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Viewpoints

Calendar of Upcoming DMI Events

March
Fast Track Your Experience Strategy
March 13-14, Cincinnati, OH, USA

The 7th European International Conference on Design Management
March 16-18, 2003, Cologne, Germany

Creating the Perfect Design Brief
March 27-28, Boston, MA, USA

April
Strategies for Designing Meaningful Brand Experiences
April 3-4, Boston, MA, USA

Managing Innovation and Creativity
April 8-9, London, UK

Managing Design for Strategic Advantage
April 10-11, Chicago, IL, USA

Using Design Research for Product and Brand Innovation
April 24-25, San Francisco, CA, USA

May
Managing Design for Strategic Advantage
May 1-2, Boston, MA, USA

The DMI Senior Executive Workshop: Strategies for Developing, Maintaining, and Sustaining a Powerful Brand
May 4-6, Boston, MA, USA

Creating the Perfect Design Brief
May 15-16, New York, NY, USA

Using Design Research for Product and Brand Innovation
May 22-23, Chicago, IL, USA

June
15th International Corporate/Brand Identity Conference
June 4-6, 2003, Vancouver, Canada

Managing Innovation and Creativity
June 24-25, Boston, MA, USA

Integrated Design Strategy Management: Challenges & Opportunities

DMI Conferences

Last Chance to Register for European Conference
Speakers Announced for Corporate/Brand Identity Conference

Fast Track Your Experience Strategy
Creating the Perfect Design Brief
Strategies for Designing Meaningful Brand Experiences
Managing Innovation & Creativity
Managing Design for Strategic Advantage
Using Design Research for Product and Brand Innovation The DMI Senior Executive Workshop

Free Download of the Month

Viewpoints

Integrated Design Strategy Management: Challenges & Opportunities By Michael Eckersley, HumanCentered		Michael Eckersely

Editor’s note: At the 2002 DMI International Design Management Conference in Chatham, Cape Cod, Michael Eckersley served as facilitator for a lively roundtable on strategy. Michael has used his notes from the meeting as inspiration to reflect on strategy, design, and integration.

Designs can result in concrete artifacts, or extraordinarily complex and multi-layered experiences. Designs perceived as having strategic import tend to be more highly valued and have greater reach than designs having tactical or supporting relevance to the success of a large endeavor.

Despite design’s increasing strategic importance worldwide, management practices for deeply strategic design are not yet well established or widely acknowledged. This might lead mid-level design managers to ask what is strategic about their work, and how might their influence be enlarged?

Read the complete article

Article proposals are welcome! Please email jtobin@dmi.org.  
 

DMI Conferences

Last Chance to Register for European Conference
Decisions/2003: Integrating Strategic Design Decisions & Intuitions for Customer Value
The 7th European International Conference on Design Management
March 16-18, 2003, The Hilton Cologne, Cologne, Germany

The European conference is almost here! Time is running out to register for this international gathering of the best and brightest in design and business. The conference has attracted a broad range of high-level professionals from corporate, consultant, and academic backgrounds.

Some of the organizations that will be represented at the conference include Estee Lauder (France), Mitsubishi Electric Telecom Europe B.V (France), IBM Eurocoordination (France), Philips Design (Netherlands), Design Continuum Italia Srl (Italy), Crown GmbH (Germany), Johnson Controls (Germany), Nokia (Finland), Elisava, School of Design (Spain), Andersen Windows (USA), Neworld Design Group (Ireland), Danish State Railways (Denmark), ARTSANA S.P.A. (Italy), The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Hong Kong), Norwegian Design Council (Norway), Bosch and Siemens Household Appliances (Germany), Funcke Ontwerpers (Netherlands),Eastman Kodak Company (USA), Design Council (UK), and many others.

Conference Networking Page
Faculty and students at the Köln International School of Design (University of Applied Sciences, Cologne) have been working with DMI to organize the social and network activities accompanying the conference. They have prepared a Web page to facilitate interaction and networking.

