Eleven lessons: managing design in eleven global brands

A study of the
design process
How do leading companies manage design in their businesses?
Our in-depth study of the design processes used in eleven
global brands gives real insights into the way design operates in
these firms, and delivers usable lessons for all designers and
managers.

Delivering competitive advantage through design

Design plays a fundamental role in the success of many of the world’s leading
companies. But how do those firms ensure that they are getting the best return
on their investment in design?

To find out, we spent time with eleven of the world’s top design teams.

A qualitative study of the modern design process

For our most in-depth study ever, Design Council researchers visited the design
departments of eleven companies, all world-leaders in their fields and all with a public
commitment to the use of design to improve their brand strength and product and
service offerings.

The study looked at the way design is used in these firms, how designers work with staff
from other disciplines and how the design process is managed to deliver consistently
successful results. How is design managed across complex, global, product and brand
portfolios, we wanted to know. So we asked leading design teams how they select and
organise their designers, and when they bring designers into the product or service
development process. We also wanted to find out what skills today’s designers need in
order to succeed.

From this in-depth examination we aimed to draw out some of the key features that
define the state-of-the-art in modern design practice, as well as the unique approaches
that set some firms apart.

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The full study includes eleven case studies looking in detail at the processes used at
each participating company. These can be accessed using the links below.

Eleven world-leading companies

Alessi, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of designer kitchen

and tableware, puts design at the very heart of its business and has
developed sophisticated processes for finding, commissioning and
developing new designs from a worldwide network of talented
designers and architects.

A pioneer in the delivery of multi-channel television in the UK,

BSkyB has recognised the potential to use design as a market
differentiator. While continuing to evolve its product offering, it has
focused on developing in-house design management capability while
building a strong relationship with an external design consultancy for
the execution of product designs.

Communications service provider BT is one of the UK’s best known

companies. A diverse and rapidly evolving organisation, it makes
extensive use of design in many aspects of its business, closely
integrating it with the BT brand. The company has developed tools and
processes to manage an extensive roster of external design suppliers
and help them communicate the brand.

Danish company LEGO, the world’s sixth largest toy maker, has
transformed the processes of its design function in recent years.
These changes have streamlined product development and the
processes developed by the in-house design function are now being
used as a method to improve innovation across the entire business.

Microsoft, the world’s leading supplier of operating system software,

has completed a significant evolution in its attitudes to design. Having
once been a technologically-driven organisation, Microsoft now uses
design thinking to focus on developing products that answer users’
needs. With management support, this focus on user-experience is
also influencing Microsoft’s organisational structure and culture.

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 Electronics, games and entertainment giant Sony has used design
since the 1960s to differentiate its products and maximise the
usefulness of its advanced technologies. Sony Design Group across
the world employs around 250 designers and has developed a set of
core design values against which the company judges the success of
all its products.

From its beginnings as a single coffee shop in Seattle 35 years ago,

Starbucks is now a global brand which uses design to aid the
delivery of a distinctive service experience to its customers. The
Starbucks Global Creative team has developed a strategy that allows
it to balance regularly changing design themes with a consistent set of
brand values.

Virgin Atlantic Airways, founded in 1984 by British entrepreneur

Richard Branson, has innovation as a core brand value and uses
design as a key competitive differentiator. The in-house design team
manages many aspects of design for the airline, including service
concepts as well as interiors, uniforms and airport lounge architecture,
and works with a number of agencies worldwide.

Whirlpool Corporation is a leading manufacturer of major home

appliances. The Global Consumer Design unit at Whirlpool has a staff
of over 150 people and has developed expertise and processes that
help the company respond to the demand for increasingly
sophisticated and complex appliances and develop individual products
under different brand umbrellas worldwide.

Xerox was founded in 1906 and has been developing pioneering

office automation technologies since it introduced the first photocopier
in1949. The design function at Xerox plays an increasingly important
role in the organisation, and has recently been implementing a
significant programme to broaden the breadth and scope of design
input into new and existing product development.

Founded in 1994, Yahoo! has grown from a pioneering search

engine to become one of the most popular portals on the Internet. An
organisation that uses technology to focus on customer needs, Yahoo!
operates a highly customer-centric design process, with user research
instrumental in the development of new products and the evolution of
existing ones.

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In more depth
Find out more about the way design processes are defined and measured by
downloading a PDF (464KB) version of our detailed Desk Research Report

Background and methodology

In 2007, the Design Council was asked to conduct a study of the design
processes used in leading global companies. The remit of the study was to
understand the design processes used by leading corporate users of design,
what elements they involve, and how these processes take a product or service
from an idea through to implementation and launch. The creative or design heads
of eleven leading users of design took part in in-depth interviews.

The key aim of this design process study was to seek the answers to five questions:

— What is the design process used in leading corporate users of design?

