V magistrskem delu z naslovom Korporativna dizajn strategija in znamčenje: vloga dizajn managmenta v razvoju korporativne identitete, obravnavamo pomen študija arhitekture blagovnih znamk in korporativne identitete. Zanima nas ali je možno razviti korporativno identiteto brez prvotno vzpostavljene arhitekture blagovnih znamk? Hkrati imamo namen ugotoviti kakšna je vloga dizajn managementa in dizajn strategij, predvsem v razvoju korporativne identitete in arhitekture blagovnih znamk? In nenazadnje je naš namen ugotoviti kateri so nujni viri za vzpostavitev korporativne identitete?

Cilji, ki jih zasledujemo v pričujočem magistrskem delu so:
+    Ali obstaja povezava, in če obstaja kakšna je ta povezava, med korporativno identiteto in arhitekturo blagovnih znamk?
+    Katera disciplina ali katere discipline imajo vodilno vlogo v razvoju in vzdrževanju procesa korporativne identitete?
+    Ob predvidevanju, da je korporativna identiteta strateška zadeva, hočemo ugotoviti kateri viri znotraj korporacij in kateri zunanji viri so nujni za razvoj in vzdrževanje korporativne identitete? Kateri deležniki korporacije bi morali biti vključeni v proces razvoja korporativne identitete?
+    Katera so nadaljnja priporočila za dizajn management in dizajn strategije, še posebej v procesu razvoja in vzdrževanju korporativne identitete ter arhitekture blagovnih znamk?

V magistrskem delu postavljamo sledeče hipoteze:
H1:    Razvoj korporativne identitete ni možen brez predhodne vzpostavitve arhitekture blagovnih znamk.
H2:    Dizajn management ima vodilno vlogo v razvoju korporativne identitete.
H3:    Korporativna identiteta zahteva vire znotraj korporacije, še posebej v vodstvu korporacije in v zunanjem svetovanju.

Uvodoma ugotavljamo, da v 21. stoletju obstaja široko soglasje, da korporativno identiteto tvorijo
+     simboli ali z drugimi besedami korporativni dizajn,
+     komunikacije ali korporativno komuniciranje,
+     kultura ali organizacijska kultura.

Posamezni deli korporativne identitete  (dizajn, komuniciranje in kultura) so med seboj neločljivo povezani.  Kako se na korporativno identiteto navezuje arhitektura blagovnih znamk ugotavljamo v poglavju o arhitekturi blagovnih znamk. Aaker in Joachimsthaler sta definirala arhitekturo blagovnih znamk kot organizacijsko strukturo portfelja blagovnih znamk, ki definira vloge blagovnih znamk in naravo odnosov med njimi, pri čemer je kritičen del odnos med blagovnimi znamkami. Arhitekturo blagovnih znamk je možno definirati tudi kot komunikacijski odnos znotraj korporacije, njenih poslovnih enot in njihovih blagovnih znamk, produktov in storitev.

Znotraj arhitekture blagovnih znamk imamo vedno na razpolago štiri osnovne strategije blagovnih znamk in devet pod-strategij. Korporacije bi morale razumeti vsako izmed teh strategij, če bi želele oblikovati uspešne strategije blagovnih znamk.

V razvoju korporativne identitete je brez dileme najbolj izpostavljen del, korporativni dizajn. Za ustrezno razumevanje te trditve, je nujno omeniti, da korporativni dizajn ne ustvarja korporativne podobe. Dizajn ustvarja znake in simbole, ki reflektirajo korporativno identiteto. V prvem poglavju o Korporativni identiteti pojasnjujemo razliko med korporativno podobo in korporativnim ugledom, kot tudi to, da korporativne podobe ni mogoče upravljati, ter da je korporativni ugled nekaj trajnejšega kot korporativna podoba.

Ne le za postavitev arhitekture blagovnih znamk in razvoj korporativne identitete temveč tudi v pomoč korporacijam kaj in kako početi tako kratkoročno kot dolgoročno, se kot nastajajoče polje vedno bolj uveljavlja dizajn strategija. Gre za medsebojno igro med dizajnom kot takim in poslovnimi strategijami. Dizajn strategija bi naj bila učinkovita razporeditev in koordinacija dizajn sredstev in aktivnosti za doseganje ciljev korporacije z ustreznimi javnimi in internimi identitetami, njenimi produkti in storitvami ter okoljem.

