Strategic Design Research Journal | New issue | v.9, n.1

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This paper presents the preliminary steps to create a scale to measure design as a performance factor.

Design management is increasingly being understood as a competitive strategy; there is much research showing positive results through surveys and case studies in companies, such as presented by. However, papers that specify Design Metrics and how to use them are rare and not very precise, such as Dutra and Wolff's (2012) article. The goal of this paper is to understand how companies measure their design actions, which metrics and tools they use and how they communicate and manage their knowledge, shown through the reality of five large Brazilian companies. A qualitative research was done, based on semi-­‐structured in-­‐depth interviews with these companies design teams. Thus, this paper offers a counterpoint to the previous publications in which SMEs are approached, such as the ones from Borja de Mozota (2003). The results of this research reflects the designer's understanding of metrics, the relationship with the company goals as a whole and their positioning about the way...

Strategic Design Research Journal

This work presents a systematic review of the Design Management research in the whole country of Brazil. Focusing on existent research groups, it sought to characterize a current design management research scenario. To do so, a systematic review was done considering the design management groups registered at National Council of Scientific Development-CNPq. As result, it was found 53 research groups located in thirteen Brazilian Federal States working with nine different research themes. The results made possible to discuss the group's geographical distribution, the progress of the studies, the growth of the groups over time. It also suggests, towards the advancement in the area, the creation of a research network.

Portuguese research in terms of Design is mainly organized into contextual groups related to the schools that offer these courses. Its production exists but it is sparse, it is stimulating but hardly stimulated, it can be recognized but barely known, both nationally and internationally. This study starts with the “history” and methodologies of design in order to make a situation report and try to create a strategic contribution that enables more conscious and active development in the Portuguese economic, social and academic contexts. Besides collecting real information about what is/was done and who does/did scientific research on design in Portugal, it is essential to understand the impact of this work on professional practice or on the institutions that have possibly benefited from its results, as well as to think over the vision and expectation of these agents as far as academic research in this area is concerned. As previously mentioned, Portuguese research in terms of design exists but is not recognized nationally or internationally. This does not suggest any kind of minority on the part of Portuguese researchers, especially if we consider that design study appeared in Universities less than two decades ago and that only in January 2007 did the Portuguese Parliament recognize design as an activity that could be subjected to taxes, or in other words, a profession. Even the Science and Technology Foundation (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia - FCT) started to explicitly include design as a category in masters and doctoral scholarships only two or three years ago. This is likely due to the fact that post-graduation programs in this area are fairly recent. There are very few doctoral courses, which results in a small critical mass. Fortunately, this has been compensated in higher education institutions by doctorates in other knowledge areas, as well as high quality professionals whose contribution is conclusive for the formation of new generations of designers, as well as for the development of research tasks. The creation of the first design courses in Lisbon and Oporto Fine Arts Faculties in 1974, and its further integration in Universities in the 90s, and then the forthcoming of more courses in other university and polytechnic institutions has called attention to the development of design research, as a consequence of these institutions’ missions and the requirements of the teaching profession. As previously referred, the problem of “defining" what corresponds to research in the area of design has brought to debate the question of whether research done on the development of a project for a product (industrial, communication or services) can be considered “scientific” research or if this can only be analyzed according to the norms used in other academic areas. Without an answer to this interesting and essential question, research in design has appeared, which justifies the doctoral courses that can nowadays be found in various Universities, as well as the appearance of research groups and associations (there is now at least one group that is accredited by the FCT and approved by the Lisbon’s IADE - Institute of Visual Arts, Design and Marketing). Notwithstanding, there does not yet exist any systematized information about design research in Portugal. What has been done? What is being done? What are the objectives? How can they be achieved? What resources can be used? Which methodologies can be employed? What kind of research is being developed and what is its importance for the country? What are the challenges for the future? The answer to these questions makes this study relevant as the implementation of the Bologna process implies a new approach to research as a driving force of university life. The answer to these questions seems elemental to enable the alignment of the critical mass that exists in various institutions so as to give credit and visibility to Portuguese design research, within both the academic and the scientific community, and in both the economic and the social context. Only this knowledge can enable the creation of the necessary synergies for a strategic coordination of these diverse efforts and initiatives.

