Module: Design Management Assignment 2: Designit - Strategic Design

Consultancy

M.Des 1.1

Name: Harshal Desai

Lecturer: Dr Kelvin Lee

Date of Submission

03/09/2011

Word Count: 3111

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ....................................................................................................... 2

ABOUT DESIGNIT ................................................................................................................ 3

DESIGN THINKING .............................................................................................................. 4

DESIGN THINKING WITHIN DESIGNIT ............................................................................. 5

INSIGHT ......................................................................................................................... 6

IDEATION ...................................................................................................................... 7

IMPLEMENTATION ........................................................................................................ 8

DESIRABILITY ................................................................................................................. 9

VIABILITY ..................................................................................................................... 10

FEASIBILITY .................................................................................................................. 11

THE CREATIVE DICE ...................................................................................................... 12

ROLE OF SPACE IN DESIGN THINKING ........................................................................... 14

IMPACT OF DIVERSITY OF CULTURES ............................................................................. 16

CONCLUSION................................................................................................................... 19

Works Cited ...................................................................................................................... 20

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

“Design Thinking” has become the latest buzzwords in the business world as a

means to achieve creativity, innovation and gain a competitive advantage.

Several Design Consultancy firms arose, adopting and delivering solutions to

other companies using this Design Thinking process. With globalization of

companies, several employees from various backgrounds begin to work

together.

One such company, well known for its creative solutions, is Designit, an

international strategic design consultancy.

Through this report, we aim to understand two things.

1. Evaluating how design thinking manifests within the company and

whether it is implemented effectively?

2. Understanding how overall design practices can vary according to

cultures and analyze whether it contributes or detriments design thinking

within the company.

Towards the end of the research, we aim to figure out whether Designit is

applying the Design Thinking mindset correctly and chart out a possible future

for the company.

ABOUT DESIGNIT

Designit is Northern Europe’s largest international strategic design consultancy

that focuses on various disciplines, for example, product design, service design,

interactive design etc. Founded in 1991 by Ander Geertz, Mikal Hallstrup and

the David Fella in Aarhus, Denmark, the company branched out into several

offices across Europe. Having a little fewer than 200 employees, Designit

describes themselves as ‘agents of change’ for the betterment of society and

business. (Designit.com: Mission)

According to Marianne Bertelson, an intern at Designit A/S, the company

organizes itself into multidisciplinary teams, and the contribution of clients and

users is vital throughout the design process. (Bertelsen, 2010)

Designit has worked on several projects in various sectors over the years, and

have particularly focused on the healthcare industry. They developed ‘Helping

Hand’, a tablet dispenser that reminds patients to take their medication.

Designit also worked alongside Novo Nordisk, and helped develop products

such as the insulin delivery device ‘FlexPen’, as well as user manuals and their

latest project, a website and iPhone Application for the company. Other sectors

generally include consumer electronics, food, financial services, telecom etc.

(Designit.com : Cases)

DESIGN THINKING

The modern world changes faces quickly, presenting unique challenges brought

by the digital revolution. Many companies have to evolve their businesses to

keep up with the constant changing environment and therefore, the need for

design and management consultants arise. Consultancies like Designit, IDEO,

CPH Design, help other companies move on, finding innovative ways to

develop and grow by adopting a new method called Design Thinking.

Design Thinking is, in our opinion, a variation to Da Vinci’s ideology of having an

insatiable quest for learning through collaboration, observation and

combination of artistic flair and scientific facts. It is approaching problems in a

non-linear way. A human-centric method involves a collaborative effort that

supports integration of ideas, empathetic observation and rapid prototyping. It

uses the process of design to visualize and create innovative solutions for current

world problems, for example, distributing clean water in poor countries, coming

up with ways to direct traffic in crowded environments etc.