Za formuliranje korporativne in poslovnih strategij se uporablja klasična metoda Boston Consulting Group (BSG). Portfelj matrike BSG klasificira produkte po dveh abscisah in ordinatah glede na relativni tržni delež in stopnjo rasti trga. To ustvari štiri tipe produktov in zato je možno ustvariti štiri tipe dizajn strategij.

Za uspešno postavitev arhitekture blagovnih znamk, razvoj korporativne identitete in dizajn strategij je pomembna tudi vloga dizajn managementa. Prvič se dizajn management omenja v Veliki Britaniji leta 1960. Takratna vloga dizajn managementa, je bila izpeljava projektov in vzdrževanje dobre komunikacije med dizajn agencijo in njenimi naročniki. V Združenih državah Amerike sta leta 1975 Bill Hannon in Collega-e of Art iz Massachusetts-a v Bostonu ustanovila Design Management Institute.

V poglavju o korporativni dizajn strategiji omenjamo, da je za dizajnerje sodelovanje z managementom težavna naloga. To mnenje je potrdil tudi dos Santos, ko je omenil, da vsakdo ve, da nedizajnerji sprejemajo dizajn odločitve vsak dan, ter da je med dizajnerji zato tendenca, ki to vidi kot napad na dizajn stroko. Še več, celo znotraj dizajna različne dizajn poddiscipline zavračajo medsebojno sodelovanje . Za management kot tak, je dizajn prav tako neznana informacija, kar naredi proces sodelovanja dizajna in managementa v medsebojnem skupnem delu še bolj kompleksnega.

Če je možno navesti ključne kategorije dizajna relativno enostavno, namreč kot:
+     produktni dizajn,
+     okoljski dizajn,
+     informacijski (ali komunikacijski) dizajn in
+     korporativna identiteta (ali dizajn blagovnih znamk),

potem je za dizajn management to nekoliko težje, a je hkrati pomembno izpostaviti dva cilja:
+     približati dizajn managerjem v korporacijah in
+     približati management dizajnerjem v korporacijah.

Prav tako obstaja splošno prepričanje, da dizajn in management pripadata dvema različnima kognitivnima sferama. To prepričanju ima temelje v medsebojni sumničavosti managerjev in kreativnih skupin. Če to prepričanje drži potem mora biti dizajn management del organizacijskega procesa učenja. Dizajn management sicer ni popolnoma jasno definirano poslanstvo, karier-na pot ali akademska disciplina. Dizajn management je predvsem most med dizajnom in poslovanjem posamezne korporacije.

V zaključkih magistrskega dela – med drugim – ugotavljamo bolj podrobno ali je sposobnost upravljanja s korporativnim ugledom sploh možna. Že leta 1956 je takratni predsednik korporacije IBM, Thomas J. Watson, zagovarjal trditev, da je dober dizajn dober posel. Zato je takrat g. Watson ustanovil inovativni dizajn program. Z druge strani je že v 80. letih 20 stoletja zelo znani profesor s poslovnih šol, Michael Porter, ugotavljal, da je za vsako korporacijo, z več ali ali manj različnimi poslovnimi enotami, suženjska pripadnost korporativni identiteti vsaj tako pomembna kot finančna disciplina. Če zaradi tega sklepamo, da je korporativna identiteta strateška zadeva, kako potem, da je v upravah korporacij prej izjema kot pravilo prisotnost dizajn managerjev ali vsaj dizajn svetovalcev? Vsaj v teoriji so taki predlogi sicer prisotni, namreč, da bi vsaj en član moral imeti tako oseben kot strokoven interes za dizajn, v gospodarstvu pa še vedno večinoma velja, da je dizajn (in tudi korporativna identiteta) zadeva o kateri uprave vedo najmanj.

