Systematic branding is a relative newcomer to Greece. For many years, branding was commonly understood to be equivalent to merely a name and a logo. Family names have been frequently used for corporate brands as well as product brands, and visual identities and brand design have often not received the attention they deserve. Of course, Greece has its own share of “cult” brands dating back many years, sometimes exhibiting brilliant examples of design excellence. But the field of branding as a specialized, expert area that encompasses more than pretty graphics has only recently started to make inroads in the Greek market.

Needless to say, the need for systematic branding has always been there, as Greek consumers have been “brand-savvy” for many years. Whether bombarded by global leader brands or smoothly approached by lower-profile local brands, Greeks, like other global consumers, shopped and identified with the brands that they felt understood them and their needs best.

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Article submissions are welcome; please contact jtobin@dmi.org.

Cape Cod Conference Speakers Announced
Leadership by Design
The 29th International Design Management Conference
October 24-27, 2004
Chatham Bars Inn, Chatham, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA

As design takes on greater importance in the business enterprise, the responsibility of design leadership is growing exponentially. Design managers work within a global marketplace in which brands emerge and fade, products top the charts and drop off, markets shift and reconfigure so fast that the slightest mistake is quickly magnified to huge proportions. In this environment, the management of design must move to an increasingly proactive position in order to survive.

To make this transition, design managers have to understand the ways in which the principles, methods, perspectives, and behaviors of designing and leadership overlap. They must build on their inherent strengths and create successful design leadership in order to effectively participate in shaping a design vision and strategy, articulating all aspects of it, and facilitating its execution.

The content will be addressed through extended, in-depth keynote sessions, lectures, and case studies. In addition, the conference will be enhanced through focused parallel sessions and lively small-group exercises that promote teamwork and collaboration.

Featured Sessions

Looking Inside Leadership
David Campbell, Smith Richardson Senior Fellow, Center for Creative Leadership

 

Forming a Common Vision: Meeting the Complexities of a Collaborative Challenge
Tom Dierking, Global Design Director, Procter & Gamble Co.
Henry Chin, Director, ZIBA Design, Inc.
Beth Malone, Creative Director, Libby Perszyk Kathman, Inc.

 

Design’s Role in Disruptive Innovation for Achieving Design Leadership
Jim Long, Director of Research, Herman Miller Inc.
Deanne Beckwith, President, Deanne Beckwith Design Associates

 

From Business Model to Design Execution: Lessons in Collaborative Leadership
Eduardo Alvarez, Managing Director, Strategy & Design, Willey Brothers

 

The Importance of Understanding Culture in Achieving Design Leadership
Robert Brunner, Partner, Pentagram Design

 

Bringing Design into the Boardroom
Richard Eisermann, Director, Design and Innovation, Design Council (UK)

 

Leading with Vision: The Design of New Ventures
Andrew Hargadon, Associate Professor and Director, Technology Management Programs, Graduate School of Management, University of California at Davis

 

Integrating Design into Organizational Culture: Straight Talk About Design Leadership, Design Performance and Corporate Culture
Tom Lockwood, Director, Global Brand and Design Strategy, StorageTek

Leadership Forums
DMI Leadership Forums are interactive parallel sessions featuring brief presentations by leading experts, followed by moderated group discussions.

Getting Everyone on the Same Page
Timothy Bachman, Principal, Bachman Design
Driving the Customer Experience through Design Collaboration/Leadership
George Daniels, Group Manager, Enterprise Design Center, Hewlett-Packard
Management Vision in Rich Pictures
Michael Eckersley, Principal, HumanCentered
Seeing Design’s Potential: Providing a Self-Discovery Vision for Clients
Gil Hanson, President, Hanson Associates, Inc.
Leading Good Design in a Climate of Change
Lisa Malmud, Vice President, Creative Director, America Online
Heroic Leadership
Bill O’Connor, President, SOURCE, Inc.
Structuring Leading Thinking into a Project Approach
Mark Oldach, Partner, VSA Partners
Leading Innovation Initiatives: Positioning Design in Corporate Innovation Programs
Darrel Rhea, Principal, Cheskin
The High Cost of Saving Money: Design Management Faces Downsizing, Outsourcing, and Elimination
Rob Wallace, Managing Partner, Wallace Church, Inc.

Please visit the program, hotel, and registration pages for more information on this highly-regarded annual gathering of senior professionals. New members can receive a substantial discount on DMI membership by signing up for the special membership/conference registration package.

Registration Opens for the International Conference on Innovation by Brand and Design Management
November 11-12, Seoul, Korea

DMI's 2004 biannual academic conference promises to be an exciting and truly international event. The conference is being held in collaboration with two other organizations: The Design and Brand Management Society, and the Institute for Industrial Policy Studies. It will help both academics and practitioners better understand ways to integrate brand and design for greater business success.

