Innovation by design - Centre for Design Innovation

Published in September 2008 by:Centre for Design InnovationITSBIC, Institute of Technology SligoBallinode, Co. Sligo, IrelandISBN XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

IntroductionIrish companies that use design aremore successful than those that donot. This fact was borne out of researchpublished by the Centre for DesignInnovation in the beginning of 2007.The challenge was to create a practicalapproach and tools that organisationscould use to innovate and grow.The result was Innovation by Design,an 18-month programme of workshops,research and mentoring for sixNorthwest organisations that beganin June 2007. Precision toolmaker.Agricultural co-operative. Softwaredeveloper. Third level institute. Airport.Heavy machinery manufacturer. Sixvery different organisations across sixvery different sectors; yet all with thecommon goal to grow their businesses.Within 15 months different participantshave launched new brands; generatedhundreds of ideas; explored newmarkets; created prototypes for newproducts; redesigned their productdevelopment processes; deliverednew and enhanced services to theircustomers; briefed and contracteddesign agencies; and one evenrenamed their company. Everyonehas applied a design approach tounderstanding customers’ needs first,which is key to identifying the rightideas to commercialise.But don’t take our word for it, read aboutAvenue Mould Solutions, Connacht Gold,Infacta, Institute of Technology Sligo,Ireland West Airport, and Mantis Cranesto see what they have accomplished.In the end, success of the programmewill be judged by the companies thattook part and these are their stories intheir own words.Justin KnechtProgramme ManagerCentre for Design Innovation

CASE STUDY1Defining the right challengeInvolving the real experts; your customersFrom first impression to lasting impressionDesign is an investment worth making

Avenue Mould SolutionsAvenue Mould Solutions specialises in the production ofprecision tooling primarily for the pharmaceutical sector.The company is one of a few remaining mould makers in theNorthwest of Ireland, which used to be a national centre fortool & die production. The company is a leader in its field andhas technical capabilities that make them an elite toolingprovider in Europe. Still, Avenue faces competitive challengesof a softening market, price sensitivity and physical location toacquiring new customers.

Our Design Associate wasthe ‘tipping point’ of thedecision to focus on ourexisting customers.

Defining the right challengeAt the outset of the Innovation byDesign programme, Avenue was lookingto develop and market a new line oftheir own products for the first time; arisky proposition. Through conversationswith their Design Associate, JonathanBall, they worked towards enhancingtheir service offering to existingcustomers. “We didn’t have a lot ofproduct development competencyin-house and would have had todedicate a lot of resources to thatproject,” explained Managing Director,Felim McNeela. “Our Design Associatewas the ‘tipping point’ of the decisionto focus on our existing customers.”On reflection, Sales Manger DesForde added, “We would have beendoing a new product in an old way.Now we could springboard on thetools and techniques we learnedshould we choose to do a newproduct in the future.”Over the fifteenth month engagementwith the programme, design associatesspend five days working with eachcompany. “The relationship with theDesign Associate was very beneficial,and I wonder if we even could havegotten more from it; even more contacttime. He had a lot of relevant experiencefrom our point of view,” said McNeela.Part project manager and mentor,design associates help the companiesapply what is learned through threeworkshops during the programme. “Thedesign associates were the catalyst. Ifwe had been left alone to do the work,it probably would have been put on thelong finger,” explained Forde. “It wasn’tclosed mentoring. You weren’t relying onthe mentor to do the work. We learnedby doing things ourselves,” addeddesigner Andrew Hodson.4| CASE STUDY ONE: Av e n u e M o u l d S o lu t i o n s

The benefits reallybecame clear to uswhen we began doinguser-centred design.

