About Design Management

Design  

I. The expectation of design management
I have always believed that China has never lacked a world-class designer. When our tender hands on the white paper to write the first Chinese characters, is actually finished a wonderful design. The graphic features of Chinese characters have made a great language system. However, it is precisely because of such a language system that has created a gap between us and the world, because we are in different directions to understand graphics, understanding design. To this end, Wang Shouzhi, Yin Dingbon, Wang Ming, Lin Jiayang and other pioneers through unremitting efforts to communicate the western and Chinese design. We are delighted to see that AGI has a Chinese figure, and China's design has frequently won prizes in important competitions. But, calmly, it's not our ultimate goal to get the recognition out of the barriers. Only if we have a design system (style) that is accommodating to the world but belong to this nation, can we not wait for Western acceptance and recognition. How to use, integrate the existing design resources, form the whole of the resultant force, and then form the system (style) has become the design industry's top priority.

The above discussion has some macroscopic, then take a look at the concrete design. Looking back over the last 20 years of design, is there a few pieces that can be a classic design? Is there a chair to be copied over 2 million? Does a design company have more than 20 million dollars in assets? Do you have a listed company? Which Enterprise has a special design vice president, and the design as the core resources of the enterprise? Which enterprise, like Aless, relies on crude equipment, and hundreds of employees create annual sales of more than 600 million dollars (data from Mr. Ron Newman's lectures)? Similar questions can continue to be asked a lot. The more I mentioned it, the more I felt that I was in danger.

Design management may not be a panacea, and getting to China will solve all the problems. But we can try to use such a method system to conduct design management in China's practice. In fact, we can think that China has long had the practice of design management, because we have design, will inevitably involve the management of issues, including who can, Liu Guan and other people at the theoretical level of research. However, faced with the trend of global integration, on the one hand, we need to understand global rules and complement new management concepts. On the other hand, we also need to increase our "soil approach" to guide the future design of the theoretical heights, the use of advanced design management concept is a good time.

Design management is not a new subject, but it is a new subject for Chinese design which is facing the new situation now. Let's work together when the anticipation turns into reality.

Ii. Definition of Design management

"Design management are" effective deployment by project managers of Pursuance of its corporate objectives. " ----Peter Gorb.
"Project managers make effective calls to existing and available design resources in order to achieve common goals"

This is one of Mr. Ron Newman's views on design management. Of course, Mr. Ron Newman also introduced 17 other points of view. Limited to space, not to be displayed here. I invoke Thomas Walton, editor of DMJ (Design managenment jourral), to summarize these 18 views as follows:

※ Design is imagination----strategic management design, regard design management as visionary leader to realize dream.
※ Generally speaking, the organization itself has the function of balancing illusion and fact.
※ Beyond the boundaries of value management, design management is actually attitude management. It describes the characteristics and phenomena of the company----Good design management can understand the characteristics of the Organization and convey their views.
※ Design Management is the core strategy, the founder helps the final user understand the company.
※ Design management starts with suggestions that are beneficial to the company, and it is related to reality, such as imagination, tasks, goals, strategies, and behavioral plans.

Such a statement does not seem to conform to our habits. During the study period, there is a strong desire to get an exact definition of design management for communication. But it's really hard. I think there is a problem of conceptual transformation here. Not all things can give a definite definition, many times, we will find that the description is much simpler than the definition. Design management also falls into this category. But there is still a reluctant and good definition, such as:

※ Design Management is the core part of the design cooperation plan, it is a set of knowledge system of running design resources, including design plan, organization system, design personnel, evaluation organization and so on.
----Kono Noboru (Japan co-strategist)
※ Design Management is the completion of a formal programming activities, in the company through long-term cooperation project communication to adjust the design resources, so that all cooperative activities to reach a certain level.
----Robert Blaich (former Herman Miller, Philips design Director)
※ Design Management is a research field, it takes design management as a strategic tool of management, studies the knowledge structure of managers, designers and experts to achieve organizational goals and create viable products. Design management aims to organize and combine creativity and rationality to achieve organizational strategy and ultimately contribute to the promotion of environmental culture.
----Zhengqingyuan (President of Korea Industrial Design Revitalization Institute)

Perhaps some of our students ' ideas in the discussion are more illuminating:

※ Design Management is to provide a means of communication and establish the necessary control system.
----Huang Lijun (designer of 3M China Co., Ltd.)
※ Design management includes two levels----strategy and practice: Enterprise decision maker Design in the overall strategy (design in Management), Project design Management (management in design).
----Unknown (please contact me)
※ Design Management provides a possibility to achieve hope through design. is a bridge, contact customers, markets, designers and so on.
----Course Group Discussion
※ The behavior control of the system has the continuity of time and the universality of space.
----Yang Yijun (Faculty of Art and Design, Dalian Institute of Light Industry)