— How is the process managed?
— What benefits does it bring?
— What are the similarities and differences among these companies’ design
processes?
— Are there activities or methods among the design processes observed that could
constitute best practice?

A mix of companies with product and service-based offers was sought and agreed to
take part.

The criteria for the companies selected for the design process study was that they be
leading corporate users of design with a reputation for successfully applying design to
either their product or service, or both. Equally, the companies needed to represent a
variety of sectors. A list of companies that fulfilled these requirements was compiled,
and contact was established with eleven design heads willing to take part in the study.

Clearly while these companies have their use of design in common, one key challenge
in investigating the design process across several companies is taking into account how
such a process will differ depending on the companies’ product or service offer, size,
shape and location, legacy of design use, and its supply-chains and production
systems.

The participating companies originate mainly from Western Europe and the United
States, and all are global in their operations. This does not, however, reflect a
predominance of design process expertise in these regions.

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Methodology
The design process study was conducted using a qualitative research methodology,
and drew heavily on the Design Council’s knowledge of and expertise in the theories
and practices of design management and strategy. The stages of the study were as
follows:

— An initial desk research project summarised the evolution and development of

design process methodologies from an academic perspective, and highlighted the
leading insights on areas such as the benefits of design process and best practice
models. This served to inform the overall study and to aid the discussions with the
design teams that were interviewed.
— Face to face interviews were conducted with the design or creative heads of eleven
leading users of design.
— Prior to each interview, basic corporate data and information was gathered for each
participating company. This was used both as a background for the interview, and
in the formulation of the summary report and the case studies.
— The interviews were conducted by a design expert and a researcher. This, together
with the discussion guide, provided both the deep understanding of design process
and strategy and the robust research methodology needed to guide the collection
and analysis of information from the interviews.

With this background and methodology as its starting point, the interviews that formed
the basis of the design process study were conducted between March and May 2007.

In more depth
Learn more about the way design processes are modelled and understood by
downloading a PDF version (464KB) of the in-depth Desk Research Report.

Eleven diverse companies, a single commitment to successful design

The Design Council offers its thanks to the eleven companies who participated in this
study, and to their designers and design managers who gave up their time to take part
in the project.

Other ways to view the content

— See how design is used to meet different business challenges

— Learn how companies who participated in the study manage their design function
— Find out how to deliver great design with the help of these tools and techniques

Design Council, 34 Bow Street, London WC2E 7DL

Tel +44(0)20 7420 5200 Fax +44(0)20 7420 5300
www.designcouncil.org.uk
Eleven lessons: managing design in eleven global brands

The design process

Different designers manage the process of design in different ways. But when we
studied the design process in eleven leading companies, we found striking
similarities and shared approaches among the designers we talked to. In this
section we show one way of mapping the design process, and give more detail on
the key activities in each of the process's four stages.

The 'double diamond' design process model

The double diamond diagram was developed through in-house research at the
Design Council in 2005 as a simple graphical way of describing the design
process.

Divided into four distinct phases, Discover, Define, Develop and Deliver, it maps the
divergent and convergent stages of the design process, showing the different modes of
thinking that designers use.

Discover
The first quarter of the double diamond model marks the start of the project. This begins
with an initial idea or inspiration, often sourced from a discovery phase in which user
needs are identified. These include:

— Market research
— User research
— Managing information
— Design research groups.

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Define
The second quarter of the double diamond model represents the definition stage, in
which interpretation and alignment of these needs to business objectives is achieved.
Key activities during the Define stage are:

— Project development
— Project management
— Project sign-off.

Develop
The third quarter marks a period of development where design-led solutions are
developed, iterated and tested within the company. Key activities and objectives during
the Develop stage are:

— Multi-disciplinary working
— Visual management
— Development methods
— Testing.

Deliver
The final quarter of the double diamond model represents the delivery stage, where the
resulting product or service is finalised and launched in the relevant market. The key
activities and objectives during this stage are:

— Final testing, approval and launch

— Targets, evaluation and feedback loops

The design process in eleven global companies

To find out about the design process in leading global companies the Design Council
undertook its most in-depth study ever.

Researchers visited the design departments of eleven companies all world-leaders in

their fields and all with a public commitment to the use of design to improve their brand
strength and product and service offerings. You can use the links below to navigate the
individual case studies:

— Alessi
— BSkyB
— BT
— LEGO
— Microsoft
— Sony
— Starbucks
— Virgin Atlantic Airways
— Whirlpool

Design Council, 34 Bow Street, London WC2E 7DL

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www.designcouncil.org.uk
— Xerox
— and Yahoo!

While the companies we spoke to had very different ways of managing their design
processes, and though the terminology they use may differ from that of the double
diamond model, there are some core stages within a design process that are common
across the participating companies.