Tim Brown, President of another famous design consultancy IDEO, states in an

interview that Design Thinking is simply applying the process that designers have

been using for generations, just on a more broader level in both business and

society. Design thinking is human centred. IT may integrate technology but its

origins begin with asking what humans need or may need, what could make life

easier and more enjoyable? It is about identifying human behaviour to get

inspired. (Ong)

Mikal Hallstrup, Chief Visionary Officer and Cofounder of Designit states,

“Everybody can adapt design thinking to come up with

better solutions, reframing problems in a different way. Any

change depends on motivation. People like to see

solutions. They don’t need to be complete solutions, but

just maybe indications of a solution.” (Youtube: Can

Designers save the Planet?)

DESIGN THINKING WITHIN DESIGNIT

Designit clearly describes the attributes they seek from their employees and the

methods they incorporate when thinking about innovation. The word

‘multidisciplinary’ is often visible on their website. Designit strongly urges

teamwork, and considers it the primary reason for their innovative success.

(Haglund & Pudas, 2010)

Although the company does not describe their work process in detail, they do

explain different tactics they use to encourage design thinking.

According to their website (Designit.com : Process) the first is a process which

they registered as the Triple I ® Process of design, consisting of Insight, Ideation &

Implementation

Figure 1: Designit's Method 1

These processes are actually common steps towards an effective Design

Thinking mindset. According to the company, these three steps help all

organizations achieve international success.

INSIGHT

Designit follows a user-centric approach, evaluating all the client’s needs and

focusing on the customers and the current market. They study and observe

every detail, creating an extensive database of knowledge by engaging clients

and customers and taking note of their behavior. Figuratively, they are putting

their clients and customers under a microscope. Consider this stage as

gathering data, both visible and hidden. The reason Designit gives on

1 Designit’s Process. Image retrieved on 01 September 2011 from http://designit.com/process

emphasizing this stage is to ensure they are meeting their client’s demands. By

assessing a client’s business problems, developing and evaluating concepts and

deciding on effective solutions, they state it is essential to discover new

opportunities, even if it means having to strip down the company to its

essentials.

IDEATION

The next step is to start generating ideas. With the help of a multidisciplinary

team, they participate in several brainstorming sessions, analyzing and reviewing

their content, upgrading the ideas through feedback from their clients. Based

on the images shown in their blog, it appears they use a Scribble-Say-Slap

method of brainstorming where they get into groups of 10-15 people and

everyone is supposed to write their ideas on sticky notes(scribble), shout them

out (say) and proceed to stick them up on a wall (slap). A facilitator ensures

everyone is participating and encourages people to generate more responses.

Generally, clients are present during this stage to emphasize that Designit comes

up with solutions along with their clients. The company likes to keep their clients

involved throughout the whole project, stating “we take care of the entire

process, which saves you time, and also have your feedback to prevent

misunderstandings as they cost money.” (Designit.com)

Below is an example of their ideation process used during a project for the

Danish Red Cross

Figure 2: Designit Worshop during Ideation Stage2

Sometimes the solutions might be a little messy owing to the diverse branches of

work, but it also provides fresh perspectives. Once the ideas are on the board

and categorized, they are further explored in the next stage.

IMPLEMENTATION

In this stage, Designit quickly begin the conversion of good ideas into workable

prototypes. They test the prototypes out in small focus groups where they can

explore any kinks in the product and fix it before releasing it in the market. The

company takes care of the entire implementation process, keeping the

financial factors in mind. They also use the same design team that was present

during the ideation stage to ensure no information is lost along the way. Using

the same team also assures the client that their work is handled with utmost care

and efficiency.

A deeper analysis of the company shows how Designit follows the principles of

Design Thinking through its strategies. They consider using Design Thinking for

innovations in three key factors: Desirability, Viability and Feasibility.

2 Designit Workshop during Ideation Stage. Image retrieved on 01 September 2011 from http://blog.designit.com/2011/05/31/red-cross-workshop/

Figure 3: Design Approach3

DESIRABILITY

Designit has several clients, each having their unique set of needs and

demands. Unlike most other businesses, Designit engages a team-oriented effort

with its clients, resulting in designs best suited for their target market. The most

common way to find out client’s needs is through workshops where members of

the design team meet up with the clients to brainstorm about the possible

solutions. This user involvement process greatly increases the chances for a

successful innovation.

