Strategic Design | marketing & branding thoughts by Nick Rice: Strategy by Design

Strategy by Design

2 Comments Published by Nick Rice on Jul 5, 2006 at 8:32 AM.

I had to provide this article from Tim Brown. Tim is the President & CEO of IDEO, one of the largest and most respected design firms on the planet (think Leap chair, Palm V, Apple’s mouse, standup Crest toothpaste, HP industrial design, etc…). Tim breaks down five points to develop and execute your strategy by thinking like a designer. The summary is that design thinking can help everyone from the executive team, employees and customers better understand your vision and unique value prop. This is accomplished by translating strategic concepts and ideas into visual realities. It’s about storytelling. It’s about evolution, simplicity and consistency.

I believe that a business must innovate and communicate better than the competition in order to grow. And who does innovation and communication better than designers? It’s their God-given gifts to the world. Unfortunately the design community has done a poor job of aligning themselves with the business community. And because of that, a lot of executives will read this and think “artist”. But not the smart ones.

Article courtesy of FastCompany

technorati tags > strategy, design, IDEO, Fast Company, innovation, communication, talent, skills

2 Responses to “Strategy by Design”

# Anonymous Wednesday, July 5, 2006 at 1:41:00 PM EDT

Great article! Thanks for the link. I have been considering putting together a presentation for the local tech group in Vancouver, and this might have been the inspiration to finally get off my duff and do it.

My only hesitation is that "Design Thinking" has too much of a buzzword sound to it. But then again, I am always skeptical when things get mainstream.
# Nick Rice Friday, July 7, 2006 at 12:17:00 PM EDT

jt, you may be right. of course, it depends on the audience. you and i think about "design thinking" a lot since it's our job. I would start off letting them know the differences between artists and designers. Set the stage that we work to accomplish specific business goals; not solely for our own pleasures and desires.