Involving the real experts; your customersFour employees, including ManagingDirector, Felim McNeela, were exposedto new research tools to betterunderstand their customer needsin order to enhance their serviceoffering at the first user-centred designworkshop. The workshop activitiesprovided the first experiences in tryingout design research techniques, as wellas other tools for prototyping ideas andaddressing teamwork skills. “The onething that stood out was building thetower,” recalls Andrew Hodson. “Therewere four of us there and we got allthe cups and stuff to put together andwere given what to do. At one point Istopped and looked at the table andDes was doing one thing; Felim wasdoing another thing; and Paul was doinganother thing. We were supposed tobe working as a team and each of ushad a different way or different view onhow to get the job done and none ofus were working together at all. I thinkeverybody noticed that. We neededto start working together to get anend goal.”Armed with the new techniques, theAvenue team planned an initial usercentredvisit to key client CovidienHealthcare; not entirely sure all the toolswere appropriate to use with clients.To be safe, they prepared standardquestionnaires. “We had eight differentbatches of ten sheets of questionnairesthat we never used. We should framethem,” recalls Forde. “Three minutesinto it, we were whisked away to aproduction meeting. The plant managercalled us over. We kept a respectabledistance and he said ‘Come closer.’”With surveys in the bin and cameras inhand, the group was invited into teammeetings, offices, the manufacturingfloor and the tooling workshop. They leftwith a list of potential improvementsthat were quickly implemented andnever would have been discoveredwithout design research techniques.“The benefits really became clearto us when we began doing usercentreddesign. It related specificallyto ourselves and the problems that wehave had,” said MD, Felim McNeela.6| CASE STUDY ONE: Av e n u e M o u l d S o lu t i o n s

The first tangible addition was aredesigned mould manual for allcustomers, along with a quick-startguide (laminated for durability and stainprotection in the tool room) that couldbe used without wading through anA4 lever arch file. “We were providinga manual as good as our competitors.When we were shown everything on thetable and able to cherry-pick the bestfrom each, we were able to deliver amould manual they said was the best ofthem all,” states Forde.“Our communication is better withour customer. We’ve always listened,but we’ve taken it to the next step.”The first visit was so successful, thatAvenue completed a further three visitsto customers in Ireland and the UK.“The best way of summing it up is onecustomer at the end of the day said thisis something we should be doingwith our own customers. Can we geton the programme?”Taking photographs made insightsvisible to a wider internal audience thanjust the few staff that made the visits.“Everyone is more aware in the place. Wehad a meeting of everyone and fed backthe customer comments. The picturesare great evidence. You can keep goingback to them. I can describe what I hadseen over and over and you wouldn’t getit, but as soon as I show you a pictureof how the guy organises his manuals.There it is. Also it’s apparent how weneed to try and stand out from the rest,”says Forde.|9 CASE STUDY ONE: Av e n u e M o u l d S o lu t i o n s

The whole approach to howwe manage customers hasimproved significantly,particularly at the early stagesof developing a relationship.

From first impression to lasting impressionAvenue mapped their entire sellingprocess and began to consciously“make value visible” by designinghow customer visits would work andselectively designing bespoke materialsfor each potential customer. “To methat was the best outcome from theprogramme. It provided a structure. Wewere under-selling in small and not-sosmall ways. Perhaps we were lettingthe customer manage us as opposedto us managing the customer,”McNeela explains.When looking at a customer relationshipas creating a first impression to a lastingimpression, details as mundane asgreetings by the receptionist and howthe reception area is received becomepossible points of differentiation.“There was stuff there we wouldn’thave generated ourselves, or had anawareness of. The whole approachto how we manage customers hasimproved significantly, particularlyat the early stages of developing arelationship; the story we tell at the startand the story we tell over the course ofour relationship and how we managetheir interaction with Avenue.” Theuser-centred visits, which at first werean experiment, were now a requirementat the beginning of all new customerrelationships and as a regular reviewwith existing customers.The service map also highlights theimportance of each individual withinthe organisation, as they all are potentialtouch points for the customer. Duringtours of the factory floor, Avenue canhighlight the specific skills of theirpeople, perhaps their most valuableasset. “It’s not just top management,”says Hodson. “Now the toolmakers,designers … all tiers know what theydo affects the customers, even cleaning,marking, polishing, finish. All thedifferent levels are brought intothe process.”10|11 CASE STUDY ONE: Av e n u e M o u l d S o lu t i o n s

We would have already beenproponents of good designat Avenue, but our definitionof design has expanded toinclude service.