Another example of how Designit interacts with its clientele is by using a tool

called Design Style Collection that enables clients observe the direction of their

project in the early stages. This process keeps evolving according to the latest

3 Design Approach. Image Retrieved on 01 September 2011 from http://www.slideshare.net/designitdk/servicedesign-i-praksis

style trends where every member of the design team pins new and/or interesting

products that are already available in the market place. This not only creates a

strong bond between clients and their product, but guarantees the client that

Designit is accurately studying the social and cultural drivers and ensuring their

services are one step ahead of the current market. (Designit.com: Building a

Better Launchpad)

VIABILITY

For any product or service solution to be effective in the market, one must

consider its business value. Designit uses the concept of Strategic Design, which

appears during the ideation phase. They approach the problems in a non-linear

approach, redefining the key questions as and when required, allowing a

thorough examination of the market.

After finding out the needs of the clients, they set out to establish whether their

solutions would work effectively on the users. They begin the research process by

going out and literally observing their desired environment taking down notes of

the behavior of its users. A good example of this process is the research gone

into the ATM interface design in Madrid for Caja Madrid, Spain’s oldest savings

bank. The design team recorded dozens of ATM users to take note of current

issues with the user interface as well as conducting interviews with the users to

understand the context of their project. After the data was collected and

analyzed, they realized the need to give special attention towards screen

visibility and extreme lighting.

Their final interface design was extremely successful, resulting in faster

transactions and smoother interaction experiences. (Designit.com: A

touchscreen Revolution)

FEASIBILITY

Along with an in-dept market research, Designit also investigates on the current

technology to ensure their solutions are achievable. The prime example of this

would be their work for Libratone who wanted to move on from their outdated

large sound system with something more modern.

Designit conducted studies on multiple mp3 players, taking note of their

simplistic design. Since smartphones have become an important medium for

music too, and with a majority of people carrying their music collections within

their pockets, Designit also realized the need for a wireless speaker system.

Design was a priority, but there was also a need to produce crisp powerful

sounds. After conducting their research on both feasibility and desirability, they

came up with a single speaker that was capable of producing a 360-degree

surround sound, all the while keeping the design slim and bold to appeal to the

consumers. The system was wireless allowing the users freedom to transmit music

via iPhones, iPods or their laptops. They received five star reviews for their detail

and ability to produce clarity without distortion or compromise. (Libratone- A

speaker to be seen & heard)

THE CREATIVE DICE

Designit is famous for its Design Thinking ideology for producing innovative

solutions. In their research paper, (Haglund & Pudas, 2010) note that to keep the

process dynamic, Designit fashioned a dice capable of boosting their creativity.

They display the six sides of the dice, each having different statements that the

design team must follow when stuck at a dead end. The six sides are as follows:

Flash it: Show your work to a colleague

Leave now: Take the entire team for a walk, allowing you to discuss and

reframe ideas in a different environment.

Mock it up: Create a prototype, or role-play, or draw your plans out.

Swap seats: Change your given roles and attitudes. Think from a different

perspective.

Screw up: Allow yourself to fail, learn from the mistake and innovate.

Call mum: Learn from their experiences, listen to their opinions.

Figure 4: Creative Dice 4

Using this method allowed the team to enhance their creativity and have a little

fun along the way. When asked about the concept behind the dice the team

responded by saying that it is a way to challenge themselves, to keep them on

their toes. Whenever a client’s work is completed, the team needs a place to

relax and that’s why they develop concepts like the dice for fun.

(Designit's Videos on Vimeo.com)

4 Creative Dice. Image retrieved on 01 September 2011 from http://designit.com/cases/building-a-better-launch-pad

ROLE OF SPACE IN DESIGN THINKING

Throughout history, there have been mentions of creative spaces that lead to

unusual rates of creativity and innovation. Good ideas often come from

collusion of smaller hunches to form something much bigger. The places where

collusion can effectively place were generally well-known taverns, bars and

coffee shops, for example Café Momus during the Bohemian Era. (Johnson,

2010)

Designit understood the importance of a good working environment and

maintained a casual workplace allowing the employees to work whenever they

wish as long as they delivered quality results.