Obstajajo številni primeri, ko v posamezni korporaciji ne obstaja t.i. dizajn šampion in je zato skorajda nemogoče pričakovati, da bo taka korporacija navdahnjena z dizajnom. Poznamo sicer predlog dveh znanih avtorjev, Angela-e Dumas in Michael-a Porter-ja, kako navdahniti korporacije z dizajnom, a sta avtorja že takrat priznavala, da korporacije redko jemljejo programe korporativne identitete resno. Poznamo tudi druge predloge. A je jasno, da noben priročnik korporativne identitete ali dizajn smernice ne morejo zagotoviti dizajn vizije ali dizajn strategije ali enostavno povedano dizajn fokusa posamezne korporacije. In hipotetično predvidevamo, da so korporacije z izdelanimi priročniki korporativne identitete oz. dizajn strategijami v izraziti manjšini. Tako potem ugotavljamo le, da korporacije v splošnem ne zavzemajo resnega pogleda bodisi na dizajn ali vsaj na korporativno identiteto.

V idealnem primeru je dizajn del korporativne in tržne strategije in obstaja tudi okvirno strinjanje s trditvijo, da je dizajn sposoben izboljšati dosežke v zelo širokem polju od korporativnega komuniciranja do konkurenčnosti držav. Na globalni ravni obstaja tudi telo, ki se imenuje Globalna svetovalna agenda v dizajnu in deluje pod okriljem Svetovnega ekonomskega foruma. In omeniti je treba primer Danske, ki je ena prvih držav, ki je razvila in sprejela nacionalno dizajn strategijo že v letu 1997. Uspešno so na Danskem to strategijo prenovili in usmerili fokus v podporo desetim večjih danskim korporacijam na leto.

Z namenom izvedbe nacionalne dizajn strategije so na Danskem razvili dva posebna programa, prvi je program za certificiranje in drugi program, ki je namenjen izvršnim dizajn direktorjem, ki niso dizajnerji po osnovnem poklicu. Danes ša kako dobro vemo, da države ekonomsko tekmujejo po zelo podobnih načelih kot medsebojno tekmujejo korporacije. Razlike je le, da korporacije to počnejo že precej dlje kot države. Če želi biti dizajn strategija uspešna rabimo pravo ravnovesje dizajna, politike in ekonomije.

V razvoju dizajn strategije ali v razvoju korporativne identite mora vsak dizajner priznati, da dizajn ni stvar življenja ali smrti. Uspešen odnosa med dizajnom in korporacijo je možno opisati kot odnos dominantnega in tihega partnerja, kot odnos vodje in sledilca. V takem primeru mora biti korporacija vodja, in dizajn nosilni sledilec. Prvi korak v takem odnosu je priznanje, da organizacija in upravljanje dizajna ni enostavna naloga. Sicer ni znano ali so tak prvi korak naredili tudi t.i. dizajn šampioni v korporacijah ampak je zelo znano, da so nekateri dizajn zavedni izvršni direktorji izrazito uveljavili njihove korporacije s pomočjo dizajna ali dizajn managementa (in zdi se, da ti dizajn šampioni ne priznavajo razlike med dizajnom in dizajn managementom). Dizajn zaveden izvršni direktor je tisti, ki pusti dovolj občutka za proces ustvarjanja, kar se potem odraža tudi v sami izvedbi dizajna. Za tak uspešen proces bodo morali dizajnerji in še posebej dizajn managerji približati dizajn poslovanju in ne obratno. Tudi ni pravega razloga pošiljati vse managerje neke korporacije na hitri tečaj dizajna in dizajn managementa. In tu je največji izziv za dizajn, v dejstvu namreč, da mora dizajn (ki ga zastopajo dizajnerji in dizajn managerji) natančno razumeti razliko med vizijo in poslanstvom, med korporativno strategijo in poslovnim načrtom in še posebej kako se na vse to navezuje dizajn strategija.