Conference Schedule
The conference schedule has now been recently updated with some important changes. Please visit www.dmi.org for complete information about the program, registration, and hotel accommodations for this highly-regarded conference. You can also download the conference brochure in PDF format.

Speakers Announced for 15th International Corporate/Brand Identity Conference
Connecting Design & Marketing for Brand Success
June 4-6, 2003
The Fairmont Hotel, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

DMI is proud to announce an outstanding roster of speakers for the Corporate/Brand Identity conference. This event has been one of DMI's most popular conferences, and is a must-attend for brand, corporate identity, marketing, and design professionals.

Letting Customers Define Brands: Holy Grail or Holy Hell?
Nick Wreden, Brand Futurist

Being Sony: Designing One Common Understanding of the Brand
Denise Lee Yohn, Vice President, Segment Marketing and Brand Planning, Sony Electronics, Inc.

Emotional Branding: Connecting to People's Heart with Passion
Marc Gobé, President, CEO, Executive Creative Director, Desgrippes Gobé Group

Marketing with Meaning: How Microsoft Leveraged Design to Extend Its Brand
Mark Olson, Brand Director, Microsoft Business Solutions
Richelle Huff, Vice President, Larsen

Bringing the Brand to Life: When Design and Marketing Come Together
Alan Bergstrom, Managing Partner, Brand Imperatives

Blurring Boundaries
Jeff Hartley, Manager of Brand Character and Theme Research, General Motors Corporation

The Future is Now: Cutting Edge Trends in Branding
Marco Bevolo, Senior Design Manager, Philips Design
Brechje Vissers, Senior Consultant, Philips Design

Additional Speaker:
Donald Frischmann, Senior Vice President, Symantec Corporation

Conference Workshops
Information about workshop registration will be posted on the DMI Web site shortly.

Customer equity: The Key to Branding Accountability
Nick Wreden, Brand Futurist

Brand Now! Scanning Cultures to Envision the Future of Brands
Marco Bevolo, Senior Design Manager, Philips Design
Brechje Vissers, Senior Consultant, Philips Design

Early Registration Special
DMI is offering an early registration special on the Vancouver conference. Register during the month of March and receive a US$75 discount off the appropriate member or nonmember conference. DMI is also offering a special combined membership/conference registration special. Register for the conference early, join DMI, and combine both discounts for compelling savings! For more information, visit the registration page on the DMI Web site.

For complete information about this important international conference, please visit the program, hotel, and registration pages on www.dmi.org.

DMI Education

Fast Track Your Experience Strategy
March 13-14, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Taught by Dave Norton, PhD, Vice President, Experience Strategy and Research, Yamamoto Moss

You’ve nailed your brand strategy. What’s next? Brands that do not live up to the experience they promise put themselves at risk of being commoditized. The next step is defining your experience strategy. An experience strategy helps you define everything holistically; from how anticipation is built, to the most important interactions your customers have and the memories that they form. More information.

“This seminar was intriguing and most of all, hands on. The group was small enough that we were able to interact directly with one another and learn from each other’s experiences as well. The information offered has been extremely useful in developing a system for our clients' experiences strategies.”
—Brook Gramann, Principal, The Brand Strategy Group, Honolulu, Hawaii

Creating the Perfect Design Brief
March 27-28, 2003, Boston, Mass., USA
May 15-16, 2003, New York City, USA
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 use what I've learned here!”
—Shannon Navarette, The Dial Corporation

Strategies for Designing Meaningful Brand Experiences
April 3-4, Boston, Mass., USA
Taught by Dave Norton, PhD, Vice President, Experience Strategy and Research, Yamamoto Moss

Fundamental shifts in consumer behavior are occurring. This seminar is designed to help design managers and strategists develop actionable solutions to address these shifts that, combined with recent economic trends and world events, will shape the way consumers live, work, play, and buy. Consumers expect more than brand promises. They want brand truth. This seminar will help you prepare your organization to fulfill consumers’ greatest unmet need: having meaningful experiences. More information.
Read an interview with Dave Norton about this seminar on the DMI Web site.