Design is an investment worth makingSpeed of implementation has beenhampered by the departure of somekey staff. Avenue has increased spendagainst design despite weathering aneconomic downturn and softening sales.Managing Director Felim McNeela seesthe benefit in investing against the newselling process. “We would have alreadybeen proponents of good design atAvenue, but our definition of design hasexpanded to include service. The marketitself is changing and what it is lookingfor now is slightly different to what wethought it was looking for two to threeyears ago. We are focusing on ourcore competencies.”Avenue contracted Donegal designfirm Carton LeVert to help realise asystem of collateral to support theselling process with customers. This isn’tthe first time Avenue has turned to adesign consultancy for brand supportthough the programme in McNeela’sview has provided a “more focused andspecific brief this time. (We are) farbetter prepared.”The programme has already yieldedpositive results around internalprocesses (selling, managing andtracking design changes, customerreview); improved company culturethrough communication andinvolvement; and produced a wellreceivednew mould-manual andquick-start guide. Many employeesagreed “that Avenue already had goodrelationships with our customers, butthis took us to the next level.”McNeela had an expectation at theoutset of the Innovation by Designprogramme that it would be of benefitto the company and is confident thatthis new approach to delivering servicewould make them more competitive,grow new markets and help Avenuesell on the basis of added value andinnovation as opposed to price. We lookforward to revisiting Avenue MouldSolutions in twelve months to bettermeasure the quantitative returns onimplementing these changes.12|13 CASE STUDY ONE: Av e n u e M o u l d S o lu t i o n s

CASE STUDY2Have you really looked?Build to thinkTools and techniques cannot triumph over culture

Connacht GoldConnacht Gold was established in 2000 by the merger of NorthConnacht Farmers’ Co-Operative Society (NCF) and KiltoghertCo-Operative Agricultural & Dairy Society Ltd. The business issplit into a number of divisions: retail sales and foodservice,dairy ingredients, livestock and property marketing,agribusiness, property development and financial services.The Retail Sales and Foodservice division has an ambition tobe the number two in retail milk and specific butter segmentsthrough continual development of the Connacht Gold brandand strategic new product development.

People will tell you ina consumer group whatyou want to hear.

Have you really looked?The question posed by Connacht Goldwhen selected to take a part in theInnovation by Design programme was“how do we de-commoditise milkand butter?”The user-centred design workshophighlighted the difference betweenmarket research and design research.Connacht Gold had employed focusgroups, but had never engaged directlywith the consumer by observing theirbehaviour at the shelf. Pat Cummins,Research & Development, agrees that“if you see them picking it off the shelf,I think that’s more evidence there mightbe an opportunity there.”Given that most shopping baskets are80% the same week to week, whatprompts a change of brand or product?Two teams led by Design AssociateJonathan Ball and Programme ManagerJustin Knecht observed consumers atlocal Dunnes and Tesco stores to getsome insight on shopping patterns.“I thought that was very insightful,”said John Byrne, National Sales Manager.“Going forward, we need to get betterinsight into what is actually happeningin the store. I think it’s even better thandoing focus groups, as people will tellyou in a focus group what you wantto hear.”Connacht Gold described their businessas “essentially adding value to butterfat,milk and cream”. Gathering insights instores was augmented by an in-homeexercise, playfully named Fridge-to-Face.Connacht Gold employees, familiesof the Centre for Design Innovationand friends of the Design Associatefollowed consumer use of butter andmilk products from the fridge and ontobreakfast tables and into recipes.John Byrne recalls, “In the milk category,you’d look into the fridge and see highvaluebranded products like Tropicanaand Innocent smoothies sitting besideretailer own label milk. How do youget people to see milk as not justa commodity?”16|17 CASE STUDY T WO: Co n n ac h t G o l d

The fact that studentscould do that is amassive achievement.

