The Expanding Role of Design, DMI webcast
Guest: Fabio Sergio, Vice President of Design of Frog Designs
We are now in the late stages of the 3rd industrial revolution - the digital one. Seeing the beginning of the 4th revolution - emerging technologies. Design can help manage the transition (strategic, systemic, social, structural, sustainable and ethical). Expanded role of design.
- Change is the only constant. Designers love change. Today there is an unprecedented amount of change.
- Good designers live in the future. They see the present as the BETA of that better future. Look for ways to turn things into tangible shape.
- Design is a strategic business asset.
- Advancing human experience through design.
We are now in the late stages of the 3rd industrial revolution - the digital one. Seeing the beginning of the 4th revolution - emerging technologies. Design can help manage the transition (strategic, systemic, social, structural, sustainable and ethical). Expanded role of design.
1. Problem solving vs problem setting
Design is defined as problem solving discipline. But we can see it moving to also include the framing of the problems that is also asked to solve I.E. Human-Centered Innovation.
2. Design as a specification (CAD file, Photoshop file, UI toolkit, wireframes) vs Design as a process.
Design leads business transformation and lead it with a human angle.
3. Designing products & services vs designing systems.
We live in an era of digitally networked products / services - Simple everyday tasks like opening your smart phone using a Google provided OS, taking a photo then posting to Instagram, Facebook or Twitter…4-5 different brands that co-exist in your pocket coming together as one. User experience as a shared asset.
The complexity of systems and service is that they cannot be seen, only experienced. Need to visualize systems of nodes, cannot change whole but rather look for one of the nodes to change, one that tips whole in new direction.
System mapping is about creating visualization that break organizational silos and align stakeholders around a shared view. Jim Kalbach
Task is to align stakeholders to a shared mission / vision.
4. Designer for vs design with.
Becoming a collaborator with your client. Embrace the playful element of collaboration.
6. User, customer outcomes vs organizational outcomes.
Organizations are the delivery systems for services, and those organizations are made up of people.
Digital transformation is first and foremost a human and organizational challenge. Need to understand peoples workflow and how to migrate them into the new system (keeping in mind how they learn, grow and adapt) you are creating. As this process and any transformation can be disruptive to any organization. Not a technology issue as you have to understand the workflows and how to migrate the past to the future.
- Business value of change.
- Culture is key - create excitement and a new culture.
- Enablers to make transition easier.
- At the center processes and governance models - is the business aligned with the new model
7. Business Value vs Social Value
Design understands customers and as citizens.
Design is strategy for unpredictable times. How designers can find opposite agendas and merge them together. Creating an agenda for the future.
QUESTIONS
As design moves from designing products, services and systems, what new critical skills and knowledge do designers need to acquire?
Power in traditional designer toolkit and skill set; they still apply. Discipline of Graphic Design, Visual Design and system mapping. On there other side, systems thinking - does not come from traditional skill set - systems practice, embrace the spectrum and what can be done.
How do you see design becoming more politically active?
Design is always political. It is imbued with a value system of the person and organization. We are part of a sharing economy. Does not have to be political in taking sides, but be aware of what is implicit in decisions as design and talk about ethics in design.
What measures or metrics do you use to help customers understand the value of design to deliver customer focused products or services?
Look at Frog Design publications / site.
Do you think designers today need to be multitasking, multidisciplinary or specialized in an area?
"Learn expertise in your craft. Design is naturally hybrid and permeable to other disciplines and that is our strength. You need to embrace cross-discipline but there is a lot of value in the craft of design.
The process alone is not enough; you can learn the process in two days but then you can spend the next 6 years learning how to do individual tasks in the process that requires a serious investment in time, and skills and expertise to really be effective at then running the process in the way it is depicted. Process itself is easy to communicate but the vertical skills required for every single step along the way to execute on that process efficiently.
Wouldn't discard craft and main knowledge of expertise but the designer of the future will be a generalist in the way that they look at the world." ~Fabio Sergio, Vice President of Design of Frog Designs