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Design Philosophy Drives Product Performance

How designers can draw inspiration from art and architecture

		Søren Ingomar Petersen

By Søren Ingomar Petersen, CEO, ingomar&ingomar - consulting

Profitable design endeavors are based on superior execution combined with leveraging market trends. The successful combination of these two elements results in higher revenues by a factor of 12 to 20, compared with falling short on both parameters.¹ Process management has received the majority of research attention during the past five decades. However, leveraging emerging trends in formulating a design concept’s supporting philosophy has only recently received consideration. This is partly due to the emerging need to design for a global market, combined with advancement in the understanding of design metrics. Because new trends cannot be created or forced onto the public, it is essential to have an understanding of how trends emerge, are detected, and can inform corporate design philosophy. Successfully integrating this into new offerings has huge implications for market adoption.²

Complex challenges

Design-driven corporations, in general, do an adequate job launching products based on incremental technologies. Large projects involving breakthrough technologies and dealing with detailed and dynamic complexities are by far the most challenging. Studies show that on average, large projects go over budget by forty percent.³ To manage this type of risk, Jet Propulsion Laboratory consistently allocates fifteen percent of a project’s resources for formulation of the design brief.⁴ Still, this is not enough to avoid catastrophic technical and financial failures in many cases.

Our studies of design brief formulation and their influence on project financial performance and outcomes show clear patterns for successful briefing of designers. When managing projects involving breakthrough technologies, focusing on innovation content in the business plan and social human content in the design brief, increases the quality of the conceptualization process.^{5 6} Subsequent high-performing design concept discourse stresses the user activity, increasing the likelihood of a successful market launch (Figure 1). What can we learn from how other professions develop design philosophies?

	Figure 1. Information flow of various design criteria content for projects addressing breakthrough technologies. Business plans need to include strong focus on innovation. Design briefs must clarify social/human criteria.

What we can learn from architecture

Brief formulation and content is particularly important in high-profile architectural construction projects. These one-off, iconic prestige buildings can make or break architectural and engineering firms and are characterized by intense political scrutiny, sizeable budgets, high risk, and small profit margins.

Consulting with Ramboll Group, Scandinavia’s leading civil engineering firm, we found that emphasizing the following criteria leads to the highest-performing briefs:^{7 8}

Provide a strong emphasis on strategy (philosophy, structure, and innovation), including:

• Articulate a clear vision supporting the client’s business objective and describe how a competitive advantage can be achieved.

• Map stakeholders’ interests and describe how these are addressed in the project.

• Describe the parts of the project, which are state-of-the-art and explain how the process will resolve critical aspects and mitigated risk.

• Depict value creation in terms of stakeholder preferences over the lifecycle of the building

In addition, we found similar patterns of design quality criteria content in high-performing briefs for construction projects, automotive, and consumer products. The key element that differentiated them was the focus on expression. Expression content was visibly absent in construction briefs.

This suggests that at the outset of the conceptual phase, the philosophical ideas behind a high-profile architectural construction project are far more important to performance than the particular initial expression.

What we can learn from art

		Philosophical ideas drive architecture

Artists do not operate with formal briefs, unless they are dealing with a commissioned art piece. However, “art thinking” as opposed to “design thinking” can provide inspiration for the formulation of briefs. A study of artists revealed that deep human and philosophical issues mainly inspired their art⁹ and that their process resembled “goal directed play.”¹⁰ Artists are trendsetters. They characterize and name problems, while designers solve them^.11

		Deep human and philosophical issues drive artists

What we can learn from comparing “superstar designers” and regular designers What is the potential profit from an on-trend design philosophy? Where do designers find their inspiration? An expert industrial designer has the following five characteristics:¹²

• Powerful distinctions, not just a cursory understanding of design.

• Knowledge of relationships between distinctions and ability to create new relationships between distinctions.

• A special skill, such as sketching and modeling.

• Knowledge of the field’s history of what did and did not work and why.

• Humility and the ability to be open to new learning opportunities.

Contemporary superstar designers have been shown to draw inspiration from the same artifacts and events. Examples of inspiration were found to be the Guggenheim in Bilbao, La Chapelle de Notre Dame du Haut Ronchamp, the Citroen DS, and the Apollo Rocket mission.¹³ These objects and events reflect the dreams and aspirations of society at a particular moment in time. Their creators sensed the zeitgeist and understood how to articulate it as a philosophy, using storytelling and artifacts.

	Zeitgeist translated into design philosophy drives “superstar designers’” concepts

Examining the rationale behind 100 world-renowned industrial designers’ products, 80 of them mentioned the supporting philosophy.¹⁴ Thirty designers included social criteria and design process criteria. Aesthetic criteria were only mentioned by 15 of the designers. Comparing the attention to philosophy between experienced designers and design students revealed a significant difference in their focus on design philosophy. Our study showed that professionals pay twice the attention to the philosophy than students do in their design reasoning.²

		Design philosophy drives expert designers’ concepts twice as much as students

A concept’s philosophical content is inspired by the design brief, the designer’s personal experience—including his educational, professional, cultural and social background—and their project research into art, fashion, architecture, entertainment, and other products. Compared with superstar designers, ordinary designers tend to copy visual cues, rather than translating the fundamental idea of the source into their design language and features.

Apple (Think Different), BMW (Dynamic Driving Machine) and Nike (Just Do It!) aesthetics are applied to products without a deeper understanding of the idea they are applying. The result is a “me-too design” in the best case, and in the worst case, “kitsch.”

	The ability to formulate design philosophy differentiates designers

In summary, the difference between superstar designers and ordinary designers is the degree to which they master the five expert characteristics and address design philosophy. On the other hand, artists and architects offer an entirely unique perspective on inspiration.