Kako torej prepričati korporacijo, da je dizajn (in tudi korporativna identiteta) strateškega značaja? Dizajn mora biti najprej sposoben jasno izraziti vrednost, ki jo ponuja. Če je namen, da dizajn postane strateškega pomena, potem je nujno znati opredeliti strateško vrednost dizajna. In kako doseči strateško raven dizajna? Pomembno je znati kvantificirati doprinos dizajna. In vedeti kako bomo dosegli, da bo dizajn ključen vir korporacije za dosego njenega poslanstva. Ko je dizajn resen partner v poslovnem procesu, je kritičnega pomena uveljaviti in vzdrževati dragocene odnose ter pripravljenost na dizajn svetovanje vsakomur v korporaciji. In nenazadnje veljat imeti v mislih, delo s poslovneži in ne izključno za poslovanje kot tako, če želi biti dizajn resen strateški partner.

Za sam razvoj in vzdrževanje korporativne identitete je smiselno upoštevati tri zakone korporativnega dizajna, ki nam povejo, kaj mora korporativni dizajn zagotavljati:
+     spremembo ampak razumno spremembo,
+     razumevanje, da dizajn pomeni dobro ureditev,
+     v ponovitvah je moč.

Prvi zakon pomeni, da je korporativni dizajn podlaga med preteklostjo, sedanjostjo in prihodnostjo. Drugi zakon  omogoča vezi, ki so se spletle tako v organizacijski kulturi korporacije kot v posameznikovih mislih in med podobami ter izkušnjami. In tretji zakon terja izvedbo korporativnega dizajna integralno in sistematično v vse manifestacije posamezne korporacije, bodisi, da gre za znak ali letno poročilo. Bodisi, da gre za poslovne tiskovine ali za zastavo korporacije.

Prvi cilj magistrskega dela, je ugotoviti ali obstaja povezava, in če obstaja kakšna je ta povezava, med korporativno identiteto in arhitekturo blagovnih znamk? Obširno smo v prvem in drugem poglavju dela obrazložili korporativno identiteto in arhitekturo blagovnih znamk. Osnovni minimum, ki bi ga morala sprejeti vsaka korporacija, je odločitev o štirih osnovnih strategijah blagovnih znamk in devetih pod-strategijah blagovnih znamk

Drugi cilj magistrskega dela je ugotoviti katera disciplina ali katere discipline imajo vodilno vlogo v razvoju in vzdrževanju procesa korporativne identitete? Kako upravljati proces dizajna vključujoč korporativno identiteto in znamčenje in še posebej arhitekturo blagovnih znamk? Kakšna je vloga dizajn managementa? V poglavjih o korporativni identiteti in znamčenju ter arhitekturi blagovnih znamk nesporno ugotavljamo, da mora biti tako proces razvoja korporativne identitete kot arhitekture blagovnih znamk, strateški. Zaradi tega je nujna vključitev managementa. Ne moremo z gotovostjo trditi, da je ravno dizajn management vodilna disciplina v razvoju korporativne identitete in znamčenja.

Možnosti upravljanja procesa dizajna in/ali korporativne identitete in znamčenja so odvisne predvsem od obstoječe razvitosti dizajna in dizajn managementa v korporaciji ter glede na obstoječe korporativne in poslovne strategije. V predstavitvi stopnišča dizajn magamenta razkrivamo možnosti, od neprisotnosti dizajn managementa, do projektnega dizajn managementa, dizajn managementa kot funkcije in najbolj razvita stopnja, dizajn management na ravni korporativne kulture. Za vsako raven velja tudi ustrezna dizajn osveščenost, načrtovanje, viri, strokovna podkovanost in proces.

Tretji cilj magistrskega dela je ugotoviti, ob predvidevanju, da je korporativna identiteta strateška zadeva, kateri viri znotraj korporacij in kateri zunanji viri so nujni za razvoj in vzdrževanje korporativne identitete? Kateri deležniki korporacije bi morali biti vključeni v proces razvoja korporativne identitete? V zaključkih tega magistrskega dela omenjamo trditev, da korporacije ne bi smele nikoli najemati dizajn managementa kot zunanjega vira. In po drugi strani bi korporacije morale nekatere projekte povezane z znamčenjem vedno iskati zunaj »hiše«. Obstajajo prednosti dizajna »izven hiše«, kot so:
+     široke življenjske izkušnje,
+     objektivno mnenje,
+     vnašanje izzivalnih perspektiv za reševanje problemov,
+     produkcija fokusiranih reštev.

