To be able to draw and to have ideas is not enough for a designer. Newly established educational programmes create a basis for new combinations and new dimensions for design professionals.

By Anna Krarup Jensen

In recent years, a number of new educational programmes have been established in the border zone between design, theory and management. Today, designers are increasingly required to master a skill set that goes beyond turning paper drafts into optimal products. This development gives rise to a need for new opportunities for combining disciplines and approaches. This new emphasis on expanding the designers’ competencies as strategic sparring partners is evident in other countries too.

Masters of Design Management

In September this year, the first master students embarked on the programme in Design Management that is offered by the University of Southern Denmark in collaboration with Designskolen Kolding. Torben Damgaard, who is the head of the programme, explains why a design manager needs a unique set of competencies.
“Technicians, designers, economists and other staff groups all speak different languages. In many cases, a designer or a project manager has had the role of managing the process, but everybody has worked within their particular professional framework and mindset. Design management requires the ability to work across professions and disciplines,” says Torben Damgaard.

Economics, technical aspects and design are only some of the areas that future design managers will have to combine in order to shape new solutions in a collaboration across professional boundaries. Illustration: Mette Bager

Taking Advantage of the Designers’ Potential

The Design Management Institute (DMI) is an international non-profit organisation that was founded in the USA in 1975. The organisation’s purpose is to highlight design as a strategic business tool. Private and government enterprises, consultancy firms and universities are among the members of DMI and represent the organisation in courses and seminars all over the world via their large membership network.

In spring 2007, Darrel Rhea from the consultancy firm Cheskin International, which is a member of DMI, gave a speech as a representative of DMI at a seminar at the Danish Design Centre.
He said that designers should be included in the analysis stage at the beginning of the development process. Often, other professions carry out analyses of needs, functionality and the market conditions for a new product or a new service. Only once the analyses have been completed is the designer then included to give shape to the ideas.
According to Darrel Rhea this means that the designers’ potential is not fully utilised. Designers are good at concrete and aesthetic/sensory thinking. These capacities can add important aspects to the analyses and are often overlooked unless the designers are included from the initial analyses, he says.

That is Design Management

Including design professionals in every stage of a development process is exactly what the graduates from the Design Management programme at the University of Southern Denmark will be good at.
“We work with the design process from the initial idea to the successful and profitable business launch. That is, concrete management with thorough consideration for the make-up of staff, the company’s country of operation, etc. At the same time, the students learn about the tangible design processes, for example through drawing classes and visualisation in the form of models and drafts,” Torben Damgaard explains.

Master’s Programme in Design

In 2005 the Danish Centre for Design Research launched the Master’s Programme in Design together with the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture. It is a supplementary academic programme for designers and practitioners from design-related professions or disciplines. The programme was launched in response to the need for new knowledge and training springing from the growing emphasis on design and the value of design.
“Design has increasing strategic importance in the companies. And to handle this field properly requires education,” says Dorthe Mejlhede, director of the Danish Centre of Design Research.

She compares the current view of design with the view of communication that prevailed 10-15 years ago.

Designers need to be good at scanning the field to keep track of the many ideas when companies want to carry out the design process and implement design on a strategic level. Illustration: Mette Bager

“At that time there was no master’s programme in communication, and the field did not play a major strategic role in the companies. Roughly put, a staff member with language skills simply cleaned up the director’s texts a little. As the graduates were absorbed into the companies, communication gradually became a strategic and executive tool. I see a similar development potential in the design profession, but it’s going to take a major effort from the designers and design managers who will be pioneering this development,” she says.

The Strategic Talk

Darrel Rhea from DMI also spoke about the effort that designers must put in before the strategic potential of design is fully acknowledged and utilised in companies. One of his points was that designers will have to take “the strategic talk” with business executives. In many cases, companies are not prepared to implement new design ideas if the design process does not match the company’s basic routines. Therefore, designers need to address the executive level and discuss design as a strategic tool, said Darrel Rhea.
Dorthe Mejlhede from the Danish Centre of Design Research emphasises the key role of personality.
“It’s not just a matter of additional competencies and education. Company managers have to get used to sparring with a new professional mindset, and that requires strong personalities to break through and pave the way for future designers and design managers. That is part of the challenge in the years to come,” she says.

Not Just for Designers

While the Master of Design offers additional education, aimed mainly at design practitioners who wish to learn more about management and theory, the new master’s programme in design management at the University of Southern Denmark is also aimed at other professions.
“The programme in Kolding offers a unique opportunity to combine three fields: humanities and social studies at the university and design education at Designskolen Kolding,” says Torben Damgaard.
The courses take place at the Kolding branch of the University of Southern Denmark in collaboration with the design school in Kolding. Bachelors from a variety of programmes in the humanities and social sciences as well as design graduates from Designskolen Kolding are eligible to apply.

New Knowledge Through Research

Director Dorthe Mejlhede points out that the new programmes reflect a growing emphasis on academic skills in the field of design.
“Design research helps make the companies more aware of the potential in using design on a more strategic level, partly because the designers’ knowledge and competence level has been raised, which makes them more interesting in relation to executive positions,” she says, adding,
“Thus, designers will come to play a role that not only strengthens their own position and that of the companies but also enhances Denmark’s international competitiveness.”

Additional Information:

About the Design Management Institute (DMI).
Sign up for DMI’s quarterly newsletter.
About the Master’s Programme in Design management.
About the Master’s Programme in Design.

Mind Design #4, 2007