Design Strategy is a market sector that is new to the United States. A year ago, there was only one school in the US offering a Design Strategy degree and today there are still less than a handful. This market sector is rapidly growing. Few have heard of it and even less understand what it actually is.
Design Strategy is a deceiving term. Because of the use of the word ‘design’, many instantly assume that it has something to do with graphics. This could not be further from the truth. The main definition of the word ‘design’ is “deliberate, purposive planning”. Design Strategy is applying deliberate, purposive planning methods in strategic ways to solve serious business problems. More succinctly, Design Strategy uses strategic creativity to achieve key business objectives.
Further Clarity and Examples
BusinessWeek describes design strategy as “using design research strategically to identify new product categories and expand core brands into other markets.” This is the most common definition for the term, but there are many ways that research can be strategically implemented to enhance a company’s portfolio, reputation, and performance.
Design strategy solves serious problems. Wikipedia lists just a few common problems:
- Promoting the adoption of a new technology
- Identifying the most important questions that a company’s products and services should address
- Translating insights into actionable solutions
- Prioritizing the order of which a portfolio of products should be launched
- Connecting design efforts to an organization’s business strategy
- Integrating design as a fundamental aspect of strategic brand intent
The Purpose, Not The Product
Because there are so many different applications for Design Strategy and some of them do extend into the realm of graphic design, this is undoubtedly a difficult practice to understand. Many try to understand market sectors by the produced outcome. For Design Strategy, there are infinite outcomes, and thus we must rely on the purpose of the practice to fully understand the possibilities: to achieve key business objectives.
How Point Brake Uses Design Strategy
Our process includes all of these problem solving methods, as it begins with an analysis of the marketplace. The research techniques are unique to each business and are dependent on a number of variables. The research findings determine how to proceed, as they are the basis for any strategic advantage that could possibly be formulated for each individual business.