Volume 17, Number 2, Spring 2006

From broad strategies to details of branding and communications and the development of products and services, there is almost universal agreement that design is an essential asset. In this issue, discover principles for managing this resource and techniques that improve outcomes and bottom-line results. Reap the benefits of fascinating case studies and interviews from around the globe. Hear what fellow design managers and other experts have to say about quantifying design's value. Finally, learn how to legally protect and extend the life of your designs, even as they are being created.

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Be Smart, Be Simple
Rob Wallace, Managing Partner, Wallace Church
How many times have you heard the acronym KISS (keep it simple, stupid!)? It applies to so many situations. For Rob Wallace, managing partner at design firm Wallace Church, simplicity is the single most effective design and communications...

Branding Deep in the Russian Federation
Tim Robertson, Principal, Robertson+Partners
In March 2005, Tim Robertson of the Canadian design firm Robertson+Partners was invited by an economic development agency to create a branding program for the Nizhny Novgorod Commercial Institute (or NKI, the Russian acronym). Nizhny Novgorod is...

Bringing the Future into Global Brands
Tony Kim, Professor of Design Management, IDAS, Hongik University, Korea
Great products are designed to connect with the lifestyles and values of their intended customers. Only thing is, the services and benefits these products offer to their current customers were designed and developed to satisfy the lifestyles and...

Celebrating Design as a Corporate Resource
Thomas Walton, Editor, Design Management Institute
Editor’s Notes for Volume 17, Number 2.

Convergence: New Management Imperatives and Their Effect on Design Activity
Naomi Gornick, Honorary Professor, University of Dundee
There is a shift noticeable in the world of commerce. Corporate managers are encouraged to think more creatively. Innovation is every company's goal, and MFAs are starting to look just as good as MBAs to corporate recruiters; their conceptual and...

Designing Dialogues: Customizing Communications and Communication Paths
Roger Sametz, President, Sametz Blackstone Associates
The premise of this example-filled article is simple enough: Companies spend too much time communicating to their customers, and not enough communicating with them. “In our personal conversations,” writes Roger Sametz, principal of the Sametz...

Evoking Brand Values with Design
Jonathan Knight, Director, Frazer Designers
The challenge for designers, writes Jonathan Knight of UK-based Frazer Designers, "is to make a better product, even if that product is one of the most ubiquitous in the world." When British Sky Broadcasting engaged Frazer to design a remote...

Law Meets Design: Transforming Valuable Designs into Powerful Assets
Joshua Cohen, Shareholder, RatnerPrestia
Ownership is critical to leveraging the long-term value of innovations. Joshua Cohen recommends a spectrum of legal tools design managers should exploit to maximize the return on creativity. A telling dimension of his advice is that these...

Measuring Success: Using Consumer Research to Document the Value of Package Design
Scott Young, President, Perception Research Services
Despite the trepidation designers often feel about having their work tested-after all, who wants to have their creative efforts translated into attribute ratings, 5-point scales, and purchase interest numbers-as clients increasingly recognize the...

Profiting by Design
Chris Bedford, President, Karo Group; Julie H. Hertenstein, Associate Professor, Northeastern University; Marjorie B. Platt, Professor, Northeastern University; Gus Desbarats, Chairman & Co-Founder, The Alloy, UK; George Daniels, Group Manager, HP Enterprise Design Center; Peter L. Phillips, Design Strategy Consultant; Rob Wallace, Managing Partner, Wallace Church
Judging from the popular press, as well as leading business writers, a consensus seems to be growing that good design is good business. But inevitably the question comes: How does one measure good design? And if we are spending money on design, how...

The Four Powers of Design: A Value Model in Design Management
Brigitte Borja de Mozota, Professor, Université Paris X
It's a lot to fit into one sentence, but this pretty much says it all: “Although the trend in favor of design can be seen as a way to promote design as a qualified partner for innovation and management, it's a trend that tends to forget about...

Time for Design
Jeanne Liedtka, Professor, University of Virginia; Henry Mintzberg, Professor, McGill University
It has been noted in many places that finally design is being noticed as a remedy for many of business's ills. Unfortunately, write Jeanne Liedtka, of the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business, and Henry Mintzberg, of Montreal's McGill...