Managing Innovation & Creativity
April 8-9, London, UK
June 24-25, Boston, Mass., 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 improve the management of the creative process. More information.

“The information I received at this seminar has inspired me to do more and do it better—energy to keep doing what I do!”
—Wendy Hurd, Art Director, Jostens, Inc.

Managing Design for Strategic Advantage
(formerly Managing the Corporate Design Department)
April 10-11, 2003, Chicago, Illinois, USA
May 1-2, 2003, Boston, Mass., 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.

“I feel like I have a whole new arsenal of tools and techniques for success in my career.”
—Rebecca Bardol Marino, Design Services Manager

Using Design Research for Product and Brand Innovation
April 24-25, San Francisco, Calif., USA
May 22-23, Chicago, IL
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. Design managers are increasingly finding that they must take an active role in conceptualizing and managing research activities to support their initiatives. There is often a big gap between the needs of designers and the approaches taken by traditional market researchers on design-related issues. 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.

Strategies for Developing, Maintaining, and Sustaining a
Powerful Brand
The DMI Senior Executive Workshop
May 4-6, 2003
The Inn at Harvard & The Harvard Faculty Club
Cambridge, Mass., USA
Led by:
Stephen A. Greyser, Richard P. Chapman Professor (Marketing/Communications) Emeritus, Harvard Business School
Peter L. Phillips, Design Strategy Consultant

The Design Management Institute takes great pride in offering a program tailored specifically for senior managers. The workshop, part of the DMI Professional Development Program, is designed for senior executives responsible for creating, or recreating, their company’s brand identity and meaning to multiple stakeholders.

The entire workshop has been structured as a highly interactive and intensive working session. The content of the workshop has been designed to include case studies, lectures, and ample time for participants to share their own knowledge and experience in brand management. Participants will leave with an arsenal of new strategic management tools and state of the art knowledge of effective brand management.

A sampling of the topics covered in the workshop include:

• Strategic and tactical processes for brand development
• Nomenclature systems and name development
• Repositioning existing brands
• Metrics for evaluation of brand design elements
• Estimating (and justifying) the cost of developing a brand identity program
• Developing and managing “Voice” as a corporate asset
• Creating a new brand from scratch
• How to identify corporate values that are critical in the marketplace
• Implementation and institutionalizing a brand identity program
• Managing brand meaning in a period of brand crises
• Brand identity consolidation in the event of mergers, acquisitions and strategic alliances
• How misalignments of multiple identities in a corporation can create significant management problems
• Ongoing measurement and management of brand identity in the marketplace

To foster the best possible learning experience for all participants, an application is required from everyone interested in attending. After reviewing all the applicants, up to twenty-five will be selected to participate, giving the workshop the best mix of viewpoints and expertise. Please visit www.dmi.org/executive for complete information, including a schedule and an application form, or call Earl N. Powell, President (ext. 221), or John Tobin, Vice President (ext. 226) at 617-338-6380.

"There was a great balance between the two points of view. It was a great opportunity to extract myself from the day-to-day operations and take a step back. This will definitely prove to be extremely valuable in view of the challenges waiting for me at the office."
—Jean-Jacques L'Henaff, VP Corporate Design, Terk Technologies Corp

DMI Publications

Free Download of the Month
Toward Meaningful Brand Experiences
By Dave Norton, PhD, Vice President, Experience Strategy and Research, Yamamoto Moss
Design Management Journal, Winter 2003, Vol. 14, No. 1

Reflecting on the past 20 years, David Norton discovers a fascinating evolution. In the '80s, increased consumption paralleled the focus on brands and branding. We were what we bought. The cost, however, was a decline in cultural wealth. In the '90s, brands became experiences rather than objects. Today, seeking to renew cultural capital, the challenge is to go one step further, to create brands experiences that add value and meaning to life.