In obstajajo prednosti dizajna »v hiši«, kot so:
+     aktivni deležniki korporacije,
+     fokusirane izkušnje,
+     skupen občutek namena,
+     vpliv na dizajn kulturo korporacije,
+     enostavnejši dostop do odločevalec in nosilcev moči.

Splošno pravilo pravi, da je v znamčenju produktov potrošnik na prvem mestu, a v znamčenju storitvenih korporacij so kadri na prvem mestu. Podobno bi znalo veljati za korporativno identiteto, namreč uveljaviti razliko glede na to ali je korporacija produktno ali storitveno orientirano. A vseeno obstaja pomembna razlika, identiteta mora biti vedno najprej zgrajena znotraj korporacije, zato ji tudi pravimo korporativna identiteta.

Katera so nadaljnja priporočila za dizajn management in dizajn strategije, še posebej v procesu razvoja in vzdrževanju korporativne identitete ter arhitekture blagovnih znamk? To sta vprašanji četrtega cilja tega magistrskega dela. Ključno priporočilo pravi, da mora dizajn postati strateški partner poslovanja, ker se obratno ne bo zgodilo. Zato da dizajn postane strateški, je ključna vloga dizajn managementa.

Viri uporabljeni v magistrskem delu

While representing my company Vizuarna in the New York, USA, I attented a very interesting round table in the organization of the Art Directors Club on Tuesday, May 11th.

The sponsor of the evening was Adobe, who is just launching its brand new CS5. So now everything is in 5’s. But to me especially interesting guest was, Ms. Emily Pilloton. She founded Project H Design. H stands for Humanity Habitats Health Happiness.

Ms. Pilloton quitted working as an agency designer because like she said product design industry makes a lot of crap. If there are some product really designed, they are usually in the luxury market. She believes design is a process and is about people. The strategy for the Project H Design is based on a 6 guiding principles, I would called it a design strategy.
#1 We design trough action.
#2 We design system not stuff.
#3 We design with, not for.
#4 We start locally and scale globally.
#5 We document, share, and measure.
#6 We build.
Respect! This is all I would dare to add this event. Especially because Emily presented a case in action for every principle. Really convincing. And that is not all. She has managed to write a book: Design Revolution: 100 Products That Empower People.

When you listen to Emily you really start to believe that design can and will change the world.

That is what we had in mind when developing Vizuarna’s 365i, a design tool for interactive annual reports. Taking the responsibility for the complete product.

Interactive annual reporting is a fact. The client needs to have a solution that will enable him not only a professional interactive report but also a possibility that the user groups will find the information they want. Annual reporting of the corporation has a complex content, be that describing the business milestones or presenting the rich info-graphics of the annual or presenting the financial results in the balance sheet, income statement and its disclosure’s. This is why Vizuarna’s 365i design tool enables to automate on screen presentation of the annual report and at the same time enabling standard user search experience. And on the other hand we did not forget that .pdf publication of the annual reports are still de facto standard, so the design tool enables to automate that part too.

Maybe we were lucky (or maybe smart) enough not to develop another flash flip book application. Really early in the process of idea testing, one of our first clients said: “But, hey guys, I do not want you to make me another like interactive book, with this buttons to move on. I do not want that.”. And yes, we didn’t developed that. The 365i enables complete standard user search experience.

Technically, it is based on .xml standard that is totality compliant with the .xbrl standard of the Securities and Exchange Commission from the USA. Even more deeply, the tool makes every object in the report known, be that a paragraph, various titles, graphs or other pie charts, or numbers in income statements of your profit line. All that in accordance with the corporate identity of the corporation. What that means? That by default user are able to find what they want. How? Usually by goggling, as we all have to admit.

We did not forget the processionals who use the annual reports as part of their job. We found out that financial departments are sending to bank annalists their own spreadsheets. Independently from the designed official annual report. The 365i enables to group all the spreadsheets (and that spreadsheets that are designed in accordance with the corporate identity) or only some of them. All the spreadsheets may also be published in the Download Centre, naturally locked in. But no need to look for the files and compiling them together when your CEO bumps into your office to send all the figures to some new important potential investor. With one click you choose all the spreadsheets and send them to appropriate address. And be sure that those spreadsheet are all following your corporate design guidelines so the corporate communications manager will be happy too (not to mention your in-house design department).