Different departments are not separated into clusters and everyone worked in a

wide open-space environment as shown below. The colors are generally kept

muted, with the walls having ample open windows to allow natural light to pass

through, making the atmosphere very pleasant for its employees.

Figure 5: Designit Aarhus Main Office5

5 Designit Aarhus Main Office. Image retrieved on 01 September 2011 from

The company also provides rest and recreational areas for the employees to

catch a break or take a nap if necessary. As we know, sometimes brilliant ideas

are conjured up in the first few moments of waking up, which is why the

company even has notepads placed besides the chairs and sofa-beds.

Figure 6: Rest and Recreation at Designit Madrid6

This, combined with an extraordinary mix of people makes Designit an

inspirational and creative working environment.

http://designit.com/aarhus 6 Rest and Recreation at Designit Madrid. Image retrieved on 01 September 2011 from http://designit.com/madrid

IMPACT OF DIVERSITY OF CULTURES

Designit has successfully grown into a global and culturally diverse consultancy

firm, having around 180 employees from all over the world. Although teamwork

is a valued asset, they still focus on individual talents and the importance of

diversity, which they state by comparing their work environment to a creative

zoo.

They continue to describe their employees as experts, stating that their design

team is “equipped with across-the-board expertise and has the knowledge and

experience to tackle a wide range of design challenges” (Haglund & Pudas,

2010)

Creating a multidisciplinary team gives Designit a chance to explore different

perspectives, which is one major requirement for the Design Thinking process. At

times, the diversity of cultural origins does make a mess but it also provides a

different perspective, which is essential for an effective solution. Almost

everyone is equal in the design team. Each member withholds the core

principles of importance of teamwork and answering challenges with a passion.

Designit seeks out the best people who share one common passion and that is

to create valuable solutions in order to improve both business and society. In

some ways, Designit could be comparable to Pixar and Samsung since both

companies aimed at getting the best creative individuals from all over the world

and giving them the freedom to explore their creativity.

Oddly enough, despite Designit having several offices across Europe, the

influence of each individual culture is minimal on their design solutions as the

company’s employees already come from various cultures and together hold a

wider perspective towards innovation. In fact, the idea of opening offices in

Madrid or Shanghai is not so much to cater to the local culture, as it is to fuse the

two cultures together. For instance, the office in Shanghai will not exclusively

produce Asian oriented solutions. It will instead try to successfully merge Asian

and European styles, along with whatever mix seems to work based on the

different backgrounds of the employees. It is a process of creative

experimentation… a method called collective creativity. (Bertelsen, 2010)

A prime example of collective creativity was the firm’s partnership with the

Danish Red Cross. By focusing on making innovative tools & better instruction

manuals to make it easier for people to understand and receive medical aids,

the Designit team acquired a chance to explore various competencies to

create a fusion of innovative solutions.

According to The team operates at various levels namely: Creative level,

Integrative level and Strategic/Transformational level.

Creative levels allow the individuals to develop their own ideas, which often

vary due to different cultural backgrounds. Integrative levels is when they

develop integrated innovations by collectively thinking together to come up

with a solution for brand identity, portfolio etc. Lastly, the Strategic Levels aim for

social changes where the collected ideas are implemented and tested out for

feedback. These levels are not mutually exclusive and generally coexist for

optimum results.

Expanding the businesses to different locations allows Designit to increase its

range of activities and pick up new skills to learn. By broadening their skill set,

they can offer a more holistic service, as was the case in the production of Novo

Nordisk’s Novopen ® 4. Not only did Designit help co-create this product, but

the firm also launched an entire brand strategy and product manuals in both

print and online formats for their consumers.

By expanding to a global market and having a design team from various parts

of the world, Designit achieves three things:

Firstly it is exporting Danish Design, allowing products to contain the quality and

characteristics such as clean lines, pure colors etc, which are generally

associated with Danish designs. Eventually it slowly becomes a recognized style

and adopted in many countries around the world.

