Design & Innovation

I recently came across a well-timed article in the May/June issue of The Penn Stater.  In “Factory Approved,” author Ryan Jones follows a group of Mechanical Engineering (ME) students as they work through ME 440W: Mechanical Systems Design, a capstone course required of all graduating seniors.

The design process followed by these undergraduate Penn State engineering students almost completely mirrors that which we - graduate business students - have been instructed to follow.  Ask questions, listen intently, establish customer needs, prototype early and often, form vs. function (which comes first?)   In the end, the Penn State team came up with a product prototype that pleased the client and their ideas will be used by the company in developing future models.

The prototype that the mechanical engineers ended up with is a tanglible result of the design process, their work, and their progress.  As MBA students in the “new economy,” however, many of us provide a service or knowledge/expertise, not a tangible product.  While it is interesting and fun to read about IDEO’s product innovations and Gehry’s sketches come to life in the form of post-modern architecture, the end results have largely been tanglible, physical objects.

As a marketer/public relations officer in the business of ideas, knowledge, and customer service, how does the design and innovation process apply to me?  What types of intangible deliverables can I offer my current employer and future clients as a result of taking this course?  Does the design process change at all when innovating in a knowledge rather than a manufacturing economy?

Going forward, I’m hoping to learn more about how marketers, public relations staff, editors, etc. use the design process to their advantage when developing messages and communications strategies in the New Economy.

One of my roommates is getting her masters in interior design from Drexel, and we have been talking a lot since I started taking this class. One of the first things she told me is to check out the works of Frank Gehry (at that point I didn’t know who he was), which later I realized was going to be an important example in our class. The more we talk, the more I realize how management and design closely relate to each other. She is now working on a project to design Sara Lee’s workspace. She has come to me to ask about management issues such as organizational structure, corporate culture, corporate hierarchy etc to help her design this workspace.

Other common themes that we have found are the balance between form and function and design as an ongoing process. People are sometimes too focused on the way it looks, and they forget about the functionality it is supposed to offer. At the same time, great functionality needs to be complemented with attractive form in order to be effective. The projects my roommate works on usually lasts for the whole semester, but she’ll have weekly critiques, giving her the chance to improve and/or change things throughout the semester.

Before this class I’d never been exposed to this “design attitude”, but the more I learn about it, the more it seems like a well thought out, structured way of thinking that can be used not only in design or management, but in other aspects in life as well.

I’ve just finished the video of “Sketches of Frank Gehry” and I thought it was quite interesting.  The first thing I thought to myself was…  wow! Architecture/Artist!  What a combination!  There are very few people out there who are a combination of both.  Usually one is just an artist or just an architecture. 

The second thing that I thought of was how amazing that Frank can design buildings freely like an artist.  When designing buildings, doesn’t he have to think about limitations such as government laws on how a building should be safely built?  For example, to build a home or even just a deck outside of our home in Philadelphia, we have to go to get zoning permission from the City of Philadelphia and they have to come out and inspect whether the building is built safely or not and they are the ones who approve the drawings or provide limitations on what can be done.  It seems like Frank just designs without thinking about any limitations such as these.

Third, I compared this video with the IDEO video that we saw in class.  I looked for “processes” that Frank goes through when desiging his buildings and I guess I don’t really see a “formalized” written process like IDEO does.  Frank seems to design in his own way (I guess you can call that his “process”).  He first draws on paper (which I think looks like chicken scratch b/c I don’t see anything from it), then he creates a prototype using paper, and finally he creates many prototypes using wood.  He creates the first version of the prototype in one size and then the second one even bigger size, etc… 

Fourth, I thought it was amazing how he gets ideas of his designs.  He looks at paintings and gets images or ideas on how to design his buildings.  Also, nothing seems to be finalized until the building is completed.  He seems to keep changing or tweaking his designs during every prototype and even during the development of the building. 

Finally, I thought to myself, can a manager effectively manage a guy like Frank?  How?  It seems like he needs his space to get inspiration (i.e. walking outside, looking at things or paintings or talking to people, etc…).  He doesn’t get ideas everyday.  He gets an “AHA!” moment every once in awhile.  So managers cannot “micro” manage a guy like Frank and needs to give him his freedom to innovate or design.  But how much is too much freedom? 

Process, process, process. I have to keep reminding myself that the process of design is what is important, not the final product. Kind of like considering the drive to your vacation house as part of the vacation itself. My first hand experience and initial interest with this idea originated from discussing art with my artist fiance. What I found most intriguing was similar to Gehry’s approach to architecture, the lack of a presumed outcome. What I am finding and learning is that the ability to work within constraints without presumed outcomes is a learned behavior and can be improved upon and it starts with recognizing the idea exists and practice. The implications in business of gaining a deeper understanding through the design process are numerous, many of which are mentioned within this blog.

To further understand the design process I recommend befriending an artist and discussing their process of creating art and attempting to make some art yourself.

Here are some free art classes in Philly. http://www.fleisher.org/

A few weeks ago I visited Boston on a school trip. While walking to one of the events, I saw one of the strangest buildings I have ever seen. I stood there and took a few pictures and kept going (we were late). It was only after starting our Designing Innovation course that I understood the idea behind those structures. The Stata Center is the design of the eclectic architect Frank Gehry. The radical angles monster, located in Cambridge, provoked in me the reaction of stopping and admiring. Regardless of the legal, leaky (no pun intended) issues surrounding the history of the buildings, it is indeed an eye-catching,  sky-matching, dramatic complex.