A diagram of Mr. Ron Newman is also interesting. In this diagram, the designer is at the heart of design management, and we can understand it as an internal core resource. Design, customer, culture and market are arranged around the designer, representing the peripheral resources of design management. I think it's possible to understand that design management is actually a behavioral system that takes the designer as its core and coordinates its relationship with design, customer, culture and market. However, it is noteworthy that even as a peripheral resource design, customer, culture and market, its role is not the same. The design is at the top, and it is appropriate to demonstrate the importance of the design throughout the management process. This reminds me of a formula in the course:
Good design = good process = Art

Design management is the control of the design process, good design is the prerequisite to produce a good process, and when the process control to achieve a "wonderful" realm, design management has become an artistic behavior. Whether it's from a designer's perspective or a customer's point of view, there seems to be no controversy about the quality of good design. As the core of the "person" is the designer, as the center of the "thing" is the design, this is the design management, culture as the basis of things placed in the bottom of the whole system, its intention seems self-evident. It should be said that it is the different cultures that influence different markets and customers, which in turn affect the design that adapts, including the designer itself. Culture has become the most stubborn form of the system, and its characteristics are also manifested in its concealment (more in an implicit manner), in its universality (almost every part of the Act), and in the fundamental (the role of the accumulation of the characteristic decisions). This has also become the most difficult part of design management guidance practice----and the integration of local culture, the market and customers around, probably because the two also to a certain extent, "about" design management. Then a comprehensive look, the diagram has a clear and complete display of the design management of the resource structure.

Many students think that there is no need to dwell too much on the problem of definition, and I share the same feeling. And spend so much time discussing the definition because you want to use this discussion to enlarge the contact surface of design management, pave the way for the later elaboration. Maybe there are a few things that need to be understood:
Objective: To complete the established design plan and maximize the value of the design.
Mode: Plan (Project), organization (structure), coordination (Resource), control (process), evaluation (performance).
Content: Tube-tube people, coordinate the design of resources, mainly designers. Management-Finance, managing the financial of the design process.
Standard: The highest level of design management is to allow all problems to be resolved satisfactorily in the context of the time.
Problem: Easy to confuse with brand management, business management.

Third, the ability of design management training

I am more realistic about the experience and the harvest that this course brings me, and this is the ability to conceptualize the list. But in fact, when I think about it, I'm doomed to be disappointed. But not to despair, I saw Mr. Dengchenglian. A discussion on design management ability in design management course and teaching exploration:
Design Management courses are designed to provide students with an understanding of the factors that affect creativity and innovation, the relevance of products to production and design, design procedures and support systems for design, the nature of the work undertaken by industrial innovators and industrial designers, and the various legal protections associated with design.
Further develop students with the following competencies:
※ The ability to formulate design strategies;
※ The ability to decide the design policy;
※ The ability to write design project specifications;
※ Ability to monitor and control the project progress;
※ the ability to define and analyze design problems, evaluate design information and evaluate research methods;
※ Choose the ability of the designer. Overall, the goal of the design management course is to develop the students ' ability to design, design, control and design executive management, which does not cover the design organization, and is not designed to develop students ' ability to execute design.

In fact, this ability to display can guide the design management of the other side of the content-design management process. Because I found that each kind of ability's development corresponds to the design management one aspect exactly. Mr. Ron Newman's curriculum is so sensual that it is difficult to find a clear description of the design management process. The actual design management project can not be categorically divided into several parts. However, even so, it is not entirely impossible to "block" the task of the whole process from an ideal level. Many managers have made efforts in this regard, and more generally accepted programmes are: design planning, design organization, design supervision, design control. (There are special chapter discussions behind the specific procedures)

Design plan for the entire project to establish the final objectives and project process design (the ability to formulate design strategies/writing design project specifications);
Design Organization for the project to determine the behavioral subject (the ability to select designers);
Design supervision should include two aspects of evaluation and urge (definition, analysis of design issues, evaluation of design information and evaluation of research methodologies);
Design control focuses on the process of the entire design activity and whether it is consistent with the objectives of the project (the ability to determine the design policy/to monitor and control the progress of the design project).

In the implementation of reality, these four parts are always intertwined and interactive. The design plan was presented at the earliest, but its role will continue throughout the project. The design organization needs to be put forward in the plan, then implemented, generally need to have a certain degree of stability in order to ensure the consistency of the project. Design supervision and control start at the same time as the project is established, similar to the captain's role to ensure that the project does not deviate from the established route. The four are always interconnected and indivisible.