Secondly, it introduces international clients to European markets, giving

guidance to foreign companies who wish to expand or reinvent themselves in

the European market.

Thirdly, expansion allows integration of global knowledge, allowing them to learn

about new industries, new markets etc. which in turn further allows them to meet

up to the expectations of both foreign and local clientele.

(Boztepe, 2010)

Collective creativity is the essence of Designit. It has followed this principle from

the very first day. They realize that they do not have the answer, nor do their

clients nor their consumers and its only by collaborating through various people

from different cultures that they can find the perfect solution.

(Designit Blog: Why we Still believe in Collective Creativity, 2011)

CONCLUSION

If any company treats Design Thinking as a process, they are already doing it

wrong. Design thinking is strictly a mindset, one that is not necessarily restricted

to a Designer. It is an outlook that keeps both customer and client in mind, a

position to create an amazing customer experience.

It is much more than just another innovation process. Design Thinking can apply

to redesigning, adapting and improving existing products too. There can be

guidelines used to develop this mindset, but there are no set rules to follow to

achieve it.

In addition, by having a culturally diverse work environment paired with a

historic increase of global connectivity brought by the internet allows people to

exchange ideas and collaborate on a global level. Such working environments

definitely boost the design thinking mindset.

Designit has succeeded in keeping this process dynamic. It does categorize the

process into three steps, the Triple I process, however it is still quite generalized.

Considering their current ideology and the way in which the company moves

forward implementing new strategies and bigger collaborations, Designit will

continue to maintain its competitive advantage over other consultancies.

Despite having several branches they still display all their employees as one

giant family adhering to the principle that everyone is equal here. By

expanding to a global level, they will bring in more employees from around the

world, and need to be careful about possible internal conflicts that may arise

due to several cultures working together. For now, their selection process is

successful enough to pick creative who are willing to set aside their cultural

differences and work towards proposing solutions for a better future.

WORKS CITED Designit Blog: Why we Still believe in Collective Creativity. (2011, April 13).

Retrieved September 01, 2011, from Designit.com:

http://blog.designit.com/2011/04/13/why-we-still-believe-in-collective-

creativity/

Bertelsen, M. (2010). Roles in the creative production. Frederiksberg.

Boztepe, S. (2010). Management, Innovation and Strategy in Danish Design

Consultancies. Aarhus: Danish Center for Design Research.

Designit.com. (n.d.). Retrieved September 01, 2011, from Designit.com:

http://www.designit.com

Designit.com : Cases. (n.d.). Retrieved September 01, 2011, from Designit:

http://designit.com/cases

Designit.com : Process. (n.d.). Retrieved SEptember 01, 2011, from Designit.com:

http://designit.com/process

Designit.com: A touchscreen Revolution. (n.d.). Retrieved September 01, 2011,

from Designit.com: http://designit.com/cases/a-touchscreen-revolution

Designit.com: Building a Better Launchpad. (n.d.). Retrieved from Designit.com:

http://designit.com/cases/building-a-better-launch-pad

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http://designit.com/about/mission

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Vimeo.com: http://vimeo.com/designit/videos/page:1/sort:newest

Haglund, K., & Pudas, M. (2010). Structuring the Innovation Spirit: A study of Two

Design Consultancies and their Approach to Innovation. Gothenburg .

Johnson, S. (2010, September 17). Where do good ideas come from? Retrieved

September 01, 2011, from Youtube.com:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?=NugRZGDbPFU

Libratone- A speaker to be seen & heard. (n.d.). Retrieved September 01, 2011,

from Designit.com: http://designit.com/cases/a-speaker-to-be-seen-

heard

Ong, I. (n.d.). Interview: Tim Brown of IDEO on ' Design Thinking'. Retrieved

September 01, 2011, from DesignTaxi.com:

http://www.designtaxi.com/article/101286/Interview-Tim-Brown-of-IDEO-

on-Design-Thinking/

Youtube: Can Designers save the Planet? (n.d.). Retrieved September 01, 2011,

from Youtube.com: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tU6emsEb-Rs