Steve Jobs also said in one other occasion: “Learning about serif and san-serif typefaces and varying the amount of space between letter combinations… all came back to me, and we designed it all into Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography”.  Similarly, we believe that 365i is the first design tool for complete interactive reporting enabling beautiful interactive annual reports.

Source of Steve Jobs quotes: Success, June 2010
Photo source: www.macstories.net

This case study includes corporations with its headquarters in New York. In the small sample there are corporations like: PEPSICO, Thomson Reuters, WPP, LVMH and others.

It was interesting that in many cases, the LinkedIn proved to be valuable source of the information where are the headquarters of some of the corporations. Like, if I search for our company Vizuarna headquarters, the first result on Google is the Vizuarna’s profile on LinkedIn. Interesting, isn’t it? The same way it is possible to find some other corporations headquarters. And yes. Many of the worlds most known corporations actually have their headquarters in New York. Not necessary in New York City but still.

And after studying the reporting systems of some of the corporations in New York, what have I found out? The most important lesson: all of them have actually a reporting system established. No mistakes. Some have appointed even executives director for investment affairs. What were some of the best features in this reports in my opinion? Three things really to remember:

+ first, one of the corporation studied has its interactive annual report made already in 2003. And the reports are published on the web site as way back as in 1999. And everything about the annual report is totally integrated into the site. Really remarkable. Interactive version made rather simple like a flash publication but with good possibilities of printing, mailing and others, be that the whole report or its part by pages.

+ second, promise of the annual report, let say some kind of tactical tag-line, a sort or even really a brand promise explained in short and in details. That’s the way to do it. and

+ third, the whole annual report presented in a summary. All the chapters are there but everything is in short. Really in short but with all relevant information. What do I really need to know about the income statement? There are really only 2×3 things to know. Revenues (in sales, financial, other) and expenses in the other way (again operations, financial and other) and that’s it. And some make even a summary from the summary. Shorter version of the short version. And that is true for other chapters of the annual report as well. That way it becomes more interesting for larger target groups not only for people who have to read the reports by duty. Enhanced transparency, I would called it.

There are some other things to be mentioned, like sharing possibilities on SlideShare or some reports really followed the line throughout the years. Just like their corporate strategy is to be followed (if successful), so have the annual reports its design consistency.

Gmail (Google elektronska pošta) se je v zadnjih letih močno razširil tako na fizične osebe kot tudi na pravne. Tako ima sedaj vsaka gospodarska družba možnost brezplačno ustvariti  do 50 elektronskih naslovov s svojo domeno. Seveda je storitev možno tudi nadgraditi z doplačilom. Ob elektronskih naslovih z lastno domeno, so zraven tudi drugi Google-ove programi, kot recimo Calendar, Docs… Več o tem najdete na strani http://www.google.com/apps/. Z preprosto prijavo hitro pridemo da administratorske konzole, kjer imamo možnost nastavitve lastnega znaka družbe in druge podobne zadeve. Ko je vse nared prestavimo trenutne MX strežnike na Google-ove in ob osvežitvi domen, naš novi sistem že deluje.

Med samo postavitvijo sistem sem naletel na različne težave. Recimo eden večjih je bila HTML podpis za elektronsko pošto. Namreč z nastavitvami, ki nam jih ponuja sistem je možno nastaviti le tekstoven (t.i. »plain«) podpis. Za take reči obstaja ogromno rešitev toda vsaka ima manjšo pomanjkljivost… Recimo “plugin” za Mozilla Firefox z imenom Wisestamp, onemogoči, da si lahko sami v sporočilu nastavljamo barve. Vendar sem po nekaj preizkusih prišel do zaključka, da je trenutno najboljša rešitev zaznamek (“bookmark”), ki nam ga pomaga narediti skripta na strani http://projets.geekfg.net/.

