Design Droplets Interviews Ralf Beuker
Like I’ve discussed before, I very much appreciate insight on design from non-designers. Ralf Beuker is one of those people, a Professor for Design Management at the University of Applied Sciences in Münster, Germany. Check out his interview with Design Droplets. Here are a few quotes to stimulate your interest.
My first job after graduating was as a university teaching assistant for the Chair of Management of Innovation and Technology. We acted as a bridge between design, business administration and information science. The idea was to connect all three in a better way – because design, business and information sciences needed the tools, the means and understanding of how to bring ideas to market. So I’ve been working with this overlap in thinking from the beginning of my career.
If you have the management of the design function you are in the operational area. When it comes to Design Management, then you’re on the corporate end. With the CEO you don’t discuss the tiny things of why a nob or a display is placed here or there. With the CEO of a company you discuss why Apple is such a fantastic company and how you think, for example, this furniture manufacturer can become the Apple in their industry. You are designing management and giving him recommendations about which triggers or levers to pull in order to allow the company to become more competitive.
Designers really need to learn, that usually, they do not have a choice about how they enter an organisation…After the basic business needs are satisfied like where do I get my money from (financing), how do I manage the money, how do I get my stuff produced(the value chain thinking), I’m not saying that this is the right view – I’m simply giving you a picture of what the management view might be, one tiny element is design. If designers have at least thought about the business persons situation and view, it makes it easier for you to understand why, as a designer, you sometimes don’t get to the high stakes table (the board room).
Ralf offers up a reading list and also has some good visuals over at his Flickr site. You can also follow him on Twitter.
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I think this is super-relevant for designers coming out of school right now that want to find themselves with a job post-graduation. From my experience I’ve understood that unless you can justify your design with some break-through cost effective and beneficial factors…you’re ultimately not really needed at a company. While Industrial Designers have can talk about just the finish of a product for hours, someone in marketing trying to distribute the product really doesn’t are much past the word “gloss”. I’m reading the book “The Designful Company” right now, which seems to be along the same standards, wondering if you’ve read or checked that out recently Michael?