Building Design Strategy by Thomas Lockwood Thomas Walton & Thomas Walton

Author:Thomas Lockwood, Thomas Walton & Thomas Walton
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781581157574
Publisher: Allworth Press / Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. (Perseus)

Figure 5

Figure 6

To nondesigners in the business world, something like this makes about as much sense, and is interpreted about as effectively, as your average Jackson Pollock work. An MBA’s depiction of a strategy might look something like what we see in Figure 6 and, really, is likely to present as much of a mystery to a designer as a lifestyle board would to a business manager.

The matrix format is a relatively simple methodology and results in boards that are rich in meaning but that also suggest some level of analysis. This is a step in the right direction.

Now, it’s clear that some kind of visual articulation is necessary in order to get to the distillation of a brand character: Words are easily misinterpreted. This is especially challenging when the visual language must also work hard to telegraph product attributes and benefits to the consumer. But visual articulation is also important when solving a problem that involves strategic goals and initiatives. At its core, design is a problem-solving process, and if it is to truly help bridge the problem or opportunity with the solution, easier and better visualization methods are needed. However, where business managers are concerned, design as a profession needs to be more adept about visualizing thinking.

There is a good chance that in the near future, especially in design-driven companies, marketers will report into design. However, as a profession, design is completely unprepared for this to happen. Most designers, using design speak, could not keep the CEO of a major company interested for more than twenty minutes. Visualizing strategic design thinking is the key to effectively communicating. Below is an example. Let’s say we want to make an argument about investing money into a major design effort in order to create an innovation pipeline.

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