Four, the good design

Before a good design management is known, it is necessary to discuss what a good design is, because it is an important prerequisite for the design management to be a designer or a manager with a simple management background. In fact, in different people's hearts, good design has its own measurement standards. The author's hope is to be able to obtain the recognized good design quality aspect to carry on the exploration.

First, what is design? This is also a topic of discussion in Mr. Ron Newman's course, and here are some typical ideas.

Designed to provide customers with valuable services, in the long run is to provide a way of life.
----Huang Lijun (designer of 3M China Co., Ltd.)
Design emphasizes "fit", in fact, is the designer's intention and market balance point.
----Zhang Hua (Qingdao Huatao Product Design Co., Ltd. general manager)
Design is service, solution.
----Unknown
Strategies and plans.
----Yang Yijun (Faculty of Art and Design, Dalian Institute of Light Industry)

I have noticed that the key words used in this expression are: service, lifestyle, appropriateness, solution, strategy, plan, etc. the description of the design features is generally understood by the public. The author in the course of the process is also repeatedly asked by the students the same question, my explanation is "imagine (IDEA) and plan", including static and dynamic expression two aspects. There is a need to pay attention to the problem, there is no need to make the scope of design all-encompassing generalization. Design is design, it is an idea, a method. This is also true when we study design management, as Mr Zeng Hui says design management is not an omnipotent form, and subjective generalization can only lead to confusion in understanding and practice.

To undertake the above description, "Good design" is a good idea and a good plan. But what is the definition of "good"? Mr. Ron Newman presents an illustration (see left). It is clear that this is a set of value metrics for good design. The basic point is "interest", which is the interests of the design firms in the field, the interests of clients, the interests of society as a whole. Where the intersection represents the factors that affect the designer's work----the designer's own enthusiasm, customer trust, and social responsibility. Here, good design is to balance the designers, customers and the interests of the Community design. This is a perfect statement, but far from practice.

The relative "benefit says" the opinion, I compare accept can alessi elaboration. Alessi believes that people are born with the potential for art and poetry. But he thinks many mass-production industries are not considering this. Design is seen as a tool for markets and technology in such industries. The role of design has been relentlessly reduced, and companies are keen to produce low-cost, more practical, high-volume products. In these products, the design is just a landscaping product appearance, to attract consumers of means, "condiment." Alessi and many Italian factories disagree with this approach, but envision design as "art and Poetry", which is almost the core idea and strategy of these factories. Because Alessi believes that when people come out of the conservative limits, they must be aware of their desire for art and poetry. And our entire industrial system is venturing to produce a large number of ordinary, no emotional products. We are glad that Alessi and many Italian factories have long believed and maintained respect for design, so today we can see so many classic and breathtaking Italian design.

Not long ago, the author conducted a "Good design" of the investigation, the subjects included designers, business managers, students, consumers and so on. After finishing, some of the "good design" characteristics are refined, as follows:
Designed for whom
Good interests
Moved
Something outside of the design
Orientation, new way of life
National Nature and World
Communication and Exchange
Meet the hidden needs of the heart
Environmental protection

Next, according to the number of times mentioned by a sort, ranked in the top three are: moved, directed with a new way of life, good interests. The last job is to generalize. "Good design" is defined as:
Emotions (whether designers or users can feel emotions)
Future (Guidelines for new lifestyles)
Of interest (balancing the interests of enterprises, consumers, designers)
Equal (to maintain respect for human beings, design to help, but not to make us slaves.) ）
Social (about the conscience of the design)
Personality (a trait that allows designers and consumers to maintain)
Rich (value for things). To the design itself, become the brand of the Times)

Here's what I think about:

I think a good design is first to satisfy the designer's pleasure. This pleasure comes from the design itself to the designers, that the designers think that good ideas have been achieved. The reason why designers feel as the first standard, because I firmly believe that not impress the designer's own design does not have as an alternative good design qualifications.

Second, a good design faces life. In the process of design, we can always feel the contradiction: the designer's free ideas and restrictions in the fierce struggle. But when it comes to identifying sources of restriction, we tend to see only the surface, most of the time we attribute this limitation to our customers and markets, and customers often do not give us the right advice. I prefer to extend design restrictions to the realm of life. In this sense, the author is more inclined to define the design as a way of life. There are two aspects of life here: the functional level of reality and the ideal philosophical level, respectively, pointing to the practicality and future of design. Good design, dedicated to the promotion of quality of life, the richness of lifestyles and the rationalization of behavior patterns.

Again, good design equals good business (good Design=good Business). This is from Thomas Watson's Hiang. Good design must undergo at least three aspects of the test: the designer's feelings, market acceptance and future changes. The market test is the most direct, relying on the production quantity and sales and other clear data to verify the design of the market quality. It is vital that these data affect the life of the design.