A broad and impressive range of abstracts has been received by the conference Scientific Committee in response to the call for papers. The 74 abstracts represent 14 different countries, and cover topics such as branding, design management, innovation, product design, and green design. Based on this strong response, the conference promises to be a seminal forum for the exchange of ideas and best practices from around the world.

Registration for the conference is now open to all interested individuals from academia, business, and public and government agencies. Please visit the DMI Web site for more information about the conference, registration, and hotel accommodations.

Speaker Presentations Posted for Brand Design Conference
Complete speaker presentations have now been posted for the 16th International Brand Design Conference, held June 2-4 in Vancouver, Canada. The 11 presentations are available for free download by current DMI members. For more information on the benefits of DMI membership, please visit www.dmi.org/membership.

Managing Strategic Creativity & Innovation
August 12-13, Boston, USA
Taught by Alison Rieple, Professor of Strategic Management, University of Westminster-Harrow Business School (UK)

Designers are visionaries with important roles to play in the innovation process, and are key drivers of organizational success. And yet innovation, and the creativity that underpins it, is notoriously hard to manage. This seminar will explore why this is the case and how participants can work to overcome some of the problems inherent in bringing about something new in their organizations. More information.

“This seminar had excellent content, delivery, and discussion, it was extremely inspiring and insightful, and a real asset to our personal and professional development.”
—Simon Bromfield, New Media Manager, Lubrizol Ltd.

Creating the Perfect Design Brief
September 16-17, Philadelphia, USA
November 4-5, Boston, USA (New Date)
Taught by Peter L. Phillips, Design Strategy Consultant

A well-crafted design brief can function as a contract, an easy-to-follow road map for the entire design process, and an invaluable tool for securing project approval at the end of the process. This seminar explores all of the critical components of a design brief and how to use them to assure the success of any design project. More information.

“I can’t wait to return to work and start implementing what I’ve learned, and begin educating the rest of the organization to the importance of effective briefing.”
—Chloe Franklin, Design Production Manager, Design Council

Using Design Research for Product and Brand Innovation
September 16-17, New York City, USA
November 11-12, San Francisco, USA
Taught by Darrel Rhea, Principal, Cheskin

This seminar empowers design managers to integrate research into the design development process with confidence. It will give managers the tools to become advocates for research that actually produces better design and supports innovation. By knowing how, when, and what kind of research to use in the design process, managers can maintain control of their programs, and produce more effective products and brands. More information.

“Darrel is a fantastic speaker and the information/value of his insight will be put into motion ASAP within my organization.”
—Gerry Squires, System Designer, Nestle Product Technology Center

The New Marketing: Understanding It, Working with It
September 23-24, Chicago, USA
Taught by Bruce Clark, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Marketing Group, Northeastern University

It’s not just the “four P’s” of marketing anymore. It’s not just “brand” anymore. Over the last ten years, marketing has been inundated with new ideas that are changing the way marketers and designers need to do their jobs. Simultaneously, the end of the 1990s boom has put new pressures on marketing managers that only increase their demands on complementary functions such as design. This seminar outlines the new marketing practices resulting from these trends, how the new marketing affects design and other functions, and how designers and marketers can build and maintain effective relationships in this environment. More information.

“This seminar provided a clear understanding of the partnership that must exist between the marketing discipline and the design discipline. A must-attend seminar for all organizations who truly believe that design impacts their bottom line.”
—Dan Dittmar, Global Brand Design Manager, BIC Corporation

Strategies for Designing Meaningful Brand Experiences
September 27-28, Los Angeles, USA
October 14-15, Minneapolis, USA (New Date)
Taught by Dave Norton, Ph.D., Vice President, Experience Strategy and Research, Yamamoto Moss

Creating meaningful brand experiences is the key innovation that will drive growth and new value for your brand over the next ten years. This seminar will prepare your brand to engage in—and profit from—an important shift in consumer demand: a desire for experiences that really matter. Designed to make you a more strategic thinker about branding, experience design, and value creation, this seminar will explore key consumption trends and detail techniques for creating meaningful experiences for your target audience. More information.

“Dave is great, he knows what he is taking about. Great content and tools that I hope to apply in my future projects.”
—Laura Baez, Brand Manager, Ernst & Young

Managing Design for Strategic Advantage
October 7-8, Philadelphia, USA
Taught by Peter L. Phillips, Design Strategy Consultant

Traditionally, design has been viewed as a service within an organization—not as a strategic business resource. But this traditional view of design is rapidly changing in the fast-moving, highly-competitive business arena of the new millennium. Design managers and designers now need to rethink both the processes of managing design and the ways in which they communicate the strategic value of design to the success of the enterprise. More information.

“For the first time, a design seminar has given me tangible tools that make sense for me to go back to my job and start implementing immediately.”
—Jill Hunt, Sr. Industrial Designer, Medela Inc.