Build to thinkMargins are thin and investment is lowinto developing new products, so aproject was arranged between ConnachtGold and fourth-year industrial designstudents at the Institute of TechnologySligo. The creativity and designinnovation course is one of the fewproduct design programmes in Ireland.The course runs over four years withthe students encouraged to workclosely with industry on ‘live’ projectswhenever possible.The six-week project challenged thestudents to look at packaging for bothmilk and butter, based on user-centredresearch, that could be launched in 12months time using existing packagingtechnologies with minimum capitalinvestment; and also packaging forlaunch in three to five years time thatwould stretch the sector conventions.Both approaches would have to takeaccount packaging materials and brandguidelines given at the initial briefingby Connacht Gold. All proposals wouldbe for mainstream production. RobertHosey, Technical Manager, agreed“we gave them a fairly difficult brief.Very narrow constraints.”Connacht Gold Retail and Foodservicearranged visits to the diary and tocurrent packaging suppliers. Thedesign students completed additionalfridge to face photosets; evaluated thecompetitive landscape at home andin the UK; and investigated emergingtrends in the dairy and food sector.Connacht Gold came back to the collegefor a presentation of the research. PatCummins and the rest of the ConnachtGold team were already impressed.“You get radical independence from thestudents. You get a completely unbiased,different view of it.”At the final presentation, studentspresented highly finished prototypes.One silver carton was used in storealongside competitive products fortesting preference by the design team.“One woman put it in her cart and likedit so much she didn’t want to give itback.” Estimates of manufacturing costsand retail prices were provided. “Theamount of work they put in was beyondwhat we expected,” said Byrne. “Almostfinished packaging from concept to thetable. The fact that students could dothat is a massive achievement.”18|19 CASE STUDY T WO: Co n n ac h t G o l d

It takes more than a gooddesign to get a productto market.

Good design is not enoughConnacht Gold believes the nature ofproduct development in the food sectoroffers unique challenges. The abilityto innovate is also limited by capitalinvestment. Pat Cummins says, “The foodindustry is a good bit different than theengineering industry, for example. Thefirst priority is to maximise the existingresources as it is not often feasible tochange product shape and designs on aregular basis.”Diarmuid Timmons, chair of the industrialdesign programme at IT Sligo reflects,“The students learned an invaluablelesson. Although they came up withexcellent designs and solutions thatstaff members at Connacht Gold andconsumers in supermarkets wereimpressed with, none of their ideas wereimplemented. They learned that it takesmore than a good design to get a productto market. Consumer sentiment and theall important views of the supermarketbuyers influence the launch of a newproduct or the re-branding of an existingone. The project gave them an excellentlesson in design for a low-margin,high-volume business such as the dairyproduce industry.”Even when a good idea reaches themarket, it’s not the consumer who alwaysgets the final say. Cummins states “thereality is that new food products have tomake sense not alone to the consumer,but to the distributor, the retailer and themanufacturer; and good products can fallat any one of these fences.”The team reports the programme hashad little to no effect on the business todate, but John Byrne is optimistic that“the key learnings will be implemented,as we approach NPD differently.” Byrnedid complete a visit to the UK withDesign Associate Jonathan Ball toperform in-store research for a potentialexport opportunity.The team found it difficult gettingbroad buy-in within the organisation.Individuals were “not seeing the valuethe programme could bring outsidethe everyday chores which have to bedone as part of your job. Again it’s aboutculture; you need to go and grow aculture of innovation.”20|21 CASE STUDY T WO: Co n n ac h t G o l d

CASE STUDY3

InfactaInfacta Ltd. is a provider of online marketing applicationscompeting against everything from “one-man, part-time,bedroom-companies” to properly staffed, full-serviceorganisations. Their flagship product, GroupMail, waslaunched in 2001. After nearly a decade in the marketplace,Infacta decided to review its profile and examine its visionfor the future.

Once I started attendingthe workshops I knewit wasn’t just about howthings look. This wasabout everything we do.

