The Design Strategist

You might want to be careful who you address that way without knowing who you are talking too. The Salt and Pepper shaker was a project done my sophomore year of college. It was a fun little project that still show a great exercise in styling. That was 12 years ago.

I have been doing this for 10+ years and 7 of those have been managing Industrial Design at a major CPG company reporting directly to the Director of Brand Strategy. You do not see our strategies in my portfolio because I don’t want you to see them, but much of the seasonal packs in the online folio have been a small part of those strategies.

If you want to have a professional discussion about this we can, but you need to change your tone.

thanks for telling me to change my tone but as i remember you were the one telling me I was talking BS, remember??? but i was simply telling you what my experience was with so called design strategists coming from school. My point was, they come out of school trying to sell themselves as a design strategist but have no experince and claim they can turm things around. I’m not saying they can’t but I think only a few might be able to without the working experience.
Don’t feel insulted by the salt and pepper shaker, I’ve done plenty of bad design myself from which I actually learned from. It’s ok not to show your process I’m just eager to know how design studios approach strategic design. Of course everyone does it their own way but I only wanted to know if I could see the process, that’s all, a simple example from beginning to end.

Peace!

You have now insulted me, my design, and where I live. If you would like to remain in the forum I suggest you change your tone. You have had a constant theme of design strategy being senseless along with the people that do it. This is where the BS comment came from. A direct reflection of your tone. If you want to have a professional discussion on it, then you need to learn and build upon feedback not go back to the same point.

As far as where to get examples on how to do this… Like everything else study it. There are plenty of books out there. Roger Martin and Tim Brown are just a couple that have published some great work around this. Get a subscription to Fast Company.

J

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dexigner20110, you might want to re-consider calling people on this forum out on their portfolio work, it really has nothing to do with this conversation and is quite simply rude and childish.

As for the topic of design strategist, I really think it is a by-product of consultancies having to write proposals, and having to explain their process to clients. When you are writing a proposal for a client, I think it helps to be able to say you have a “strategist” a “interaction designer” a “visual designer” a “industrial designer” and be able to describe what aspects of the project each of these people are responsible for. In reality, and anyone who has worked in the consultancy environment will know this, it really is more of a team effort and their is a lot of cross-over between disciplines.

That being said I think some of these design firms (ide0 and continuum in particular) have become very good at branding themselves to non-designers and many of their clients who don’t know much about the design process. Larger design firms have the ability and luxury to hire individuals to be strategist, envisioners visual designers, industrial designers, while in many smaller design firms the same process is happening but the same people are wearing many hats.

especially when not showing their own work

All in all, it’s an interesting thread topic to debate/define what is design strategy, how people do it, and examples out in the wild. Hope the flames don’t kill the thread

PackageID I have no problem with you but I do have a problem with you saying the following:

“So to say it is just bullshit that does not make the corporation money is obserd” i never said this or was trying to refer to it as being so,I’m I right?

I was talking out of my personal experience talking to some so called design strategists. I simply haven’t seen any results and the people I was
talking to were design grads and not 10+ years design pros.

NJ is a great place, your packaging design is great as well and if I had known the salt and pepper shaker were over 10 years old, then it’s a great concept considering the fact that the capsule business took off around that time with Nespresso and some other stuff.

So from man to man I apologize for offending your shaker.

PEACE

Thanks for your insights, this is actually what has been on my mind for a while, that it is a by-product of consultancies. Nevertheless, I’m still eager to see some real examples but everyone is keeping it a secret, that’s fine. We have done some great design work in collaboration with the sales team, engineering as well as the client themselves. All of these people have great input when gathering ideas to generate concepts for new business opportunities, so in a way it was strategic design, right?

Wow, very interesting thread. I’m a “design strategist” for MillerCoors. My undergrad was in ID from Pratt and I have my MBA from GSU focused on international business. I can not speak for my counterparts from agencies or consultants. A lot of what PackageID mentions is the most accurate out of this thread. My role within MillerCoors is to implement, improve and manage design methodologies when associated with other business units. These business units are marketing, consumer insights, R&D, manufacturing (supplier/brewery), engineering, procurement, legal (IP/exclusivity), supply chain and distribution. I also function as a steward to the design process in the conceptual phase of development (insure alignment with business goals, manage agencies/firms, collect competitive intel and consumer insights)

I function as a liason between these groups when bringing a concept to commercialization. My primary responsibility as something gets commercialized is to insure that primary design intent and technical efficacy are maintained throughout the process. While I do not actually design the packaging or product, I need to have intimate knowledge of how and why something is designed. As the concept moves forward to commercialization, I need to have the proper business accumen to communicate effectively as other business units begin their primary function in relation to the commercialization process.

