Priscila Lena Farias / Anna Calvera Marcos da Costa ... - Blucher

OFFENHENDEN, Camila
a select group of so-called “designer” goods, but as a methodological
model containing inherent values applicable, to a greater
or lesser extent, to the entire range of goods and services an
economy offers and which overlaps progressively more with
the world of business. As opposed to engineering and marketing,
which focus on production and commercial aspects, respectively,
design articulates both dimensions and can function as a
link between different areas of a company that speak different
languages. As Beatriz Galán explains: “Its capacity for symbolic
analysis enables it to re-position and resignify other knowledge
and resources toward corporate –in particular qualitative– goals;
it has the ability to read contexts. It identifies and mobilizes its
store of knowledge –both within the organization and territorially–
and assimilates it within the company; it codifies, represents
knowledge –either implicit or incorporated– for its combination
in denser, interdisciplinary knowledge, and in more complex
products; it possesses the logistical ability to mobilize resources
in due time and form; by means of values of accessibility, equity,
sustainability and net worth valuation, design thinking links
companies with the value-ideas of the community, incorporates
them and externalizes them, makes them visible and translates
them into models of the globalized economy.” 4
Design professionals can work within a company on new product
design, corporate or institutional image design, the redesign
of existing products, packaging design, promotional material
design, commercial furnishings design, pop, stands and display
cases, the design of in-house elements, the drawing up of plans,
technical documentation and 3d representation, on editorial design,
digital, multimedia and web design, on the development
of dies, molds, models and mock-ups, and in strategic design
research and consultancy. The correct development of these activities
has the capability to impact positively on business performance,
in both its commercial and production aspects.
To highlight the contributions design can make to corporate performance,
we undertook a study of its impact for which we developed
an analytical tool which has been applied to a series of cases involving
companies in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area.
3. Work Methodology
The present project offers the hypothesis that design is a tool capable
of improving business performance. To this end, a qualitative
study was made of a number of cases involving companies
which have in recent times had a significant experience with the
incorporation of design –in any of its multiple fields – either with
in-house or outside designers. The analysis was conducted on
the basis of semi-structured interviews to company directors,
on one hand, and to those responsible for the design studio
contracted or the in-house design department, on the other. The
information thus obtained was complemented by documentation
provided by both parties. Over thirty cases were studied, of
which eight were chosen for inclusion in this investigation. The
4 In the Approaches section, see the paper by Beatriz Galán: “Creative companies
and intangible knowledge.”
aim of the project is, clearly, not to provide a generalization on
the basis of the results of the chosen case studies, but to generate
a tool for analysis of the impact of the commissioning of
design by companies and its application in a series of exemplary
cases. This analytical tool was developed considering the level of
innovation in a series of design variables, and the level of impact
on both commercial and production aspects of the companies.
All the cases were analyzed using the same format and the aim
of this publication is that it be appropriate for use as a tool to
analyze future cases. The design incorporation impact has been
analyzed in each case by three matrix: design innovation matrix,
business impact matrix and productive impact matrix.
Design innovation matrix
This matrix offers a series of variables inherent to the design
activity on the basis of which it is possible to evaluate the level
of innovation of a specific design project. Four levels have been
established to indicate the level of contribution of each of these
variables.
• Technological-productive axis: Refers to the contributions of
design in the use of resources, instruments and procedures
to materialize a product or service. (Use of raw materials,
consumables, processes, finishing details, assembly, final
finish, etc.)
• Usability axis: Refers to the contributions of design to enable
the effective, efficient and satisfactory application of an innovation
within a specific context of use. Usability is related
to the interface and interaction established between a product
and its respective users (ergonomics, communication of
uses and operational areas, security, legibility, etc.).
• Identity axis: Refers to the contributions of design upon
formulating the intrinsic features of the company that individualize
it among its competition. It also includes symbolic
aspects associated with the definition of qualifying values
and meanings, associated with subjective interpretation
and valuation (brand image, corporate identity, brand usage,
product families, style, product semantics, aesthetics, etc.).
• Environmental axis: Refers to the contributions of design in
the reduction of the environmental impact of the product or
service throughout its life cycle, considering its entire value
chain, with the air of preserving natural resources (recyclable
materials, reusable parts, minimization of the amount of
raw materials, processes and energy used, etc.).
• Social axis: Refers to the contributions of design oriented
toward solving the needs of the most vulnerable sectors of
society (the elderly, the handicapped, low income groups,
cooperatives, etc.).
Design Frontiers: Territiories, Concepts, Technologies 314