Opinions


Jay Peters

Grow your own Design Manager


Jay Peters, September 26th, 2011

There is an ongoing debate about who is actually a designer. In one camp, the view is everyone is a designer. After all, everyone designs their own social life, wardrobe, sandwich (place noun here). Enhanced by the democratization of design through web & POS customization tools, together with social media, this is quite an argument. This notion  is further supported by  books proclaiming that everyone can be a designer such as The Third Teacher’s transformative teaching & learning guide and the  Design manifest books / books by Mieke Gerritzens and Geert Lovink all which adds fuel to the fire. Furthered …

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Posted in: Design Culture, Design Leadership, Design Management, Design Management Education |
guest blogger: Aart van Bezooyen & Paula Raché

It‘s not easy being green: The future of design in Asia


guest blogger: Aart van Bezooyen & Paula Raché, September 9th, 2011

Our guest writers Aart and Paula have just returned from Southeast Asia. One of their recent meetings took place at the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (see photo) which is housed in one of Singapore’s most colorful buildings. Here they visited the Singapore Design Council to learn more about the status and developments of design in Asia. Read on for their latest update from a design driven economy.

Design Singapore Council
Last month, Paula and Aart sat together with Mrs. Wong and Mr. Khamis to learn more about the Design Singapore initiative which was founded in 2003 to …

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Posted in: Design Management |
Amrita Bhui

Jugaad – the fugal innovation approach


Amrita Bhui, September 6th, 2011

In India, the one word that would for sure, result in a mixed bag of emotions for me would be “Jugaad” (pronounced “joo-gaardh”). Surprise, horror, amusement and downright respect are only some to name a few.

As a design management consultant, increasingly, I see the rest of the world catching up with this multi-faceted word. Jugaad is getting the respect it always deserved!

Before I go on further, let me explain Jugaad to the uninitiated. A sneak peak at Wikipedia and this is what I get;

 “Jugaad” is a colloquial Hindi word that can mean an innovative fix, an improvised …

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Posted in: Innovation Management |
Tim Selders

Co-chairing a conference: are you ready?


Tim Selders, August 25th, 2011

By the end of last year Tom Lockwood, the president of DMI at-that-time, asked me to be a co-chair for the 2011 European DMI conference.
I directly said ‘yes’, not knowing what I said yes to.

People that know told me that some co-chairs smartly just lend their name, others work their butt off. I did the last. Like Fennemiek Gommer, the other co-chair, and DMI people did.
It turned out to be a great conference called ‘The Value of Design Re-inspired‘. Although there are always things to improve, it scored pretty high…


Why am I bothering …

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Posted in: Conferences & Events |
PARK

Design directors: Ruling the board rooms


PARK, August 4th, 2011

Design seems to be everybody’s darling these days. At least if you trust the international business press. Issues of Business Week, Fast Company or Newsweek they all cover design from various perspectives. After all what these publications have in common is that they discuss design and design management from a different perspective as it has been perceived by the ‘mainstream’ business professional for several years.

The use of ‘design’ as a resource for business success is not longer narrowed to developing products & brands on operational level, but rather leveraged in order to become a core competency to build business …

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Posted in: Design Leadership, Design Management |
Florian Weiss

What design managers can learn from brand management!


Florian Weiss, July 23rd, 2011

It’s not ground-breaking that design managers, like others, can learn a lot by looking over the horizon of their own discipline and can benefit from smart ideas and concepts translated to their own business. In fact, history shows that design management has always been inspired by disciplines like architecture, change management, operation management, etc. However smart ideas that are simple to translate are difficult to find.

In  the current issue of the MIT Sloan Management Review Karen A. Brown, Richard Ettenson and Nancy Lea Hyer discuss “Why Every Project Needs a Brand (and How to Create One)”. The leading question …

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Posted in: Design Management, Design Objectives & KPIs |
Marjolein de Wilde

What’s the DNA of an innovative culture?


Marjolein de Wilde, July 15th, 2011

In a recent video interview, Jeff Dyer, co-author of the Innovators’ DNA, talks about what it takes to think like an innovator. Their model for behaviours that trigger creative ideas highlights five skills that are vital for innovation: questioning, observing, networking, experimenting and associating.

Now doesn’t that sound familiar? I believe that many of these skills are inherent to creativity & design. For designers, it is daily business to experiment, to repeatedly ask question, make associations and look for an even better solutions. Most designers are also trained in observation skills and truly understanding not only the …

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Posted in: Design Culture, Design Management, Innovation Management |
guest blogger: Aart van Bezooyen & Paula Raché

It‘s not easy being green: Update and book tip from Bali


guest blogger: Aart van Bezooyen & Paula Raché, July 4th, 2011

Our guest writers Aart and Paula just arrived in Bangkok, Thailand. From here, they share one of their latest discoveries during their time in South-East Asia where they schedule to visit design centers, share ideas with designers and organize workshops for young design students. Read on for their latest update and an inspiring book that they have recently added to their reading list.

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Wonderground Exhibition
June 10th, we visited Denpasar to enjoy the Wonderground exhibition and give a presentation about our journey. We were welcomed by Popo Danes, a recognized Balinese architect who shares our belief that anybody can …

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Posted in: Design Tools |
Tim Selders

I was not modest enough…


Tim Selders, June 29th, 2011

Last week I was in a meeting with a CEO of a fairly large company.
I was trying to convince him that design could help him to achieve his goals, helping the design manager to start up a company-wide design management project.
Sound familiar, doesn’t it?

During the conversation I wrote on a flip-over: “Design can help to reach the company’s vision faster and better in a wider role.”
I was referring to using designers and their skills beyond esthetical or usability challenges, like in new business development or brand innovation or in new tech application.

So far the conversation …

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Posted in: Design Management |
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