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.

Dave Norton teaches two popular DMI seminars: Fast Track Your Experience Strategy, and Strategies for Designing Meaningful Brand Experiences.

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

News & Events Around the World

New EU Community Trademark and Design Law
The Community Designs Regulation is now in force for the European Union (EU), and offers EU-wide protection for design. Applying for protection will now be significantly easier for non-European applicants. The law is administered by the Office for Harmonization in the Interior Market (OAMI) located in Alicante, Spain. Info: http://oami.eu.int.

Master of Design Methods Degree
The Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology has introduced a Master of Design Methods Degree. Specially tailored for working design professionals, the MDM can be completed full-time in two semesters or part-time in 4 or 6 semesters. It is ideal for the mid-career designer seeking a stepping stone to management. Applications are now being accepted for the fall. Info: http://www.id.iit.edu/grad/mdm.html.

Courses at Surrey Institute of Art & Design
Surrey Institute will be running three design management courses during March: Business & Design Communication Skills (March 19-21); Design Project Management (March 12-14); and Management Skills for Designers (March 17-18). Info: afield@surrart.ac.uk; Tel: 01252 892744; Fax: 01252 892927.

ICSID Africa Regional Meeting
March 3-5, 2003, Cape Town, South Africa
Theme: The Strategic Partnership between Design and Sustainable Development. Organized by DISABS. Info: design@sabs.co.za.

INCLUDE 2003
March 25-28, 2003, Royal College of Art, London, UK
Earl Powell, president of DMI, will be among the speakers at this conference. The world's leading figures in inclusive design will discuss work on topics ranging from fashion to workplace design, from transport to domestic interiors. Info: www.hhrc.rca.ac.uk/events/include2003.

Use(r) — International Design Congress
March 27-30, 2003, Lisbon, Portugal
Organized by the Portuguese Design Center. Info: www.cpd.pt.

The 2003 D&AD Student Awards (UK)
Deadline: March 28, 200
This award is part of the British Design & Art Direction (D&AD) The program is part of D&AD's educational outreach to help the industry identify talented graduates. Entry packs can be downloaded at www.dandad.org under "The 2003 D&AD Student Awards" link. Aquent is a sponsor of the contest.

Utopia 1.0 Design Contest: Communicating in a Sustainable World
Registration Deadline: April 30, 2003
Utopia 1.0 is the first edition of an international design contest organized by Saint Etienne Métropole Design (France). Info: http://www.goaland.com/internationaldesign/countsubfr.php

Success by Design 2003
April 24, 2003, Providence, Rhode Island, USA
Confirmed speakers include Michael Graves, Robert Matza, John Heskett, and Sherrie Donghia. Sponsored by the Center for Design & Business. Info: www.centerfordesignbusiness.org.

5th European Academy of Design Conference
April 28-30, 2003, Barcelona, Spain
Theme: "Techné: design wisdom." Part of the International Year of Design in Barcelona, the event will be organized by the University of Barcelona. Info: www.ub.es/5ead/princip5.htm.

SEGD Annual Conference & Expo
May 28-31, 2003, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
SEGD's annual conference and expo provides many opportunities to meet practitioners and fellow design professionals. Info: www.segd.org.

International Conference on Designing Pleasurable Products and Interfaces 2003 (DPPI03)
June 23 - 26, 2003, Carnegie Mellon University School of Design, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
DPPI03 is one of the leading international forums for the exchange of ideas and information on issues of affective and emotional factors in product design. Info: http://www.cmu.edu/cfa/design/dppi03.

The Power of Design: AIGA National Design Conference
October 23–26, 2003, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Designers will play critical roles in the success of our rebounding economy—both as agents of social change in a complex world and as leading architects of sustainable solutions for a troubled planet. Info: http://powerofdesign.aiga.org