In more depth
The double diamond model is not the only model of the design process. You can find
out more about the way other academics and design researchers define and measure
design processes by downloading a PDF version (464KB) of our detailed Desk
Research Report

Discover
The start of a project is marked by an initial idea or inspiration, often sourced
from the Discover phase.

The objective of the Discover stage is to act as a ‘phase of divergent thought’, where
the designers and other project team members keep their perspectives wide to allow for
a broad range of ideas and influences. In this stage of the design process, the company
is asking a question, posing a hypothesis or identifying a problem by analysing market
data, trends and other information sources.

During our in-depth study of the design process in eleven global brands, we found that
LEGO refer to this stage of the process as Exploring, Microsoft call it Understand, while
Starbucks have coined the term Concept Heights.

It is worth noting, however, that in practice an element of discovery takes place

throughout the design process, aimed at taking into account new information, user
needs, competitive contexts or challenges that arise as the project progresses.

Initial influences and inspiration

Companies begin the design process when they want to develop a
new product or service, or refine an existing one. The initial influence
or inspiration for this can be triggered in a variety of ways. It may
involve picking up on social or environmental trends, the launch of a
competitor product or service, or tapping into the ideas of staff or
networks.

Within the company, the originator of an idea or suggestion could be a product

manager, CEO, designer, user research, or even a customer. Indeed, companies like
Whirlpool encourage all of their employees to take part in corporate innovation. In
contrast, Alessi may be approached by a well-known designer who is seeking a

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collaborative venture, or Virgin Atlantic's design head may receive a speculative email
from the Chief Executive.

Wherever the initial idea comes from, the design process in general and the Discover
stage in particular provides a framework within which to process the initial ideas or
inspiration. The Discover stage helps to identify the problem, opportunity or user need
that should be addressed, and introduces the space within which design can provide a
solution – the playing field for design. It is important that the design process used in the
company allows for ideas to be captured and developed in this way, and fosters this
type of creative environment among designers and other staff.

Information sources
We've seen that the initial influence or inspiration for a project
could come from key individuals – such as the design leader in the
company. It can also come from the need to regularly update or
change a product or service. However, the design process most
commonly begins with teams finding their initial inspiration in
information about user behaviour. Indeed, the most formalised
sources of inspiration and information are the outcomes and
interpretation of market research and data, observation, primary research or ideas that
have been generated in formal or informal settings by members of the team.

This often takes the form of three key sources of information:

— Use of market research

— Generating user research (such as ethnography and observation)
— The involvement of a bespoke design research group

While their focus and settings differ, the design teams in all the companies we visited
share a user-driven mentality, which is apparent in the up-front phase of enquiry and
gathering of initial research into the behaviours, needs and perceptions of users. This
information is digested by multi-disciplinary teams during the design process, including
researchers, designers, product manager, engineers, research and development
experts and developers.

All this research and knowledge-gathering activity creates an enormous amount of

information. Managing that information is another key challenge that many of the
companies in the research are addressing in creative ways.

Limitations of research
While most companies used the research methodologies described above, it was
generally acknowledged that such methodologies were not without their
limitations. Some designers expressed concerns about whether consumer feedback
could ‘take you to the next level’ when it comes to product and service development.

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 While consumers can react to what exists and relate back to what they
know, some designers felt that consumers are less able to contribute
to the development of completely new product or service concepts for
the future. Indeed, academic studies of design-inspired innovation
have noted Alessi’s Juicy Salif lemon squeezer by Philippe Starck
as a product where the design has not relied on ‘classic market
analysis based on surveys of focus groups’, due to a belief that ‘radical
innovation of meaning is not pulled by the market [but] results from a vision about a
possible future’. Design teams in companies like Virgin Atlantic Airways and BSkyB
conduct user research at a stage where a prototype is well developed, rather than
involving users at the concept development stage.

The outcome of the Discover stage of the design process is a project brief for a design
project, and signifies the practical start of the design process.

Market research
One source of information that can lead to the development of new products and
services is market and research data. This can mean the outputs from
companies’ own internal marketing, consumer insight or research teams, who
commission and manage regular information and data from key target customer
groups.

It involves tracking perceptions and attitudes related to the company, its products and
services, brand perceptions and customer satisfaction, and is also likely to include
competitor analysis, and gathering feedback on the commissioning company’s
performance and reception in contrast to that of their competitors.

Through the analysis of such data by designers and other members of a project team,
gaps in the market and areas for improvement and innovation are identified.

Future trends
While timely and regular market and research data can help to identify user needs and
future trends, there is equally a need to anticipate future user or consumer needs. In
order to address the requirement for information of this type, specific future-focused or
trends analysis is often used.

Particular topics of interest here revolve around:

— Consumer behaviour and preferences in relation to the product or service offered

by the company
— New modes of communication
— New service needs that may emerge on the basis of social, economic or
environmental changes

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