Four, good design is future-oriented. Charles Eames has its own views on good design, and among them, I think the most important point is the future of design (how are it going to look in ten years?). Charles Eames that time is a good way to test design, but I think what he really wants to say is about design-oriented future issues. 10 years from now, the design environment will change a lot. of a cultural, aesthetic, material, craft ... Good design gives the product the quality of the future, based on the quality of the future outlook.

There is a lot of elaboration about good design and it's hard to say. It is still a difficult job to give the design the above quality, and it needs a unique design. And end with Charles Eames, the unit for good design:

V. Design and management procedures (Work program)

First of all, a very contradictory question: one of the important characteristics of management is to solve the problem, but here we are talking about design management procedures, how many appear to conflict. In order to avoid the deviation of understanding, it is necessary to make some explanations. The procedures discussed in this section refer to the structural procedures based on the design management system. To step back, if there is no program to establish, also not "not program" application.

Mr. Ron Newman repeatedly emphasized the importance of the procedure. Through the elaboration of his practical experience, on the design management of the procedural issues. But the actual result is because our quick success makes his elaboration too detailed, falls into the messy and the concrete entanglement, has lost to the overall design procedure grasp. In addition, in the course of teaching, the carrier of the program is free from the design company and the pure enterprise, but also to the design management process to bring understanding of chaos, but perhaps this is what Mr. Ron Newman hope. Because he has been emphasizing questioning, chaos, and the collision of hope views.

We need to understand the role of the program first. Trevor L Young's elaboration is I compare the esteem:
One of the major contributors to success in all projects are for everyone involved to accept the discipline of using a comm On set of processes and procedures. This is makes the sharing of information considerably easier, particularly when working the across different sites and countries. Ideally this should extend also to using common computer for data software and recording. The combined result is the creation of a common, shared "language" in the ' team ' that saves more than the time with the improved Comm Unication this brings.

Trevor L Young emphasizes that the program produces "language" that facilitates the communication of project members, thus achieving time and resource savings. The original source of the design project may be just a vague idea, a revelation of life, or other uncertain intentions. And there may be a lot of ideas, but the few that can really be established are probably less successful, not even. This requires an identification review of these ideas and a search for good design projects. This is also the first stage of design management-the main task of design project establishment. PST (Programme & Project Steering Team program and Project Management Group) determines the choice of the project, mainly based on whether the profit maximization can be achieved, whether it can maintain, consolidate and develop new market share; Can we make use of existing human resources , whether it can control the risk, whether it conforms to the company's skills and experience of the corresponding capacity and so on.

Before the design project begins, there is an important issue to be clarified, which is to review the existing information of the project team and ensure that the project is moving in the right direction from the outset. This information includes:
Who is the initiator of the design project;
Who is the customer and indirect customer;
Who will use the results of this design;
A preliminary candidate for the design project team;
Other persons who may affect the design project---benefit-sharing;
The design management plan is a very necessary work after the project has been identified. There is an old saying in China that the importance of planning is properly expressed by "doing everything in advance, not in advance". With the author of some of the design of the practice of designing plans as an example: the first clear list of the entire design management tasks and time; the next task is to refine (differentiate) tasks, that is, to break down the task. The decomposition method has two, one is according to the time decomposition, roughly determines a certain time period the task. This point should consider the structure of the task before and after the relationship, in addition, according to the composition of the task decomposition, the main consideration of rational use of human resources; The third step is to analyze resource requirements. Identify resources that may be involved in the project process and consider solutions. The fourth step is risk forecasting and finding ways to evade risk. The fifth step is to clarify the responsibilities, and each team member's work should be written into the plan. The sixth step is to optimize the management plan and refine the time plan. Make a detailed Gantt chart schedule, design a master schedule of management plan, work detail and responsibility Assignment table, monitor chart, etc. Major events and communication programs should also be noted.

In the process of making a plan, we should listen to the opinions of the team members, and the design manager must establish the relative Management authority and form its own management style. The more important thing than making a plan is to have your team understand and support it. So the communication of design management plan is also a link that can not be neglected.

The next thing starts to get easier if you have a good design management plan. Monitoring procedures are more important in the process of planning execution. Design managers should always grasp the design process, evaluation of each phase of the target, timely correction of the direction of deviation. The ability to solve unexpected events is also reflected in this process.

The final program is the evaluation of design management. It is important to establish standards of completion as a criterion for evaluation. Of course, the objective of the evaluation of the design project, summed up in the lessons may be more helpful to us. We need to treat each project as a learning opportunity.