One can not begin to understand the role of Design Management — or its purpose — until one begins to understand the difference between the mundane and an experience.
If you are trying to achieve the mundane (starting at broken and going all the way up to undesirable and even forgettable), you do not need design, nor do you need Design Management.
The moment you decide that you want to go beyond the mundane, you must see beyond the singular act (of the transaction) and take note of the big, holistic picture that revolves around the experience of the act and all touchpoints concerned.
Each and every single facet of an experience needs to be contemplated — designed — for optimal performance. This is where design (at its best) comes in, and this is where enlightened management — hence Design Management — is critical.
Forget Design Management unless you strive for excellence. If you strive for excellence, be prepared to go far beyond the mundane — from the boardroom to the showroom.
Tom Wujec from Autodesk presents some surprisingly deep research into the “marshmallow problem” — a simple team-building exercise that involves dry spaghetti, one yard of tape and a marshmallow. Who can build the tallest tower with these ingredients? And why does a surprising group always beat the average?
On Design Management
Without a solid design management team in place charting a coherent designstrategy, all the design thinking in the world can’t save you.
And Lord help you if all you have is design styling.
As usual, Madison Avenue misses the point entirely. If you need to sell it, it may not be worth buying. You don’t need to sell the iPad. You just need to show or demo it (In other words, it sells itself). This is totally different than hard selling. You need to produce desire, not creative hot air.
In fact, Madison Avenue has had it wrong w/the desire production strategy for over thirty years, with their abstract brand messaging campaigns. Advertising is not the way to sell a product. Instead, focus your dollars on the product, service and/or experience — not its ads.
Advertising people need to focus their creative talents on helping product, service and/or experience manufacturers make more meaningful, engaging and desirable products, services and/or experiences.
Sure, you can sell a brick. But when the good vibes are gone (and so are you) the buyer is left with…a brick. That is not a sustainable long-term strategy. Madison Avenue may not be lacking creativity but it sure is lacking Design Strategy & some smack’em’w/some’sense Design Management.
Sadly, a campaign to discover the best brick salesperson is actually reinforcing all of the negative stereotypes associated w/consumer perceptions of sleazy advertising.
GM Augmented Reality Windshield
General Motors has developed a working next-generation heads-up display that turns an ordinary windshield into an augmented reality information dashboard. Such a system can improve safety and advance knowledge behind the wheel, visually identifying important objects in physical space like road signs, the edges of the road you’re on in conditions of poor visibility like fog, and even bring GPS functions right into the dashboard by outlining the exact building you’re going to.
Real World Camaraderie through Virtual Worlds New Models for Interdisciplinary Collaboration
What do joining the military, engaging in massively multiplayer online (MMO) adventures and competing in the world of business have in common?
You can only get so far on your own.
At some point you have to socialize and work with others for the greater good (as well as for rewards unattainable while flying solo).
You must participate with and rely on the assistance of others — often as an integral member of a team — most times with complete strangers who may drop the ball at any time.
You need the help of others as much as they need your help.
As a member of the team, you must meet certain performance criteria or compromise the team’s chances of success.
You are exposed to — and learn about — leadership by either becoming a leader yourself or by observing the successes or failures of others who have taken up the mantle before you.
You grow as a result.
How is engaging in massively multiplayer online (MMO) adventures different than joining the military or risking it in the world of business?
The real military requires a long-term investment of time and personal sacrifice which may result in one’s literal departure from this plane of existence.
The real world of business is an unforgiving environment that claims the corporate lives of around 70% of all new businesses within their first ten years. Certain types of skills (especially those related to working with other people) are best learned off the job.
The virtual world of MMOs offers a safe sandbox in which interdisciplinary teams can collaborate to tackle, overcome or fail at challenges without risk of bodily or financial harm. Furthermore, MMOs afford a plethora of opportunities in which real-world learning and personal growth can take place to enable people to better realize their strengths and weaknesses while building real-world bonds with fellow collaborators.
According to Seriosity, the following specific features of game environments can be adopted by business (or non-profit, edu, etc.) to enhance productivity, innovation and leadership:
Incentive structures that motivate workers immediately and longer term
Virtual economies that create a marketplace for information and collaboration
Transparency of performance and capabilities
Recognition for achievements
Visibility into networks of communication across an organization
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What are the qualities of Magic that — if understood — can assist anyone in transforming the bland into something magical/memorable?
And by bland, could I mean brand?! Why, yes, of course that can be one interpretation. On to the qualities of Magic, then:
Magic is the mysterious. Not all is revealed — some is kept in shadow. (might you think of Apple secrecy?)
Magic is alchemical. Two (or more) seemingly unrelated things are brought together in a wondrous way. (man/mouse? spider/man? i/pod? design/management?)
Magic is transformative. Upon having been exposed to said Magic, one’s life is surely changed (in some positive way).
Magic is unforgettable. It’s beyond interesting.
Magic is contagious. You can’t help but want / need / must tell someone what you just experienced. (“did you SEE THAT GAME?”)
Herein ends my short lesson on the power of Magic. Make it yours and make it work for you.
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After a decade of rapid globalization, economists say companies are seeing disadvantages of offshore production, including shipping costs, complicated logistics, and quality issues. Political unrest and theft of intellectual property pose additional risks.
In other words, it took economists cheer-leading the offshoring movement a decade after the fact to realize what so many knew intuitively before the fact.
What’s better than quantitative analysis & economic models when contemplating business strategy? A holistic understanding of history, social norms & human behavior.
In other words, offset every economist in your corporate playbook with a sociologist, anthropologist and a few designers & you’ll be good to go.
Design and business have traditionally made uneasy bedfellows, with practitioners of each eyeing each other suspiciously. But in recent years, some companies have demonstrated huge success by adopting a design-savvy approach. That’s led to a resurgence of interest in design as business strategy. There remains little agreement on the best policies, structures, or principles for its smart adoption and execution, however.
This panel, a continuation of swissnex San Francisco’s series on innovation, brings together those working on every side of the equation, from individuals implementing design within large corporations, to consultants aiming to bring an objective eye to their clients’ problems, to educators working to shape the future discussion.
With moderator Helen Walters, editor of innovation and design at Bloomberg/BusinessWeek; Helmut Traitler, V.P. of Innovation Partnerships at NESTEC Ltd., in Vevey, Switzerland; Udaya Patnaik, Jump founder and principal; Nathan Shedroff, chair of the MBA in Design Strategy at California College of the Arts; and Mary Jo Cook, Vice President of Discovery and Design for Clorox.
![Of Achievements and Magic
You have to think back to kindergarten — we all wanted that golden (or metallic green, blue or whatever other color) star on our paper.
Something happened between kindergarten & post-graduate school — they took away the stars and life stopped being magical.
Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) environments [can] bring magic back to life.
In fact, I’ll go on a limb and say it’s all about magic. That’s it. Life is a magical experience — recognize the magic & make it for others.
Walt Disney recognized the importance of Magic. He got it & made it so. Life rewarded him in kind.
Magic Johnson said the hell with this…I’ll just make it part of my name….how can you go wrong? It’s Magic.
J.R.R. Tolkien was no dummy — he was a scholar. Gandalf was a wizard, but more so a conjurer of Magic.
Harry Potter….oh yeah….Magic.
Steve Jobs? Yep — Magic. The point is to revel in the glory of the wondrous — to be in awe of the majesty of the possibility.
Love life.
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Deconstructing Magic](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kzibo8ihzP1qzf2w4o1_400.jpg)
