Innovative Thinking From Diverse Design Leaders

Five years ago, Jerry Kathman and I had extensive conversations about the need to make DMI a more diverse organization—to highlight the contributions of women, diverse design managers, and up-and-comers.

So, with the support of P&G, LPK, and Jerry Kathman, we launched the dmi:Diversity in Design Conference and the dmi:Diversity in Design Manifesto, and we dedicated the third issue of the dmi:Review each year to highlight diverse design managers wishing to write about the work they do—be it about design strategy, methodologies, tools— and/or about diversity and inclusion. We also continue to attract more and more diverse design speakers to our conferences and programs. Our hope is that our vision, platform, and collective efforts will lead to the advancement of more women and diverse design management leaders around the globe.

We've been blessed to have diversity gurus such as Patricia Pope always willing to write about her teachings and experiences over the last 40 years. At the same time, we seem to have inspired many new design-leader authors to contribute over the past several years, including this issue.

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Issue Information

President's Letter
Carole Bilson, President, DMI

In Memoriam: William J. Hannon, Jr.

A Man Ahead of His Time: Bill Hannon and the Founding of DMI
By John Tobin, Former VP, Operations, DMI

Back in 1975, LONG BEFORE the word design was a corporate buzzword, Bill Hannon was inspired by the unexpected challenges he had faced as a corporate design manager. That inspiration led to the creation of something entirely new—the Design Management Institute.

Reflections of a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Practitioner after 45 years
By Patricia Cahill Pope, CEO and Chief Creative Officer at Pope Consulting.

2020 was an unprecedented year… I have found myself reflecting on the trajectory of my life and my life's work—and wondering what the future holds.

The disruptions of the past year prompted a pioneer in diversity to ponder words and labels, the hurdles that under-represented groups face, and strategies for making real progress.

Earning a Seat at the Table: My Leadership Journey
By Jordan Hopson, Lead Design Strategist at Boston Consulting Group Digital Ventures (BCGDV)

Build professional relationships rooted in trust, not just in friendship.

Want to become a leader who has real influence in your organization? Find out how the author leveraged five principles to do just that. Master them, and you can do it too!

Unlocking Unconscious Biases into Impactful Design Work
By Andreea Hirica, Head of Strategy for the strategic design consultancy ALCHEMISER

Unconscious biases are the most dangerous ones. However, when unlocked, they have a great potential for team synergy, genuine cohesion, bonding, healthy and challenging competition, and, ultimately, impactful work.

A head strategist looks at the dangers of hidden biases, how to become aware of them in yourself and others, and how to unleash their power to result in truly great work.

How Not to Lose a Talent Pool: Keeping Women at Work Through Crises, Shocks, and Other Disasters
By Ana Monroe, Senior Design Strategist in the Office of Customer Experience in the General Services Administration

Individually, [women] have paid for our passage out of the house, while socially we have created a system in which motherhood is not a human right and one of the basic joys of human existence. It is, instead, a privilege.

Who better to delve into the ongoing problems working women face with childcare, paid leave, and maintaining their career trajectories than a designer, historian, and mother?

Designing Community-Based Local Shopping Experiences
By Eunji Woo, Ph.D. Candidate at the Designize Research Lab, KAIST
Dr. Ki-Young Nam, Associate Professor of Industrial Design at KAIST

Even before the pandemic, people yearning for a more meaningful and socially-interactive experience of hands-on shopping in physical spaces had been leading to the emergence of a local shopping trend.

We love small businesses for the unique products and services they provide. Learn strategies and techniques for attracting new and retaining existing customers with limited resources.

Design Management as an Effective User-Centric Management Tool for Organizations
By Gulay Ozkan, Founder, GEDS Strategic Design Consultancy

Design management may be the way to make sure that the user perspective or, in other words, human data is prioritized and not lost within an organization in parallel to the project management functions.

Design's valuable tools and perspectives help keep the user at the center of projects and bring success to even the most complex working environment.

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