Design Plus

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From growth to responsibility: Changing conversations in Silicon Valley – excerpt from book ‘Design+ Organizational renewal and innovation through design’

With the rising complexity and reach of technology, the work of designers can have global consequences. We need to be open to talking about the dark side of design and prepare for some difficult discussions on responsibility and who do designs include, exclude and advocate for.

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Erika PerttunenFrom growth to responsibility: Changing conversations in Silicon Valley – excerpt from book ‘Design+ Organizational renewal and innovation through design’
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Internationalizing design service business – excerpt from book ‘Design+ Organizational renewal and innovation through design’

The ability to function effectively across national and cultural boundaries is a critical challenge faced by companies in the increasingly global economy. Idean, a Finnish design agency with a strong international presence, offers one example of a pathway to globalizing design services. Growth requires learning along the way, adapting plans and practices.

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Erika PerttunenInternationalizing design service business – excerpt from book ‘Design+ Organizational renewal and innovation through design’
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Designers as change agents – excerpt from book ‘Design+ Organizational renewal and innovation through design’

In engineering-driven organizations, designers often find themselves increasing design awareness amongst developers, selling the relevance of user research to management, or facilitating design workshops for product managers. Designers go beyond doing design work, and act as change agents creating more design-friendly working environments. Sharing showcases and offering opportunities for first-hand experience help to get the message across.

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Erika PerttunenDesigners as change agents – excerpt from book ‘Design+ Organizational renewal and innovation through design’
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Changing an organization without a mandate

The process of a professional group gaining a mandate and adopting their practice to an organization includes a variety of complementary actions. Introducing and adopting a practice simultaneously on multiple levels of an organization enhances the fit of the practice and provides opportunities to gain a mandate. Thus, the role of a change agent take shape in multiple ways in such contexts.

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Erika PerttunenChanging an organization without a mandate
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Managing for knowledge creation in exploratory projects

I recently defended my PhD thesis looking into how practitoners with little or no experience on creative problem-solving practices approach ambigious problems and, on the other hand, how this type of work should be supported. My research got started at the Design Factory and the data was gathered from Design Factory-based industry project courses and from companies involved in research projects based at DF. Below is the transcript of the introductory lecture I gave at my defence. 

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Satu RekonenManaging for knowledge creation in exploratory projects
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3 pathways to implementing design thinking in a large company

Disruptive innovations are challenging traditional industries and established players to seek new ways to enhance their internal innovation capabilities. Implementing design thinking into organizational practices can help bring users and their real needs to the center of the company, but remember to take into account varying perceptions across the organization, implement incrementally and secure mandate from management.

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admin3 pathways to implementing design thinking in a large company
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In implementing design thinking, it’s the mindset that matters

Written by Satu Rekonen

Applying design thinking in non-design organisations requires a change in mindset, which is easier said than done. Buying into the logic of the iterative approach requires fluctuating between divergent and convergent thinking, and this can be a struggle for people accustomed to a more linear approach.

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JoelIn implementing design thinking, it’s the mindset that matters