Customer Reviews

Building Design Strategy: Using Design to Achieve Key Business Objectives

5 star:		(2)
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3 star:		(1)
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True to its objective, "how can design be used to solve business problems", this book pulls together a collection of articles (mostly from the last decade) that examine the concept of design and its application in varying business situations: building business strategy, applying to innovation process, product design, creating loyal customers, branding, workspace design, ... With that, if you are interested in gathering differing perspectives and ideas, you will find this book a good value (definitely more cost-effective than purchasing the articles separately on the DMI site.)

Written by various authors, with differing writing styles yet similar themes, this book brings home the message of: design as a tool for change; difficulty convincing organizations of design value; importance of using design to solve today's problems. Although I found the first half of the book interesting and engaging, the second half was repetitive and long. So much so that, at the end, I felt desensitized to many valid issues designers feel (such as communicating their value or feeling left out from business conversations).

I did find a few gems in the book as the authors did a good job of describing their thought process and the framework they utilized, such as "The Best Strategy Is the Right Strategy" by Sohrab Vossoughi, "Design Strategies for Technology Adoption" by Alonzo Canada, Pete Mortensen, Dev Patnaik, and "Corporate Strategy: Bringing Design Management into the Fold" by Frans Joziasse. Various design methodologies and how they can be used in the context of business are also scattered throughout the book. With that, I can see myself going back to these articles for reference. However, due to what felt like a shotgun approach taken by this book, I don't think my overall awareness or appreciation of design strategy has increased after reading it.

Note to the editor: even though articles in the book may represent timeless ideas, it would be valuable to indicate when the article was written/published in the Design Management Journal or DMI Review.

Don't let the un-sexy cover (sorry publisher) fool you -- major hitters in this compilation tell some darned good stories. Got a lot out of it. Highly recommended!

Design is such an important component for organizations that are transitioning to thinking like a customer. Lockwood's selection of essays is very strong in telling the story of how designer skills can and will raise the value of your products and services in the eyes of your customers. [...]