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Nordic Design Project: Getting it right from the start

"Everything we interact with and see around us is either created by nature or designed by someone", says Judith Gloppen of the Norwegian Design Council. "The challenge is not whether to use design but how to manage it well. "

Ms Gloppen heads a three-year, NOK 5 million Nordic Design project, which aims to integrate the design process into product development from the ear-liest planning stage; to explain how the design process works, and to provide practical guidance for SMEs on how to manage the design process effectively to produce the best possible outcome.

"The manager is almost certainly taking design decisions right from the start of the project", Ms Gloppen continues. "Those decisions cannot be avoided, even if they are not recognized as decisions about design - so the choice is whether to manage the design process or let design decisions happen by default."

Create an identity

Often short time to make an impression

In the drive to be profitable, most organizations share a common goal: to be perceived as different from and better than their competitors. The identity of the organization should exert an appeal that is both rational and emotional, stirring both the intellect and the subconscious. Design, in short, "is all about managing customer perceptions". Good design creates or adds value by attracting the attention of more potential buyers. However, this result is most likely only if design is part of a long-term strategy, with full commitment from top management. Common ground between client and designer is sometimes hard to find, which can lead to project management problems.

Establishing an effective understanding and working relationship between client and designer is one of the best possible investments in almost any product development project. The Nordic Design Project takes the user through the design process step by step, suggesting at various points tools which can be helpful at that stage in the design process. "Several of these tools are well known, but we have tried to show how they can be used to support the design process", Ms Gloppen says.

A design toolbox
"We have created a comprehensive, user-friendly computer model based on the stages you have to go through in developing a product, whether that involves industrial design or the development of a corporate identity and/or brand identity. The model is equipped with links to a 'toolbox' so that you can immerse yourself in the most relevant issues and adapt the toolbox to the specific needs of your company." Ms Gloppen concludes: "Design is not a goal or a value in itself. It is a tool that all businesses can use to increase customer satisfaction, product quality, competitiveness and profitability. "Ultimately, the role of the Nordic Design Project is to help SMEs in the five Nordic countries to strengthen design competence by working directly with their respective national design councils or equivalents. Often this will involve a kind of consciousness-raising exercise: the precise position of the company today, what it might wish to do for its customers in future – and how design can help to achieve those goals."

Contact:
Judith Gloppen
Norwegian Design Council (Norsk Designråd)
e-mail: jg@norskdesign.no

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