Brezplačna različica sistema Google apps ponuja le 7GB prostora za shranitev emailov. To ni nevemkako veliko, saj se kmalu predal napolni (odvisno od pridobljenih priponk). Res je sicer, da pa največji problem še vedno ostajajo vdori. Sploh popularni so na večjih brezplačnih aplikacijah, kjer imajo nadobudneži izzive. Obstajajo številni blog zapisi kako so vdrli v elektronski predal, pobrali pomembne podatke… Toda to je problem na katerega sami ne moremo vplivati kaj veliko…

So pa seveda tudi velike prednosti, saj ko je elektronska pošta postavljena, ne rabimo nobenega administratorja za dodajanje uporabnikov, spreminjanje njihovih pravic in imamo zelo malo možnosti da se bo sesul strežnik ali storitev na kateremu se izvaja delovanje. Podpira tudi IMAP strežnik, kar je mnogim ključnega pomena.

The Designful Company: How to build a culture of nonstop innovation by Marty Neumeier

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Very interesting author. I’m glad I run into this book. Mr. Neumeier writes from the position of somebody who know how to write and who has experience with what he is writing about.

One of the thing that has surprised me a lot was a clear confidence that design management is never to be outsourced. But at the same time many of the design skills should always be outsourced. For me, very useful point.

The second thing. This was not a surprise. Because I could agree more. When companies are growing or if they want to grow, the need a Chief Design Officer or Chief Brand Officer, Chief Innovation Officer, VP of Creativity – you name it. I really couldn’t agree more. I even have a presentation on the subject, its in Slovene, if you understand some, here you’ll find it: http://bit.ly/90yhNC.

Then there are some other things I’m glad I found out. In 1990’s Samsung paid employees in Innovation Design Lab to study in their new building six days a week for a year long. !!! Know they have a 380 company-trained designers that are helping to launch 100 products per year. In Slovenia some academics have proposed that a former textile giant Mura should have around 500 designer but I doubt that the managers are listening.

In the book there is an interesting approach presented to the innovation process, called stage-gate innovation. In four stages it goes from: + seed money to develop concept, + small bet to develop strategy, + medium bet to model and test, and + large bet to launch in market.

One question with a pretty good answer. How do you get a bunch of independent minded professionals to play nice together? By establishing sensible rules of engagement. Easy to say, harder to put in real life in my opinion.

And then there is a fascinating scheme what should actually CEO-s do. If the want to be visionary leaders they need to managers of stories. The scheme goes into six categories. Really fascinating. And then there is another fascinating scheme. About deep design. It goes from Ideology, Resonance, Emotion, Reason, Perception to Vision, Identity, Culture, Products, Brands. Wow!

Is there anything funny in this book. Yes. If we want to describe the creative process this is something deeper as weeding describes sex. Was that understood? I guess not.

What is third brain thinking. Thinking with logic and inspiration. Design thinking. Simple. Design thinkers tend to be: + empathetic, + intuitive, + imaginative, + idealistic. Also future should be designed, not decided. Because difference and design bring together the delight.

And two things to the end. Design is moving from “toasters and posters” to include processes, systems and organizations. And design will force Wall Street to change the rules of investing. Yes, I toast to that.

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Corporate design is an instrument for transformation and, at the same time, a guarantee of continuing corporate recognition (Van Cauwenberge, 2008). And that could be developed only if the proper corporate identity audit has been made.

A corporate identity audit has been developed in 9 steps. These 9 steps are: + step 1: select the audit team; + step 2: asses key elements in the corporate identity; + step 3: determine who should be interviewed; + step 4: conduct audit interviews; + step 5: audit corporate identity factors; + step 6: summarize salient points; + step 7: determine the options for change; + step 8: present the audit results; + step 9: use the audit data to improve the corporate identity (Ollins and Selame, 2002).

Sources:
Ollins, Wally and Selame Elinor. 2002. The Corporate Identity Audit. Pearson Education. 130 p.
Van Cauwenberge, Rennat. 2008. Corporate design instrument for change. In a transition, the corporate design should fit the new mental attitude in de Bruijne A.; P Brandt, Hans; de Boer, Sieds. (ed) 2008. Identity 2.0. Bis Publishers. 229 p.

