Strategic Design

The role of design professionals’ in innovation is growing towards a more strategic one. They are no longer just executors of new product and/or service design briefs but are increasingly involved in the crafting of these briefs and in the strategic decisions leading to these briefs. In order to effectively play this role, design professionals need to master a set of strategic practices – i.e., routinized actions and ways of working. However, since the strategic role of designers is a relatively new development, many designers lack knowledge on specific practices for acting effectively on a strategic level in innovation projects.

This book proposes eight strategic design practices for design professionals who seek to grow or have already grown into a more strategic role in innovation.
The practices are explained through tools and methods, and through case examples in which companies and designers have effectively used them. Additionally the book provides a set of guidelines that will enable design professionals to easily and quickly apply these practices in their next strategic design project.

Read more about the book and the structure on www.strategicdesignbook.com

DR. GIULIA CALABRETTA is Assistant Professor of the Strategic Value of Design at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology. Giulia received a Master’s Degree in Management and Marketing from Bocconi University (Italy). She also holds a PhD in Management Science from ESADE Business School (Spain), and a Post Doc from BI Norwegian School of Management (Norway). Giulia believes that using design and design practices is the best way for companies to become more innovative in nature and structure, and will prepare them to embrace the behavioural, technological and cultural revolutions of the future. Her current research focus is on understanding how design practices and capabilities can be eff ectively and permanently integrated into a company’s innovation strategy and processes. Additionally, she is interested in what makes a great Chief Design Officer, and why each company (and institution) should have one. Her research has been published in such journals as Organization Studies, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Service Theory and Practice, Journal of Service Management.

PROF. GERDA GEMSER is a Full Professor of Business and Design at RMIT University, Melbourne. She received her PhD in Management at the Rotterdam School of Management (the Netherlands). Gerda does research on design and innovation management in the creative industries. Over the last 15 years, she has held positions at different Dutch universities, including Erasmus University and Delft University of Technology (Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering). She has been a visiting scholar at leading research universities, including The Wharton School, the University of Pennsylvania (US) and the Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia (Canada). She has collaborated with government, professional design associations, and industry on diff erent large-scale research projects to examine the role of design in the corporate world. Gerda has published in leading management and design journals including, for example, Organization Science, Organization Studies, Journal of Management, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Design Studies, and International Journal of Design. She is part of the editorial board of Journal of Product Innovation Management and Journal of Design, Business & Society.

DR. INGO KARPEN is an Associate Professor and cross-disciplinary researcher in Marketing, Strategy, and Design at RMIT University, Melbourne. Ingo is also a visiting Professor at Copenhagen Business School. In his research, Ingo focuses on drawing on service and design principles to better understand and inform value co-creation strategies in service systems; measuring and investigating the interplay of service-driving organizational design and customer experience design; and managing service systems and human relations towards more engaging experience processes and  experience outcomes. Ingo collaborates with international business partners across industries to facilitate knowledge generation for the betterment of business and society. He has published in the Journal of Service Research, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Business Research, Marketing Theory, Journal of Strategic Marketing, Journal of Service Theory and Practice and International Marketing Review. He is a recipient of several national and international awards for his teaching and research.