Degree in Design Strategy

it’s a Strategy for change.

Design is not just pretty products,

B.I.S. Design StrategyLauren Magrisso

WHAT WHY HOW

WHATThe world of design is on the cusp of change. Design is rapidly moving from posters and toasters to include processes, systems and organizations. Design is now seen as a strategic business tool.

Design drives innovation, innovation powers brands, brands build loyalty, and loyalty sustains profits.If you want long term profits, don’t start with technology –Start with design.

-Marty Neumeier BusinessWeek

“Designers need to be more than ambassadors, they need to be fully functioning and fully aware members of strategic decision making teams in a company.”

-Nathan ShedroffChair, MBA Design Strategy, CCA

A new discipline is emerging from this change.

It is called Design Strategy.

“Design Strategy is the discipline which helps firms decide what to make and do, why do it and how to innovate contextually, both immediately and over the long term.

Design strategists act in the crossroads of design, research insight and business strategy, and use design methods to generate and illustrate strategies” (Wikipedia).

Design Strategists are hybrid professionals.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

-Steve Jobs

Creating this degree offered me the opportunity to do some soul searching. Not only did I need to identify the skills I would want to acquire through my program, but I also sought to recognize my personal strengths that I can offer society. Here are some of my findings:

Life Ethos:I recently become conscious to the benefits of synergy, that the result is greater than the sum of its parts. A self-proclaimed Wannabe Polymath, I realize it is the combination of my passions that make up who I am, and I have sought to reflect this in my studies.

Mission: Based on these characteristics, my mission is to create a more socially, environmentally, and economically sustainable future through means of innovation, collaboration, and empathy.

Personality Type:Myers Briggs Personality Test said I’m an ENFP. I “need to feel that I am living my life as my true Self, walking in step with what I believe is right. I see meaning in everything, and am on a continuous quest to adapt my life and values to achieve inner peace.” Pursuing this self-designed major feels right.

Fun Facts:I lived in rural India for three months and worked for an NGO that empowers tribal women by providing home-based fair trade handicraft employment. When I got off the plane, my ride wasn’t there to pick me up. I also got five stitches in a rural hospital after a motorcycle accident. I now know I can do anything.

About Me:

The University of Cincinnati has a world-renowned design school. Why would I leave it to start my own major?Design Strategy is the new fronteir for design. Institutions by their very nature take longer to adapt to change. As we move from a material culture to a value culture, the interdisciplinary skill sets of B.I.S. Design Strategy are being expected of designers.

The B.I.S Design Strategy degree allows me to acquire a unique skill set that will be highly marketable in the competitive job environment. The program allows me to accomplish my educational and career goals while gaining a strong liberal arts foundation and becoming a critical thinker.

The B.I.S. Design Strategy program is cutting edge. It has recieved exremely positive feedback from those in industry as it understands that “design is best approached from a multitude of disciplines” (Tim Brown). I see the value of undergraduate education as a time to explore the world of knowledge and connect the dots between disciplines. I plan to continue my education and recieve a graduate degree in a program that combines the design and business disciplines. From my inquiry, my B.I.S. degree will make me highly prepared and competitve for those programs.

HOWThe B.I.S. in Design Strategy is a hybrid degree of the Industrial Design, Marketing, and Cultural Anthropology disciplines. Any one of these degrees completed alone would not provide the necessary combination of skill-sets that the role of a design strategist utilizes.

Industrial Design provides strong aptitude in design methodology, but does not touch on holistic business strategy or social science theory.

Marketing provides strong aptitude in business and brand strategy, but does not touch on design thinking or user experience research.

Anthropology provides strong aptitude in research skills and social phenomenon, but does not touch on industry applications of design thinking or business strategy

Synthesis

Methods:Trend ForecastingProduct DevelopmentInterdisciplinary Problem SolvingUser-Centered ResearchCritical AnalysisDesign Process

Skills:CollaborationCreativityProfessionalism Leadership Teamwork PresentationCommunication Verbal Written Visual

Knowledge:Social PhenomenonHuman BehaviorDesign MovementsMeaning and Value CreationCultural DiversityDesign ThinkingEcological Literacy

Marketing provides strong aptitude in business and brand strategy, but does not touch on design thinking or user experi-ence research.

Program Objectives

Each one of the program objectives breaks down into the six core competencies of the B.I.S. Design Strategy Curriculum.

Industry Insight




Core Competencies

Design Thinking for Innovation




Core Competencies

Business Strategy




Core Competencies

User-Centered Research




Core Competencies

Communication




Core Competencies

Liberal Arts Foundation




Core Competencies

Requirement Check

The curriculum proposed represents the minimum neccesary credits in order to graduate. In reality, it is projected that all these numbers will be higher upon graduation as honors seminars and other classes of interest are made available. Credits counting towards the 63 hours after proposal are counted as of autum 2010 when I began following my proposed curriculum. These include classes coded as O’s and I’s. Please refer to the key for understanding the codes.

Discoveries are often made by not following instructions, by going off the main road, by trying the untried.” -Frank Tyger

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Thank you.

Degree in Design Strategy

Design

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