Why use methods?
Methods are an integral part of the design process. The advantage of using them is to structure a process; they can allow you to hold a team together, aid communication and share viewpoints across multi disciplinary teams. Part of the skill of being a good design strategist is identifying appropriate methods and creating the right conditions for their use.
Danish company LEGO, the world’s sixth largest toy maker, has transformed the processes of its design function in recent years. These changes have streamlined product development and the processes developed by the in-house design function are now being used as a method to improve innovation across the entire business.
LEGO has developed a new design system, called Design for Business (D4B), by which its whole innovation process is run.
Key elements of the LEGO Design For Business process include:
- The alignment between corporate objectives and design strategy.
- Strengthening the collaboration in core project teams containing a design, a marketing and product manager.
- Challenge sessions for the team during this process, run by colleagues and D4B members.
- The development of a standard sequence of activities for product development, with frequent evaluations and decision gates.
- The development of standard processes for presenting the outputs of design phases to allow straightforward comparison of different projects and options.
- Strengthening the collaboration in core project teams containing a design, a marketing and product manager.
- Challenge sessions for the team during this process, run by colleagues and D4B members.
- The development of a standard sequence of activities for product development, with frequent evaluations and decision gates.
- The development of standard processes for presenting the outputs of design phases to allow straightforward comparison of different projects and options.
Design process evolution
Design has traditionally been held in high regard at LEGO. The company considers design to be a key element in the development of their products, has used design as a competitive weapon and has given high levels of autonomy and responsibility to its design teams.
LEGO has transformed the processes of its design function in the last two years. The design team itself precipitated this process transformation. Existing processes, while they allowed the design team exceptional creative freedom, had resulted in too many commercially unsuccessful products coming to market and had also produced significant additional complexity in the LEGO system, which by the early 2000s had risen to more than 14,000 different components.
The rigorous process transformation approach adopted by the LEGO design function has helped to maintain and enhance its status within the company. Indeed, the processes developed in the design division are being used as a method for innovation across the entire business.
Design For Business represents a combination of LEGO’s overall corporate strategy and design strategy, and has been instrumental in achieving some of LEGO’s recent business performance successes. Find out more about how LEGO's Innovation model and its Foundation overview fit in to D4B.
LEGO has transformed the processes of its design function in the last two years. The design team itself precipitated this process transformation. Existing processes, while they allowed the design team exceptional creative freedom, had resulted in too many commercially unsuccessful products coming to market and had also produced significant additional complexity in the LEGO system, which by the early 2000s had risen to more than 14,000 different components.
The rigorous process transformation approach adopted by the LEGO design function has helped to maintain and enhance its status within the company. Indeed, the processes developed in the design division are being used as a method for innovation across the entire business.
Design For Business represents a combination of LEGO’s overall corporate strategy and design strategy, and has been instrumental in achieving some of LEGO’s recent business performance successes. Find out more about how LEGO's Innovation model and its Foundation overview fit in to D4B.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_methods#Background_of_Design_Methods
http://www.positivespaceblog.com/archives/design-processes-why-every-designer-needs-one/
http://www.webcredible.co.uk/user-friendly-resources/web-usability/user-centerzzed-design.shtml
http://weblog.obso1337.org/2008/6-research-and-design-methods-for-developers/
http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/en/About-Design/managingdesign/The-Study-of-the-Design-Process/
http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/en/About-Design/Design-Methods/The-design-process/
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