Design Thinking: New Challenges for Designers, Managers and Organizations
ESSEC Business School, Cergy-Pontoise, France, 14-15, April 2008
By Lisa Cox, Brand Engagement Strategist
I wish every designer had the opportunity to experience the DMI Education Conference that was held this April in Paris. Attending the conference proved to be inspirational on many levels. First, to be with such a large collection of design thinkers, it was uplifting to find a warm sense of community. Secondly, it fed my designer’s soul to be exposed to so many great thinkers from varied backgrounds and from different parts of the world. I was also energized by the positive feedback I received from my own presentation. There was an exciting array of over 80 papers presented over two days. Design thinkers were asked to submit research in four areas:
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How designers think: The role of design thinking in society
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Design thinking and change: Innovation and design in service industries
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Design thinking and the postmodern organization
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Design thinking and innovation models
The role of design thinking is evolving, and the research presented at the conference evidenced this fact. Although you could roughly categorize the papers into the four areas, similarities ended there. The presentations showed wide and varied approaches and applications to design thinking. Whether design was positioned as a core function, or as a satellite of influence, it was clear that design thinking is limitless in its possibilities for application and influence. Initially, this was my key learning from the conference. However, I came away with a deeper understanding that as a profession we are not in step with industry, we are often leaps and bounds ahead. We envision and build toward future scenarios, societies and organizations transformed and changed by design thinking.
Alas, for all our cleverness and creative thinking, we create a worrisome state between industry and ourselves. As design thinking widens in scope and application, we enter new areas and apply our thinking to existing constructs. We possess the willingness to stretch, grow and take risks in these areas. We have the vision to see how products, services, organizations and societies can be evolved and changed to create new value and benefit. We are characterized by our ability to be flexible and imaginative in our thinking and maneuvers. We make our best case and evangelize the power of design. But in doing so we don’t always find a welcome committee upon our arrival to these new areas. Unconvinced in our ability and/or authority, it is common to be confronted by resistance from entrenched industry experts. They question the appropriateness and validity of our entry to their domain, and rightly so. We find ourselves the new kid on the block, often unable to cross the lines of industry ‘experience.’
And so my key learning from the conference was replaced by a troubling question. How do we gain acceptance and authority to work in these new areas? Taking responsibility for creating this divide we must ask ourselves, “How can we close the gap?” How can such exciting and innovative thinking become more fully incorporated and accepted? Industry has the expectation that we will “make the business case for design.” I can hear many of you saying, “But we do!” We have years of research and critical writing evidencing the value and benefit of design. New evidence appears in every issue of the DMI Review and Journal as well as in other design publications. So why is it still so difficult to cross this divide between design and industry?
We have unlimited potential to impact society, whether in the four areas covered in the conference, or beyond. We are just beginning to envision how far design thinking can reach. In Paris we joined to become a force of dynamic thinkers ready to change the world. We experienced a renaissance of design thinking, as described in the much touted business book, The Medici Effect. We were at the intersection of diverse thinking about a variety of subjects held together with design thinking.
A month on from the conference, the high of the event dissipates. Full of questions, and not yet possessing all the answers, there is much work to be done. Moving forward, how can we sustain the synergy of these events? More critically, how can design thinking be used to close the gap between design and industry? Our challenge is to sustain our levels of creativity and community and use our innate abilities to find new ways to reach out to industry. This is an exciting time to be a design thinker. We are faced with unlimited potential and future scenarios, but first we must put our own house in order. This is an important subject for future conferences and events, as it’s clear there won’t be a quick fix for these challenges. Many thanks to DMI for bringing us together for this incredible event, I know we all look forward to future events where we can come together to discuss these challenges.
Lisa recently completed a Masters degree in Design & Branding Strategy from Brunel University in London. She specializes in applying design thinking to organizational experience. She presented a paper at the conference entitled “Designing Employee Experience: Design of Emotional Experience as a Source for Strategic Competitive Advantage.” She can be reached at lisa "@" lisacox.com.
View the conference photo gallery.
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