A book for design and creative professionals

The field of strategic design is growing. More and more organizations are asking designers to apply their principles, practices, tools and methods to help co-define and co-implement their (innovation) strategies and help organizations to become design-led. This book illustrates eight strategic design practices that enable designers to act effectively at the strategic level. These practices have been distilled by design researchers and design practitioners from, for instance, design consultancies including Philips Design, Fabrique, npk design, Livework, Reframing Studio, Ideate, and IBM Interactive Experience.

Get to know the structure of the book

The eight strategic design practices in the book are divided into four parts, each of which involves two practices and represents a key stage or aspect of a strategic design project.

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Part I

Setting objectives

  • Envisioning
  • Inspiring
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Part II

Configuring

  • Simplifying
  • Structuring
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Part III

Orchestrating

  • Aligning
  • Translating
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Part IV

Embedding

  • Embracing
  • Educating
  • Conclusion
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In Strategic Design Giulia Calabretta, Gerda Gemser and Ingo Karpen, along with their contributors, have done the practice a great service by capturing and organizing some of the best thinking on the subject, bringing it to life through practitioner case studies and ensuring it has academic rigor.

Andy Polaine, Design Director, Fjord Evolution

Finally there is a practical book on strategic design. . . . The content comes from the best possible mix of leading academics and seasoned practitioners, who not only have the advanced experience, but also the talent to clearly communicate about these matters

Cees de Bont, Dean of School of Design, Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Strategic Design gives an inspirational overview of how design practitioners and experts have successfully applied visionary thinking to maximize the value and impact of design on business and society based on their methods and strategic approach.

Eric Quint, Chief Design Officer, 3M Company

Timely, relevant and noteworthy publication. With a well-balanced use of theory and real-world examples, the book serves as an excellent guide to the practice and the process of the emerging field of Strategic Design

Gjoko Muratovski, Director of The Myron E. Ullman, Jr. School of Design, University of Cincinnati

About the editors

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Giulia Calabretta

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Delft University of Technology (the Netherlands), Assistant Professor Giulia Calabretta is an experienced researcher and lecturer on how design can effectively guide businesses towards becoming more innovative in nature and structure. She combines her management experience and design knowledge to demonstrate how integrating business and design practices permanently will prepare organizations to embrace innovation.

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Gerda Gemser

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Gerda Gemser is Full Professor of Business and Design at RMIT University (Melbourne, Australia). She has 20 years of experience working with organizations from the private and public sectors, researching how organizations can create and appropriate value from investing in design and innovation, and has published on this topic extensively.

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Ingo Karpen

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RMIT University (Melbourne, Australia), Associate Professor Ingo Karpen’s work crosses multiple disciplines to study and manage the interplay of service-driving organizational design and customer experience design. With a focus on human experiences, Ingo collaborates with international business partners across industries to build strategic design capacity for the betterment of business and society.

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About the co-authors

Yoko Akama

Yoko Akama is Associate Professor and co-leads the Design+Ethnography+Futures research program at RMIT University. She is the founder of the Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability in Asia-Pacific network, adjunct fellow of ecosystem innovation studio Re:public Japan and visiting fellow at the Centre of Excellence in Media Practice, Bournemouth University.

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Marzia Aricò

Marzia Aricò, service design and strategy consultant at Livework and PhD fellow at Copenhagen Business School, believes in the power of collaborative intelligence and in the potential of business/design cross-pollination. Marzia’s research seeks to demonstrate the value that service design can create for businesses.

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Nermin Azabagic

Nermin Azabagic is an ambidextrous thinker and strategist with over 17 years of international corporate experience. He is currently a Senior Managing Consultant in Strategy at IBM Interactive Experience, and is pursuing his PhD at RMIT, where he explores the combination of design thinking and financial modelling in the context of service innovation.

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Melvin Brand Flu

Melvin Brand Flu is partner of strategy and business design at Livework. He writes books and publishes articles about customer centricity, business impact, service transformation and digital customer relationships, and coaches executives and management teams about delivering value to customers, the business and the organization.

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Giulia Calabretta

Delft University of Technology (the Netherlands), Assistant Professor Giulia Calabretta is an experienced researcher and lecturer on how design can effectively guide businesses towards becoming more innovative in nature and structure. She combines her management experience and design knowledge to demonstrate how integrating business and design practices permanently will prepare organizations to embrace innovation.

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Paul Gardien

Paul Gardien is Vice President of Philips Design, and as member of the Philips Design Board he is responsible for both the strategic development of the global design function and the Design Research & Innovation program. In his strategy role, he has been instrumental in transforming Philips Design from a service unit into a global function.

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Gerda Gemser

Gerda Gemser is Full Professor of Business and Design at RMIT University (Melbourne, Australia). She has 20 years of experience working with organizations from the private and public sectors, researching how organizations can create and appropriate value from investing in design and innovation, and has published on this topic extensively.

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Paul Hekkert

Paul Hekkert is Full Professor of Form Theory and Head of the Design Aesthetics group at the Delft University of Technology. He explores the aesthetics of designed products, services and experiences, and the ways user interaction impacts human emotion, expressiveness and attachment.

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Merijn Hillen

Creative Strategist Merijn Hillen focuses on brand-driven innovation at design agency Fabrique. By connecting organizational purpose and business strategy with consumer insights and zeitgeist, she aims to create new (digital) products, services and communications that are meaningful, positive and profitable.

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Roald Hoope

Roald Hoope is a senior designer and consumer insight specialist at Reframing Studio, Amsterdam. He develops forecasts of future consumer behaviours, and translates these insights into opportunities for new products, services and policies.

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Ingo Karpen

RMIT University (Melbourne, Australia), Associate Professor Ingo Karpen’s work crosses multiple disciplines to study and manage the interplay of service-driving organizational design and customer experience design. With a focus on human experiences, Ingo collaborates with international business partners across industries to build strategic design capacity for the betterment of business and society.

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Blair Kuys

Blair Kuys is an Associate Professor of industrial design at Swinburne University of Technology, and is currently department chair (Head) of Interior Architecture and Industrial Design within the Faculty of Health, Arts and Design at Swinburne.

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Jos Oberdorf

Jos Oberdorf has over 30 years’ experience as a designer. Jos is managing partner of Dutch design firm npk design, a part-time Professor of Product Architecture Design at Delft University of Technology, and a founding partner of Yard9 and Denkstof.

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Kasia Tabeau

Kasia Tabeau is an Innovation consultant at InSites Consulting. She has a PhD from Delft University of Technology in the field of design management. Kasia’s research interests include design management, design thinking, and new market research methods.

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Onno van der Veen

Onno van der Veen founded service design practice Ideate in 2010. Onno and Ideate have special expertise designing for behaviour change, having created services intended to improve patient therapy adherence, inspire fuel-efficient driving, and teach bicycle-safety to the elderly.

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Jeroen van Erp

Jeroen van Erp, founding partner and innovation strategist at Dutch design firm Fabrique, is also Chair of the Dutch Creative Council and a part-time Professor of Concept Design at Delft University of Technology.

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Opher Yom-Tov

Opher Yom-Tov is an AirShr startup entrepreneur spent almost a decade at IDEO, first in Silicon Valley and then as the director of their Shanghai startup. He now advises large and small corporations on building and scaling their innovation cultures and capabilities, and is a global public speaker and facilitator on financial service innovation, design thinking and innovation leadership.

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The research for this book and its publication were supported by NWO and Crisp