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The most culturally pervasive employment trend today is the lack of qualified people in all niches in the US economy. Factor in the rigors of interdisciplinary practices and the shortage of people is exacerbated.
Changes in the pressures and opportunities of business are recasting the conduct of product development and creating significant opportunities for people with very different backgrounds. Among both manufacturers and product development consultancies, the focus has shifted from creative and technical skill to include thought processes that interweave design and business.
Several trends are converging to change the recruiting environment in this market.
On the one hand, downsizing, outsourcing and shortened development cycles are creating pressures and new practices; on the other hand, business is developing a more mature appreciation for the power of product design. In fact, product design is drawing heavier investment dollars. Correspondingly, it is being asked to deliver better quality in less time. To respond, industrial design's involvement has expanded further into the beginning and end of a product development cycle, and beyond the context of the product to include the design of its presentation, user interaction and purchasing experience. In short, the brand itself.
Traditional lines of demarcation between corporations and product development firms are blurring in unexpected ways.
o Product developers inside corporate entities behave like consultants as they discuss serving the needs of their internal "clients."
o Product development firms have created partnerships with their clients by becoming an extension of the client's core strategic planning activities.
o And internal design groups are building partnerships with their external partners that add depth to their collaborations, resulting in carefully researched and broadly considered design solutions.
These patterns are creating new hiring requirements for the industrial designers and engineers involved in product development. It is simply not good enough to be creative and technically excellent if you are interested in advancing into more strategic, driving roles. Often the contribution that has the biggest influence on product success will involve thought processes that transcend technical training and expertise toward multidimensional thinking and more business awareness.
Product teams must encompass more than a representative array of functions. In fact, each team member must be intellectually interdisciplinary, as well. Mechanical engineers will have to be able to think like product marketers or industrial designers. Industrial designers will have to think as broadly as cultural anthropologists and cognitive psychologists while still attending to manufacturing processes. Those who are comfortable contributing in such an environment are in a position to take advantage of today's new and powerful opportunities to contribute to the business success of a product.
Therein lies another characteristic of the people who are most in demand: a willingness to accept responsibility for the product's business success (not just design success) in the marketplace.
These designers realize that it's not a question of either/or. You can't think in the context of business or the context of design; you must think in the context of both. I can't count the number of designers who have said to me, "What good is a design award if the design is a business failure?" These designers are defining their contribution in both traditional terms as the user's advocate and in the emerging terms of the business context.
Designers who fit the new model are willing to apply sophisticated research and planning processes to test intuitive solutions, explore options and verify that the direction chosen is the optimal business solution. They direct their creativity with information that responds to a broad array of considerations, including manufacturing, recycling, service, distribution, cost-efficiency, shelf presence and branding. They draw on a rapidly expanding palette of processes and techniques that link the behavior of the user/customer, the cultural context of use, emerging technologies and the many manufacturing and business constraints affecting a product's design. They use both business and traditional design criteria in defining their success.
In point of fact, the greatest impetus for product development creativity may lie in the integration of design and business. The new designers have learned to consider business as a source of creativity. Moreover, they expect security, not to emanate from a company, but rather from the value of their contribution to that company. This entrepreneurially spirited, broadly based designer is optimally equipped to succeed in the new economic environment.
Many creative professionals have a natural wariness about business and management based on a feeling that the structures of business inhibit their creativity. Ironically, what business executives do and what designers do are very similar although the context and materials are different. Both consistently turn ideas into value, and both use structures and processes to attain that end. For both, structure (or as Charles Eames termed it, "constraints") is necessary for success.
Design is maturing into a powerful medium with which to transform a broad array of ideas into value. That process will still have need of technical industrial design excellence. There will always be a niche for the technically oriented professional.
What does all this mean regarding how you can find a fit in this market?
First, purposefully cultivate your own equation for success. While there are unprecedented opportunities to grow and contribute in new and exciting ways, you must honor your own true interests and strengths. Success will mean different things for different people.
Next, assess the patterns of this evolving market as a design problem and choose how to design your optimal role in it. Designers now have more choices-and therefore more control over how to contribute-than ever before.
Finally, prepare to meet these new demands in the market by actively seeking out assignments that broaden your experiences into the largest context possible. The market is changing so rapidly that these experiences present themselves in one's day-to-day work environment. Creative designers have always taken pride in thinking "outside the box." Now they have the opportunity to do that in a larger playing field, enlarging design's influence.
Perhaps most fundamental of all, try to shift your frame of reference. When you do, you will see that the changing design landscape is an inseparable part of the changing business landscape. And that shift creates a far richer and more diverse array of opportunities.