People do things they willnever tell youInfacta is a holding name for otherbrands and has limited recognition andmeaning outside of the Irish marketwhere 99% of its income is generated.Infacta’s Vice President of Marketing,Robert Martin, assumed managementof the company’s involvement on theInnovation by Design programme. “Wehad a number of different products andno consistent branding on our productsor throughout our organisation. Peopledidn’t know Infacta from GroupMail.”The first user-centred design workshopdid more than expose Infacta employeesto new tools and techniques tounderstand their users, it changed theirperception of what design meant. “OnceI started attending the workshops Iknew it wasn’t just about how thingslook. This was about everything we do.How our actual products work. How doour customers use the product? How dothey find the products? How usable arethe products? Is it easy enough for them;simple enough? From the very moment… I know you call them touch points …they get in contact with us to buyingit, downloading it, installing it, using it.It’s all about that, not just say, how ourwebsite looks.”Martin agrees that workshops alonedon’t provide a lot of value. “The followupis so important because it becomesspecific to your business. You can getthese guys in to do workshops; yousee them once and they’re gone. Thefollow-up helped us set up how theuser-centred design work should go. Thefollow-up was really, really important.”Infacta had just begun development ofa new software project, Miximo, aimedinitially at volunteer sports managementsuch as the GAA and rugby clubs. Withnew tools in hand, employees created apicture diary of volunteers performingregistrations for the local rugby club andbegan inviting potential users of theirsoftware into the office to observe themperforming tasks online. “We’ve gottenpeople in here and watched what theyare doing on screen and used that in thedesign of the new Miximo project, butnot only that, we’re taking it and rollingit back to how our other products likeGroupMail work.”24|25 CASE STUDY THREE: INFACTA

One of the main legacies of this(programme) is our new brandand how our brand is perceived.We’re going to completelyre-work everything we have.

Brand is a thousand small gesturesInfacta brought different employeesalong to all three workshops in orderto expose as many staff as possible;from the CEO to reception. However,the penny dropped at the brandingworkshop. “Every workshop wasexcellent, but one in particular was thebrand touch points. It seems so obvious,but made so much sense. You’re like,damn, these are so important. We needto sharpen our game up here.”In the days following the workshop,in true Internet time, the Infacta teamquickly contacted an establisheddesign agency to draft a brief for a totalre-brand. Martin reflects “that was amistake on our part, but we had goodfeedback from other companies andwe’re like ‘Why do we need to wastetime vetting other companies?’ We wentahead and did it, but their first26|27 CASE STUDY THREE: INFACTAdocument left us completely flat. Wewent back (to our Design Associate)and did it the proper way. Helping withthe design brief was key. We had noexperience with that.”After creating a written brief internally,Infacta sought proposals from five Irishand one UK agency before choosingDonegal-based design firm, CartonLeVert. “One of the main legacies ofthis (programme) is our new brand andhow our brand is perceived. We’re goingto completely re-work everything wehave. We’re going to have completeconsistency.”It was clear after some initial workthat the company name needed to bechanged; a difficult task on its own butbeing an Internet-based company, madeeven more so by having to secure a .comname. “100% of our customerscome through our website. Thedomain name is critical. This cannot beunderestimated.”Infacta and Carton LeVert keptemployees involved throughout theprocess. “We had a workshop with all theemployees and they got a better senseof the whole. It was great for them tosee what we were trying to achieve;how design affected not only marketing,but products and customer service.I think everyone realises now thatthere is something in this.” The newcompany name hasn’t been determinedyet, but “there are some great namesfloating around.”Martin pulls out a big brand comparisonto make his point. “Apple didn’t justwake up one morning and have all thiscool stuff. Their brand is always thesame. When you see something yourecognise it is an Apple product.”

The user doesn’t careabout the technology,it’s the front-end theycare about.