2013

About the theme: Public design policies can be explained as sets of principles established by a government intending to apply design into leveraging social, economical, industrial, and regional development. Design policy is an emerging theme in the field of design, and one that has been raising concerns from governments globally. Two aspects drive this interest: the extraordinary growth rates of the creative industries in the past decades; and the ability of Design to be a link between technology, creativity and the user, being a potential unique tool to help innovate and foster economic growth. About the research: The research was proposed responding an observed demand of governments in emerging countries to structure policies to use design to promote industrial and social development. It was structured to analyse current national and regional Design Policies within the framework of common aspects, effective practices and trends; external factors influencing their implementation; general causes of failures; assessment methods; and the influence of coexisting design definitions and trends. The focus is on Brazil, whose government is funding the research, the European Union, and the United Kingdom. In this context the research aims to generate a rationale for planning and assessment of Design Policies based on a review of current effective practices and identified future trends relevant to emerging markets. The main objective of the research is the identification and analysis of the constituent elements, driving forces, impacting factors, expected consequences, assessment methodologies and common failures of design policies. The intended goal is to respond to a demand for new knowledge, data, and tools that could contribute to reduce the current level of uncertainty regarding design policies. Methodology: To acknowledge the established objectives and goal, a comprehensive review of literature was initially carried out, including many reports and other documents from governments and from the EU. Emerging issues from the review informed a two-stage study developed in Brazil. For the iii first stage, in 2011, thirteen stakeholders were interviewed, from key active governmental programmes and departments. The choice of programmes and departments was validated by questions from the interview itself. The second stage, in 2012, focused on the only currently active design support programme aimed at SMEs in Brazil. During this phase, it was collected archival data and three interviews conducted. Collected data was analysed using descriptive statistic tools. The findings were then filtered using documents and archival data about European effective practices to inform the discussion and recommendations, and further used to generate a modelling framework for design policies. Contribution: The research contribution can be acknowledged in four different levels of outcomes: a comprehensive review of literature (1), combining an assortment of very significant documents and discussing their connections and specific contributions to the field; the application of an interview and archive based case study (2) about design policies in Brazil, corroborating Case Studies as a leading research tool for the area; a discussion on the impacting factors and effective practices of design policies (3); and finally the conceptual model and framework named respectively Compass Model and Create DP (4) that set together a framework intended to reduce levels of uncertainty in planning design policies.

Strategic Design Research Journal, 2015

The economic crisis that has hit countries in the west in recent years has generated a decline in the presence and the strength of the entrepreneurial class and also of its traditional role of "customer" of the design sector. Design has recently responded to this new situation by generating new working methods. Politecnico di Torino has evolved its classic demanding approach to design and brought it up to date by incorporating "explorative" capacities into the training of its students, providing them with the necessary skills to cope with an absence of market, proposing the designer as a key fi gure capable of exploring existing situations and off ering new solutions. The aim of this paper is to show how, in the absence of market, the strategies that Exploring Design can implement generate system-product, process, service design projects that are always original and innovative, capable of leading quite easily to new methods, business ideas and spheres of activity in which customers can become involved later on.

Design is a complex activity that is influenced by a large number of factors that may be financial, technological, socio-cultural and historical and most of all by the changing perceptions and needs of human user groups and their social actions. This complexity is modelled by the systems metaphor of design analogous to the process of fire in a symbolic hearth. The design activity is further being redefined to articulate the four specific levels at which this discipline can be used by industry and society, namely, the Strategic level, the Creative level, the Elaborative level and the Tactical level. The author believes that all these levels are inherent in each and every design task but are not normally perceived as such and in many cases there is a misconception that these levels can be isolated and managed effectively. It is proposed that the Profile of the Emerging Designer therefore needs to change to include a Value base at the core of a set that encompass the Knowledge base , the Skill base and the Cognitive base that define the capabilities of this new genre of designers. The central contribution of design is limited here to providing tangible scenarios for decision making and evaluation of solutions in the context of the inherent complexity of the design situation although some tasks may involve the designer in the further stages of implementation as well. For this it is important to understand the Processes of Visualisation and the emerging tools for team-based participation of experts from different domains and for the involvement of user groups in the design process.

2017

This paper aims to analyze Brazilian theses and dissertations examining Design Thinking to provide an updated picture of how this strategic element has been used in the academic postgraduate perspective in Brazil. A systematic literature review was performed using the Capes website, since it is the official Brazilian online database of theses and dissertations. The result is 65 studies that meet the selection criteria of having the term “Design Thinking” or “Design Thinker” in the research title, abstract or keywords and were published up to December of 2016. The results show that Brazilian DT research is concentrated in few institutions and focused almost entirely on one DT concept.

2021

The process of conceptualizing, designing and launching the journal I+D Diseño: Revista internacional de investigación, innovación y desarrollo en Diseño, recently introduced in the city of Málaga (Spain), the venue of the journal’s headquarters, has brought to the authors, the editors of I+D Diseño, the opportunity to reflect on the type of publication devoted to Design that is available to researchers, professionals or students in the field. The conclusions reached, and the guidelines that inspire I+Diseño as a unique, innovative and pioneering contribution to subject of design are the focus of this presentation. Key words: design research, design innovation, Latin design.O processo de concepção, design e funcionamento da revista I + D Design: Revista internacional de investigação, inovação e desenvolvimento em Design, recentemente sediada na cidade de Málaga (Espanha), oportunizou para os autores, diretores de I + D Design, uma reflexão sobre o tipo de publicação dedicado ao tema...

Strategic Design Review Journal, 2019