Changes in the pressures and opportunities of business are recasting the conduct of product development and creating significant opportunities for people with very different backgrounds. Among both manufacturers and product development consultancies, the focus has shifted from creative and technical skill to include thought processes that interweave design and business.
Several trends are converging to change the recruiting environment in this market.
On the one hand, downsizing, outsourcing and shortened development cycles are creating pressures and new practices; on the other hand, business is developing a more mature appreciation for the power of product design. In fact, product design is drawing heavier investment dollars. Correspondingly, it is being asked to deliver better quality in less time. To respond, industrial design's involvement has expanded further into the beginning and end of a product development cycle, and beyond the context of the product to include the design of its presentation, user interaction and purchasing experience. In short, the brand itself.
Traditional lines of demarcation between corporations and product development firms are blurring in unexpected ways.
o Product developers inside corporate entities behave like consultants as they discuss serving the needs of their internal "clients."
o Product development firms have created partnerships with their clients by becoming an extension of the client's core strategic planning activities.
o And internal design groups are building partnerships with their external partners that add depth to their collaborations, resulting in carefully researched and broadly considered design solutions.
These patterns are creating new hiring requirements for the industrial designers and engineers involved in product development. It is simply not good enough to be creative and technically excellent if you are interested in advancing into more strategic, driving roles. Often the contribution that has the biggest influence on product success will involve thought processes that transcend technical training and expertise toward multidimensional thinking and more business awareness.
Product teams must encompass more than a representative array of functions. In fact, each team member must be intellectually interdisciplinary, as well. Mechanical engineers will have to be able to think like product marketers or industrial designers. Industrial designers will have to think as broadly as cultural anthropologists and cognitive psychologists while still attending to manufacturing processes. Those who are comfortable contributing in such an environment are in a position to take advantage of today's new and powerful opportunities to contribute to the business success of a product.
Therein lies another characteristic of the people who are most in demand: a willingness to accept responsibility for the product's business success (not just design success) in the marketplace.
These designers realize that it's not a question of either/or. You can't think in the context of business or the context of design; you must think in the context of both. I can't count the number of designers who have said to me, "What good is a design award if the design is a business failure?" These designers are defining their contribution in both traditional terms as the user's advocate and in the emerging terms of the business context.
Designers who fit the new model are willing to apply sophisticated research and planning processes to test intuitive solutions, explore options and verify that the direction chosen is the optimal business solution. They direct their creativity with information that responds to a broad array of considerations, including manufacturing, recycling, service, distribution, cost-efficiency, shelf presence and branding. They draw on a rapidly expanding palette of processes and techniques that link the behavior of the user/customer, the cultural context of use, emerging technologies and the many manufacturing and business constraints affecting a product's design. They use both business and traditional design criteria in defining their success.
In point of fact, the greatest impetus for product development creativity may lie in the integration of design and business. The new designers have learned to consider business as a source of creativity. Moreover, they expect security, not to emanate from a company, but rather from the value of their contribution to that company. This entrepreneurially spirited, broadly based designer is optimally equipped to succeed in the new economic environment.
Many creative professionals have a natural wariness about business and management based on a feeling that the structures of business inhibit their creativity. Ironically, what business executives do and what designers do are very similar although the context and materials are different. Both consistently turn ideas into value, and both use structures and processes to attain that end. For both, structure (or as Charles Eames termed it, "constraints") is necessary for success.
Design is maturing into a powerful medium with which to transform a broad array of ideas into value. That process will still have need of technical industrial design excellence. There will always be a niche for the technically oriented professional.
What does all this mean regarding how you can find a fit in this market?
First, purposefully cultivate your own equation for success. While there are unprecedented opportunities to grow and contribute in new and exciting ways, you must honor your own true interests and strengths. Success will mean different things for different people.
Next, assess the patterns of this evolving market as a design problem and choose how to design your optimal role in it. Designers now have more choices-and therefore more control over how to contribute-than ever before.
Finally, prepare to meet these new demands in the market by actively seeking out assignments that broaden your experiences into the largest context possible. The market is changing so rapidly that these experiences present themselves in one's day-to-day work environment. Creative designers have always taken pride in thinking "outside the box." Now they have the opportunity to do that in a larger playing field, enlarging design's influence.
Perhaps most fundamental of all, try to shift your frame of reference. When you do, you will see that the changing design landscape is an inseparable part of the changing business landscape. And that shift creates a far richer and more diverse array of opportunities.
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