There are some proposals from different authors. It seems that the proposals depend from the point of view  of the authors. If authors write from the perspective of corporate consultants, then they develop a rough process that uses the business language and it should appeal to the boards of the corporations.

Such a business proposal of a process approach in developing corporate identity or other design fields to gain a competitive advantage usually include different steps: + articulating the firms competitive strategy; + design requirements and resources; + insuring communication among design and other functions; + the design brief; + measuring performance (Olson et al., 2000). It is somehow obvious that designers themselves need some different and more specific information.

The specific and different information could be presented in complex models or could be put in simple laws of corporate design that are the constitution of the corporate identity. In the process of developing the corporate identity, corporate design needs to assure: + change, but sensible change; + understanding that design is order, and + repetition is power. First law means that corporate design provides the footing, a bridge between the past, present and the future. The second law is about considering the ties that have been forged in cultures and individual minds between images and experiences. And the third law means that corporate is to be integrally and systematically applied to all manifestation of a corporation, be that a sign or annual report. Be that a letterhead or a flag (Van Cauwenberge, 2008).

It is obvious that what is needed is not cosmetic design but the essence of the corporation.

Sources:
Olson, Eric M. et al. 2000. Managing Design for Competitive Advantage: A Process Approach. Design Management Journal: 11/4, p. 10-17.
Van Cauwenberge, Rennat. 2008. Corporate design instrument for change. In a transition, the corporate design should fit the new mental attitude in de Bruijne A.; P Brandt, Hans; de Boer, Sieds. (ed) 2008. Identity 2.0. Bis Publishers. 229 p.

Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I really don’t remember when was the last time I read a book in a day. The author himself suggest that this is a book for one longer flight. It’s true. I would absolutely agree.

I had borrowed a copy of a book from a college at my work few years ago. I have to say second edition was worth buying. Everybody involved in creating web pages and other user interfaces should gain a lot by only reading this book.

What have I learned? Web pages should be at least self-explanatory if not already self-evident. I agree still in 2010, that there are plenty of web users who still type a site entire URL in the Google search box (or as author claims in Yahoo’s). In designing web page one should think like designing great billboards. You should make it obvious what is clickable. There is no smart answer to the dilemma wide versus deep site hierarchies. And yes, web navigation better be good. Author is a fan of tabs. Interesting. Usually the interface problem is just a reflection of deeper and harder to solve dilemma. The mission of an organization online is not the same as its (corpo)brand mission offline. All Web use is basically idiosyncratic.

One of the things I liked the most was the proposal of the Lost-our-lease testing. I surely hope that at my company we are going to try it out very soon. One funny thing I am going to remember is that FAQs are not QWWPWA (Questions we wish people would ask). It is interesting to know, in USA there is a Section 508 of the 1988 Amendments to the Rehabilitation Act, specifying accessibility standards for IT (and therefore web pages too).

Other books/articles that author recommends and I have to put it on my to read list is from Gary Klein: Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions and from Mary Theofanos & Janice Redish: Guidelines for Accessible and Usable Web Sites: Observing Users Who Work with Screen Readers.

Yes, actually I learned some other details too but this should be enough for you to decide whether to read this book.

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Knjiga “Digging into wordpress” nosi zelo primeren naslov, ker se spušča v marsikatero podrobnost. Sama vsebina govori tako o tem kako nastaviti prve wordpress strani ter tudi kako nastaviti in kje se nahajajo moduli (plugini). Že v startu nas opozarja na varnostne luknje in kako se na nek način zaščitimo pred njimi. Razlaga tudi v detajle in opise nekaterih splošnih funkcij, ter razloži zgradbo in grob opis kako spremeniti oz. narediti nove sheme (“template”).  Bralca pritegne tudi s komičnimi izseki, citiram “If you are buying this because your boss is making you design a site around wordpress and you are not too happy about it…Bummer”.

Navezovanje na njihovo spletno stan (http://digwp.com) je prisotno pri vsakem malo večjem članku in ob primerih za boljše razumevanje. Vendar pa knjiga ni namenjena učenju kompleksnih izdelav modulov oz. naprednemu programiranja, ki ga ponuja wordpress platforma kot taka.

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