Design and Corporate Strategy
This evening I attended a lecture, part of the Rotman Design Thinking Speaker Series at UofT. The speaker was Robert Blaich, Chairman of Teague Design, and the topic was the title of his new book, Design and Corporate Strategy: Managing the Connection for Competitive Advantage. It wasn't so much of a sales job, although it was a sales job -- for his book -- and design, for it is the centre of the universe -- more or less.
I actually got introduced to the theory of design by my older daughter, a recent graduate of York's design program, and since then, I've been more aware of design -- especially as the topic has been cropping up more and more in literature. It isn't that my new found awareness is finding design everywhere, but more that design has become a strategic differentiator for many corporations that have seen their products and services commoditized by low cost producers -- especially those from the developing powerhouses of India and China.
Blaich is an entertaining speaker -- much more so when he's telling stories, than when he is pontificating from his notes -- and the man has lots of stories. He sermonized on the state of design today and the potential for it to take a leadership role in corporations. In this regard, he chided designers, himself included, for creating what he termed design sprawl -- the gross opulency -- many products being a slight variation of its previous incarnation, with the net new functionality hardly justifying its existence or the effort to create it. Designers, Blaich petitioned, should stop the sprawl.
It's ironic that Blaich is taking this stand, as his Teague Design continues to contribute to the sprawl -- and only as an old man, is Blaich coming to the realization that in his youth, he made a career in polluting the world with products. He referred a number of times to products designed in the past that are still manufactured today -- that still have relevancy, even though new designs and products continue to be produced with the same functionality. I couldn't help but think that Blaich was in part, yearning for the glory days of his past as he drifts through the twilight of his career. I don't for a minute doubt the sincerity on design sprawl -- but the cynic in me heard the mixed message he delivered.
Read more:
I actually got introduced to the theory of design by my older daughter, a recent graduate of York's design program, and since then, I've been more aware of design -- especially as the topic has been cropping up more and more in literature. It isn't that my new found awareness is finding design everywhere, but more that design has become a strategic differentiator for many corporations that have seen their products and services commoditized by low cost producers -- especially those from the developing powerhouses of India and China.
Blaich is an entertaining speaker -- much more so when he's telling stories, than when he is pontificating from his notes -- and the man has lots of stories. He sermonized on the state of design today and the potential for it to take a leadership role in corporations. In this regard, he chided designers, himself included, for creating what he termed design sprawl -- the gross opulency -- many products being a slight variation of its previous incarnation, with the net new functionality hardly justifying its existence or the effort to create it. Designers, Blaich petitioned, should stop the sprawl.
It's ironic that Blaich is taking this stand, as his Teague Design continues to contribute to the sprawl -- and only as an old man, is Blaich coming to the realization that in his youth, he made a career in polluting the world with products. He referred a number of times to products designed in the past that are still manufactured today -- that still have relevancy, even though new designs and products continue to be produced with the same functionality. I couldn't help but think that Blaich was in part, yearning for the glory days of his past as he drifts through the twilight of his career. I don't for a minute doubt the sincerity on design sprawl -- but the cynic in me heard the mixed message he delivered.
Read more:
- The Ice Palace That Melted Away: Restoring Civility and Other Lost Virtues to Everyday Life -- by Bill Stumpf
- Incivility as a Barometer of Societal Decay [PDF] -- Robert C. L. Moffat
- Social Design: The Link Between Facility Design, Organization Design, and Corporate Strategy [PDF] -- Langdon Morris
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