stamm, 2005 | ||
|
|
Buckler, 1997 |
Design Policy (since the 2010s)
Today, most developed countries have some kind of design promotion programme. The Design Management Institute has dedicated three issues to design policy development. Although initiatives promote design in different complexities, scopes and focuses, specific targets tend to address the following objectives:- support business: increase use of design by companies, particularly by small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and grow the design sector (use dimension);
- promote to the public: increase exports of design and attract international investment (international dimension);
- educate designers: improve design education and research (academic dimension).
A very comprehensive analysis on the situation of design on national level in Britain is the Cox review. The chairman of the Design Council
Design Council
The Design Council is a United Kingdom non-departmental public body incorporated by Royal Charter and registered as a charity.Registered charity number 272099.- In the beginning :The Design Council started in 1944 as the Council of Industrial Design...
, Sir George Cox, published the Cox Review of Creativity in Business in 2005 to communicate the competitive advantage of design for the British industry.
Innovation policies have been excessively focused on the supply of technologies, neglecting the demand side (the user). There have been several initiatives by the European Commission to support and research design and design management in recent years. However, a European-wide policy to support design has never been planned, due to the inconsistencies and differences in design policies in each nation. Nonetheless, there are currently plans to include design in the EU innovation policy.
Education (since the 2010s)
London Business School
London Business School is an international business school and a constituent college of the federal University of London, located in central London, beside Regent's Park...
in 1976, and the first programme of design management at a design school was started in the 1980s at the Royal College of Art
Royal College of Art
The Royal College of Art is an art school located in London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s only wholly postgraduate university of art and design, offering the degrees of Master of Arts , Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy...
(RCA), DeMontfort, Middlesex, Staffordshire. Although, in the UK, some design management courses have not been sustainable, including those at the RCA, Westminster and Middlesex, other postgraduate courses have flourished including ones at Brunel, Lancaster and Salford with each providing a specific point of view on design management.
The BusinessWeek
BusinessWeek
Bloomberg Businessweek, commonly and formerly known as BusinessWeek, is a weekly business magazine published by Bloomberg L.P. It is currently headquartered in New York City.- History :...
annually publishes a lists of the best programmes that combine design thinking and business thinking (D-schools 2009 and D-school Programmes to Watch 2009). The article Finland – World´s Innovation Hot Spot in the Harvard Business Review shows the interest of business leaders in the blended education of design and management. Business Schools (such as the Rotman School of Management, Wharton University of Pennsylvania and MIT Sloan Executive Education) have acted on this interest and developed new academic curricula.
Integrated education models are emerging in the academic world, a model which is referred to as T-shape and π-shaped education. T-shaped professionals are taught general knowledge in a few disciplines (e.g. management and engineering) and specific, deep knowledge in a single domain (e.g. design). This model also applies to companies, when they shift their focus from small T innovations (innovations involving only one discipline, like chemists) to big T innovations (innovations involving several disciplines, like design, ethnography, lead user, etc.). Like in education, this shift makes breaking down silos of departments and disciplines of knowledge essential.
See also
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Leadership Leadership has been described as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task". Other in-depth definitions of leadership have also emerged.-Theories:... Marketing Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments... Operations management Operations management is an area of management concerned with overseeing, designing, and redesigning business operations in the production of goods and/or services. It involves the responsibility of ensuring that business operations are efficient in terms of using as little resources as needed, and... Perception management Perception management is a term originated by the US military. The US Department of Defense gives this definition:Actions to convey and/or deny selected information and indicators to foreign audiences to influence their emotions, motives, and objective reasoning as well as to intelligence systems... Product management Product management is an organizational lifecycle function within a company dealing with the planning, forecasting, or marketing of a product or products at all stages of the product lifecycle.... |
Project management Project management is the discipline of planning, organizing, securing, and managing resources to achieve specific goals. A project is a temporary endeavor with a defined beginning and end , undertaken to meet unique goals and objectives, typically to bring about beneficial change or added value... Reputation management Reputation management , also known as directory management, is the process of tracking an entity's actions and other entities' opinions about those actions; reporting on those actions and opinions; and reacting to that report creating a feedback loop. All entities involved are generally people, but... Strategic management Strategic management is a field that deals with the major intended and emergent initiatives taken by general managers on behalf of owners, involving utilization of resources, to enhance the performance of firms in their external environments... Strategic planning Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy. In order to determine the direction of the organization, it is necessary to understand its current position and the possible avenues... The Design of Business The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking is the Next Competitive Advantage is a book published in November 2009 by Roger Martin, a professor at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management... |
Organisations
Conferences
- Design Management Institute Conferences (EU, Asia, US)
- Design Management Forum (DE)
- Raymond – design managers retreat