It starts (and ends) with the userCustomer support was alreadyconsidered a key point of differentiationfor Infacta, though Martin admits,“ aftergoing to the workshops, we saw thatthere were still areas where we couldimprove.” The culture of the organisationis showing significant signs of becomingeven more customer focused.Infacta are trying to get more feedbackcontinuously from customers now tosee how they use the software. “Over thepast few months we released a beta ofour GroupSurveys product. We sent outsome emails, ‘Do you mind if we giveyou a call?’ We got some feedback on theactual steps to create a survey. Changedthe layout. Users came back and said‘Fantastic. The new layout is far easierand simpler to use. We can’t wait forthe release.’”28|29 CASE STUDY THREE: INFACTANot only are Infacta consulting withcustomers, they’re also talking tothe rest of their employees. Informalchats in the kitchen that might havebeen forgotten are now a little morestructured. “Up to now it’s been, ‘thiswould be a cool feature.’ Meetings wouldbe ‘should we go down this route or thisroute’ … and now we don’t really carewhat route you go down as long as itmakes it simple for the customer.”Infacta already had an innovativeprogramme in place where developerswould field support for the productsthey were working on. The workshopsreinforced the importance of puttingusers first. “All the developers now havemore of a sense of ‘we need to focus onthe users’ as opposed to just focusingon the technology. The user doesn’t careabout the technology, it’s the front-endthey care about.”When new staff is hired, Infacta nowtreats it as an opportunity for a littleresearch and customer insight. “The firstthing we do is ask them to go purchaseGroupMail online and download thesoftware and watch what they’re doing.Before we wouldn’t have watched themand taken notes on certain things theywere doing.”Taking time to integrate design researchinto the development process has hadan effect on time to market. “The oneproblem is it has taken us a lot longer toget where we’re wanting to go. The waywe used to go was just to release stuff,get feedback and then make changes.Now we’re looking to use (user-centred)design before we create the firstrelease of the product. That’s a slowerturnaround for us.”

OK, this is not aboutdesign, this is aboutour whole company.

An investment in design is agood investmentInfacta believes that lots of smallthings add up to a good overall userexperience. “We’re looking at how tochange a lot of the small little thingswe do to make us appear nicer tocustomers. Even small little things likeour auto-responders that tell peopleyou’re in a queue and we will get back toyou. Let’s make it a little more friendly.”Involvement on the programme hasalready contributed to developingnew products and services and Martinbelieves that this approach will helpInfacta be more competitive anddevelop new markets. Customerscurrently buy their products mainly onprice, but “once we get things right” heexpects the company to be competingmore on added value and usability.Their investment in design has increasedsignificantly. They have even hiredtheir first in-house designer. “In thepast we would have hired anotherdeveloper.” Infacta are now working withan established agency on branding asopposed to turning to a smaller outfitfor logos as they might have done inthe past.Martin claims “the whole thing thatyou’re doing here is changing ourcompany. Not just our marketing, butour development and the customerservice we offer. In the beginning wethought it was about design, and thenwe realised, ‘OK, this is not about design’,this is about our whole company, thisis our whole strategy, this our wholebusiness plan. It’s changed the design ofthe Miximo project. It’s changed the waywe design products in the future. It’schanged the whole company branding,in that we’re changing our name.It’s heightened our expectation ofcustomer service.”Our interview ended with an invitation.“I’d love in a year’s time to come backand talk about how Miximo goes.”Offer accepted.30|31 CASE STUDY THREE: INFACTA

CASE STUDY4

The Institute of Technology SligoThe Institute of Technology Sligo is one of 14 similar third-levelinstitutes within Ireland. There are currently 5,400 studentsattending the college, roughly broken down as 3,500 full-time,1,100 part-time and 900 apprentices. The Institute is the fourthlargest in the country and delivers programmes at all levels, hasbeen in existence for 37 years and employs some 800 full-time,part-time and special purpose contract staff.

It gave us tangible toolsday one. Let’s start bygiving the studentscameras to record theirfirst impressions.

