BusinessWeek, Apr 11, 1988 - cover “Smart Design: Quality is the New Style”
After relegating design to the backseat in the 1970’s, US manufacturers are once again discovering that it is key to industrial competitiveness. Design, they are relearning, is more than skin-deep. It’s at the very heart of a product.
BusinessWeek, June 7, 1993 - cover “Hot Products: How Good Design Pays Off”
Leveraging the power of design is one of the hottest strategic games being played today. … In fact, design could emerge as the discipline that brings together the myriad parts of the modern corporation.
not bashing Nussbaum. he “gets it”. and has since at least that first(?) article in '88 afaic. but i AM saying that greater corporate America wasn’t listening then. may not really be listening now. headline is “Return” as if innovation went away. it didnt. it was imo ignored while numbers types took over decision making.
but my real issue is w this -
The Institute of Design recently introduced a > nine-month > Master of Design Methods (MDM) degree for management, engineering, and other professionals who want to be innovation leaders.
i went from engineering/management back to ID undergrad. i had aptitude and desire. enough to radically downgrade my lifestyle to return. took me 4 years to finally understand - to remove “innovation” blinders put on during engineering undergrad. and somehow people w less aptitude and motivation are going to really understand in 9 months? i’m skeptical and worry it sends a bad message.
why not just promote IDers into management? why not assume they can take 9 months to figure out how to run that business? i suspect there’s bias - “artists” aren’t suppose to understand business perhaps.
for Guest, here’s one i did right out of school that almost got ignored too (by a design firm VP trying to adhere to client’s rigid corporate guideline) - Folding Hosereel . inside the client company this would have been shelved i bet (lots of companies pay more attention when they are paying from a budget).
“ignore” business aspects? i left that firm and went to a big company. i call being forced to design “fantasy” product with 5x’s more parts and more complexity than predecessor - for less cost - ignoring business reality. wasted 6 months on that joke. even though i brought cost issues up day one. it died after Engineering. too costly! and it wasnt the only “fantasy” project. meanwhile there are some simple, cost-effective and worthwhile ideas filed away. not just mine. others too. some discovered cleaning out old files. decades old. probly never see the light of day.
would a company send me to 9 months crash business school? maybe. probly. but only bc of my aero undergrad, not if i was only ID imo. and not really my issue. but it is an ID profession issue imo.