What inspires artists and architects?

		The design philosophies of artists and architects are deeper grounded than that of designer

How do designers’ inspirations differ from that of artists and architects? Artists and architects are primarily inspired by underlying philosophical trends and evidence of this in the arts could be observed at the Los Angeles Art Show.¹⁵ Momentous events such as recent wars and the sustainability movement were absent in the more than 30,000 art pieces shown by over 100 galleries. Recent interviews with 16 artists revealed that deep human and philosophical issues were mainly what inspired them and their process resembled the aforementioned “goal directed play.”¹⁰ Major architectural movements in the past century, such as Expressionism, Constructivism, Functionalism, Structuralism, Postmodernism and Deconstructivism¹⁶ also reflect deeper philosophical awareness and radical experimentation.

Emphasizing philosophy in design briefs

How can inclusion of philosophy in the design brief increase performance? The design profession differs from that of art and architecture in that the product development schedules are dramatically shorter. Design exploration correlates positively with the risk of going over budget while inclusion of design criteria in the design brief correlates negatively with going over budget¹⁷. Studies also show that a strong emphasis on the underlying philosophy behind the offering increases designer performance by 30 percent¹⁸.

A comprehensive design philosophy that supports a range of product offerings needs to be developed prior to commencement of the regular product development program. An advanced concept phase, establishing the philosophy, could include artists and architects working together with designers. This would increase the likelihood of addressing fundamental philosophical issues and help the designers to internalize the knowledge, while providing a safe practice field for experimentation. The outcome of the collaboration could be included in the design brief for later product development, increasing design performance while reducing project risk.

Successful leveraging of art at corporations

In order for design to move the next level, it needs to become a dynamic competitive advantage for corporations. Part of this effort is developing a strong design philosophy, which can inform both breakthrough and incremental innovation. Firms with a history of applying industrial design philosophy, such as BMW Group,¹⁹ Apple,²⁰ Bang & Olufsen,²¹ and IKEA,²² know that users are unable to express their latent needs and tastes. Therefore, to develop breakthrough innovations, their design effort focuses on art and innovation rather than user-centered-design. Although designs are tested prior to launch, up-front integration of design philosophy rather than marketing has the final word here.

Insights from art and architecture can effectively inform the development of corporate design philosophy. Designers internalize the philosophy through advanced concepts, and with experimentation nail the expressions of the corporate design philosophy. This effort makes them strong participants in formulating the design briefs for incremental and especially breakthrough projects. Realized gains of up to thirty percent in value creation will provide a handsome return on the company’s initial investment.

Biography

Søren Petersen founded ingomar&ingomar - consulting in 1993. Over the past decade he and his network of experts have worked with international organizations, including Rambøll Group, BMW Group DesignworksUSA, Stanford University, and Copenhagen Business School. With his extensive experience in engineering, industrial design, ergonomics, and sustainability, he advises organizations on design research, strategy, and decision support.

Petersen received a Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the Technical University of Denmark and a Bachelor of Science in Transportation Design from Art Center College of Design. He graduated from Stanford University’s Center for Design Research with a PhD in Design Quantification, focusing on developing metrics and decision methods for the design concept selection in the conceptual phase of product development. He has presented and published 17 papers and articles over the past four years at international conferences on design quantification, and has several patents to his name. His research now focuses on integrating design with business ideas, plans, portfolio management, and design briefing—exploring areas as diverse as psychology, art, and organizational behavior. For research updates and further information, visit www.ingomar.net.

References

1. C. Eisenhard & S. Brown. Competing on the Edge, Harvard Business School Press, 1998.

2. S. Petersen. Design Quantification, Stanford, May 2009.

3. B. Flyvbjerg, Mega Projects and Risk, University Press, UK, 2003.

4. B. Oberto & R. Cohen, JPL, Skype Interview on April 28, 2011.

5. S. Petersen. Business Plans Informed by Design, ICED’11, Copenhagen, August 2011.

6. S. Petersen. Design Driven Portfolio Management, ICED’11, Copenhagen, August 2011.

7. S. Petersen, Proposal Review, Rambøll & ingomar&ingomar, August 2010.

8. J.M. Powel, The new Competitiveness in Design & Construction, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., West Sussex, 2008.

9. Petersen S. & Steinert M. Poster Abstract: What Designers Can Learn from Artists & Architects About the Philosophy within Conceptualization, Harvey Mudd Design Workshop, May 2011.

10. E. Dissanayak. What Is Art For?, Washington Press, 1988.

11. Buchman L.M. Create Change, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, March 2011.

12. R. Howard. The Foundation of Decision Analysis, Stanford, Fall 2004

13. P. A. Rodgers. Learning from “Superstar" Designers, Napier University, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.

14. C. Fiell & P. Fiel. Designing the 21st Century, Taschen, Cologne

15. LA Art Show, www.laartshow.com.

16. J. Melvin. Isms – Understanding Architectural Styles, Universe Publishing, 2004.

17. S. Petersen. Developing an Inspirational Design Brief, 7th International Design Conference for Emotion & Meaning, Chicago, October 2010.

18. S. Petersen. Stanford CDR & Industry Study, 2010.

19. G. Perini G, BMW Group, The Art of Cars, Car Styling Special Edition, 2007.

20. L. Kahney, Inside Steve’s Brain, Penguin Books Ltd., UK, 2008.

21. J. Bank & J. Palshoej, Bang & Olufsen “Vision and Legend,” Danish Design Center, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2000.

22. J. M. Skibsted, User-Led Innovation Can’t Create Breakthroughs; Just Ask Apple and Ikea, Fast Company, February 2011.
    

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