Due to where we’re positioned with any CPG, you will never find anyone talking to details of what, why and how they impact the business. Out of the whole company, only a small handful of folks know what I’m working on. Those folks are VP level and higher. Most people that work within our own company do not know what we’re working on. The only time it goes “public” internally is atleast a few years after we’ve completed our work.

The difference between a design strategist vs. product designer has to do with implementation vs. execution. A majority of my work is completed before an industrial designer even sees the project.

Thank you for you detailed information, very well written. In all it seems it is done different by most agencies or manufacturers. I was looking for more examples from the ID field but I’m getting the bigger picture. Should I or anyone else find examples from the ID field please post them, I will do the same.

Pretty good summary above.

During my stint with one of the major Bay Area Design companies, before picking up a pencil, we’d consider themes, approach, deliverables etc To write a project proposal allocating activities, resources and teams over a timeline, we’d have to have some bigger idea in place- I guess that’s ‘Design Strategy’.

Some great discussion here and spot on points.

Wondering where design strategy and project management converge? There are quite a few points being mentioned that have to do with the structuring of a project and how it gets delivered. Seems to me that is a project managers role (other than client alignment, project finances etc.).

Yes, I’d add that there has to be a shared project vision that project management supports. Perhaps together they inform “strategy”?

You can have project managers without design strategy. And probably can have strategists without project managers but it would be less effective.

Interesting thread as I’m going through strategic design discussions at my new firm. Its simple enough to design the “thing” - but in order for the thing to not fail the “why” needs to be understood and bought into by all.

Thanks for the great summary Boosted561…this part got me thinking "to implement, improve and manage design methodologies when associated with other business units. These business units are marketing, consumer insights, R&D, manufacturing (supplier/brewery), engineering, procurement, legal (IP/exclusivity), supply chain and distribution"

…and unfortunately for dexigner20110 the bulk of the work that you are going to get out of this will be endless powerpoint or pdf decks. But thinking and clear communication can’t be made in high-density foam.

After watching the Continuum clip again it’s more clear now but in order for it to be successful you need everyones back from the beginning.
Especially from the top. If these guys are not open minded then it’s game over from the beginning.
Powerpoints and PDFs can be good if the presentation in them are done well and unfortunaltley most of them are overloaded. There is nothing better
than a face to face presentation and long hours of discussion and arguing, it’s the only way to move forward.
I had the chance once to see a presentation done by one of the FROG designers at our company and it was really solid, they could have sold me anything after that. Very clear and intellectual, hats off to you guys!

Found this as a good example, what do you think? http://news.yahoo.com/making-product-takes-lots-time-money-142418488.html

Interesting thread.

Dexigner20110: Good article on Tide Pods. From the outside, it’s so hard to see the work that goes into these seemingly simple products.

Boosted: Great insight on design strategy. I think I’ve only started to see things from that higher level. I hope that I can see some strategy work someday. Very interesting stuff.

Justin: I think your portfolio rocks. I did a pepper mill just after Uni. One of the designs that still gets some positive comments.

Rachel,
I’ve found that the differences reside in speciality and focus. I would advocate time for the design process and have a “brief” view on where we need to be overall with timing/goals. Whereas the PM will have a focus on the project timeline and focuses to optimize the overall timeline. I work very closely with my PM and they can be a great ally when it comes to setting realistic goals for the overall project.

Seperate roles in the area become more critical when you’re managing multiple projects that are all in the same stage of development.

Thanks for the explanation. Makes sense. As well of course, I would think it varies depending on the work environment and organizational structure.

I think it’s more relevant to the size of the company. Large companies have the capability to have large teams that include design strategists (or outsource to a firm that does). Small companies rely on fewer people to do the same job. I don’t really believe one way is right or wrong, you have to do your best as a company or individual no matter your resources. Design strategy, to me, is an elevated view of the entire business model and industry from a creative perspective. It’s traditionally something business minded executives or high level managers are responsible for. I have worked mainly in small companies and this type of thinking is a large part of what I do, although not my title.

The bottom line to me is, designers feel threatened by those who don’t create but call themselves designers. A more fitting title for the Design Strategist would be Business Strategist or Product Strategist, ultimately more descriptive of what they do.