Marketing Graphic Design Services
November 5-6, Atlanta, USA (New Date)
Taught by Cameron S. Foote, Principal, Creative Business Newsletter

Without regular and consistent marketing, a firm often finds itself on a feast-or-famine roller coaster at best, and at worst, struggling for its very existence. This seminar has a practical, real-world approach that’s ideal for anyone who wants to improve his or her marketing ability, learn techniques for prospecting for new clients, needs to know more about hiring and motivating sales personnel, or would like to achieve a higher success rate in converting presentations into projects. More information.

“What a great session. Cameron’s years of experience and perspective combined with the give and take of all the attendees made this one the most worthwhile seminars I've ever attended.”
—Andy Cleff, Founder and Principal, Ampersand Design

Design Management Review, Spring 2004 (Vol. 15, No. 2)
Design as a Business Resource: Using Design to Leverage Strategic and Competitive Advantage

From defining the broad vision to refining the details of specific projects, design enhances organizational success. Contributors to this issue articulate key trends in corporate design and discuss where and how design improves results. The authors share informative case studies addressing strategy, branding, product development, information, and Web site design. They offer criteria to assess the integration of design and corporate culture, announce the business skills most needed by today’s design managers, and identify research techniques that support design and business goals.

Visit the DMI Web site for more information about this issue of the Review, including subscription information and a list of articles. DMI members and Review subscribers will receive this issue shortly.

Free Download of the Month
Evolving the UPS Brand
By Larry Bloomenkranz, Vice President of Global Brand Management and Advertising, UPS
Design Management Review, Spring 2004, Vol. 15, No. 2

When it was designed in 1962, the corporate identity was a compelling symbol for UPS. In the intervening decades, however, things had changed—dramatically! The company was significantly larger, a leader in a diverse spectrum of interrelated businesses, and publicly traded. In this context, Larry Bloomenkranz details the rationale, the research, and the meaning of the company’s most recent brand developments.

This free download has expired. Click here to read the executive summary for this article and the opportunity to purchase the article for direct download.

DMI members can download all DMI Review articles for free on the DMI Web site. Visit www.dmi.org/membership for more information.

 

Fourth International Conference on Design and Emotion
July 12-14, 2004, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey
A leading international forum for the exchange of ideas and information about various aspects of emotion/experience driven design. Info: www.de2004.metu.edu.

Rock. Paper. Scissors.
July 15, 2004, St. Louis, USA
This annual design resource exposition is sponsored by the AIGA St. Louis Chapter. Info: www.stlouis.aiga.org.

Call for Papers: International Conference on Design Education, Tradition, and Modernity
Abstract Deadline: August 3, 2004, Ahmedabad, India
This conference, to be held March 2-4, 2005, will bring together the academic design community, design researchers, and design professionals across the globe. Info: www.nid.edu.

Image, Space, Object: A Week of Learning, Interaction and Creation
August 7-13, 2004, Denver, Colorado, USA
A workshop where designers of all disciplines come together to learn collaborative methods and develop new design languages for compelling physical and communication experiences. A Rocky Mountain/High Ground Workshop in partnership with AIGA. Info: www.aiga.org/content.cfm/rockymountain2004.

The UTOPIA 2.0 Design Contest
Deadline: August 30, 2004, Saint-Etienne, France
This year's contest, “Travel in a sustainable world,” is for students, design professionals, and professionals in related disciplines. 1500 participants from 73 countries entered the first contest. Info: www.saint-etienne-concours.com.

Competitiveness by Design: The Helsinki Summit for Senior Business Leadership
September 1-2, 2004, Helsinki, Finland
Discuss design with business leaders and experts in the field. Learn how design adds value to technology, how it contributes to the innovation process, and how it explores customer experience. Info: www.uiah.fi/summit.

4th NAGOYA DESIGN DO! Competition
Deadline for Second Judging: September 3, 2004, Nagoya, Japan
This competition targets young designers from around the globe and provides an opportunity for participants to exchange ideas and develop their technical and creative skills. The exhibition will be held November 11-21, 2004. Info: www.idcn.jp/compe/2004/2004ap_e.html.

IMPACT 21: 9th International Eyes & Ears Conference
September 16-17, 2004, Cologne, Germany
IMPACT 21 summarizes the most important trends in audio-visual communications design. Info: conference@eeofe.org.

Include 2005: International Conference on Inclusive Design
Abstract Submission Deadline: September 30, 2004
The conference will be held May 5-8, 2005, at the Royal College of Art, London, UK. Info: www.hhrc.rca.ac.uk/programmes/include/2005/index.html

Gain: AIGA Business and Design Conference
October 1–3, 2004, New York City, USA
“Gain” will demonstrate the value of designing as a strategic process that adds substantial value to business and organizations. Influential designers and visionary business leaders will describe how they have initiated fundamental change in their organizations and their industries by making design part of their culture. Info: www.aiga.org.