Understanding your customersRegistrar, Brendan McCormack, saw theInnovation by Design programme as “anopportunity for the registrar’s office tobecome a better service provider; takingthe view of the student as a customerand the staff as customers. While webelieved we were doing a good job,were we thinking as service providers?The Centre for Design Innovation isconveniently based on the Instituteof Technology Sligo campus; so thirtymembers of faculty and staff wereable to attend a rehearsal of the usercentreddesign workshop. The registrar’steam had the benefit of attending theworkshop twice. “It gave us tangibletools day one. Let’s start by givingthe students cameras to record theirfirst impressions.” And that’s exactlywhat they did. Cameras were given tostudents during registration to see thecollege through their eyes.“One of the big eye openers for mewas that in the past we’ve always triedto work to make things as efficient andeffective as possible for us, but thenwe realised through the photographicjournal and other ways of lookingclosely at our customer; they may wantother services we were not providing.For example, we discovered that weneed to spend more time explaininghow our systems work in order for thecustomer to get the best value fromour services,” recalls Dara McGoldrick,Schools’ Liaison Manager.The registrar’s team expanded theirresearch to include the website, signageand reception areas, as well as collectingprospectuses from other colleges.They consulted with to the community,industry and press to understand theexternal impression of the Institute.“The user-centred aspect forced us toget out of our nests here. We jumpedacross the counter and said ‘well, whoare you’ and ‘what are you thinking’ and‘what’s your view of the world’ and ‘whydid you come here?’”34|35 CASE STUDY FOUR: T h e I n s t i t u t e o f T e c h n o lo g y S l i g o

We didn’t know what ourmessage was and who itwas targeted at.

A brand is not a logoMcCormack remembers “when theevidence came in; when we laid out allthe prospectuses; when we looked atthe photographs our first-year studentstook; and the signage; that was themoment. The user perception of IT Sligowas one thing. Our perception of IT Sligowas something different. We didn’t knowwhat our message was.” The project teamwas convinced this wasn’t just about theregistrar’s department anymore andbrought members of the ExecutiveCommittee to a brand workshop inDublin to introduce them to the concept.The registrar’s team pulled together aroom displaying all the research that hadbeen done to date for a presentation.Photos lined the walls. All the collateralfrom the college was pulled together.One member of the Executive remarkedwhile walking around the room, “Thisis unbelievable. I’m thirty years in thisbusiness and if you can change me,you can change anyone.” The collegecommitted to the project and an initialbudget of €50K to create the new brand.“The fact that we could get togetherand make a case to the Executive, wasquite an achievement (for the team) inthe current environment. Here we werein the public sector talking about brandin front of the Executive Committee. Itwas quite a significant step forward.”Design Associate Gavin Pryke wasdetermined for the college to find theright agency and after short-listingfive agencies out of 19 submissions,arranged visits to all of them with a teamfrom the college.Catherine Kennedy, of the Director’soffice, was assigned as Project Manager.“The normal tendering process is youget the documents in and you pick fromthose. We could have gone ahead anddone that without advice (from theCentre). However, we learned an awfullot from going to visit the companies..We are very happy with the company wechose, and we probably wouldn’t haveselected them had we not gone to seethem. On paper you get caught up onthe price.”“The turning point was when the agencysaid ‘you’ve got to be brave.’ That wasit. This company had the right attitude.”Conor Clarke, Director of Design Factory,remembers saying those words but alsorecalls that “somehow they arrived at ourdoorstep with an open mind. Normallypeople come in the door and are closedabout the possibilities. It allowed us tochallenge them even more.”36|37 CASE STUDY FOUR: T h e I n s t i t u t e o f T e c h n o lo g y S l i g o

People, in a way, hadalready been living withthe brand for a coupleof months.

It’s about your usersGetting approval for the project was asignificant milestone. The next challengewas getting agreement on the finalbrand identity. Project Manager,Catherine Kennedy felt “the hardestpoint was where to draw the lines ofconsultation. You’ll never get everybodyin the IT. If you want to get work doneand make progress you can’t askeverybody’s opinion and take on boardeverybody’s ideas. That was a hard lineto draw.”The agency worked with the college todevelop a banner campaign, but thesebanners were building-sized and unableto escape your notice. One was hung inthe parking lot; another in the lobby ofreception; and a third in the canteen.There was no explanation. They justappeared. “The first brave thing thecollege did,” says Clarke, “was the bannercampaign; the excitement, the intrigue,the banter and the chat. By the timewe were doing the final delivery at thestaff conference, people, in a way, hadalready been living with the brand for acouple of months.”Kennedy recalls “when the banners wentup, the student union president said healways felt reception was like a prison,and finally, it didn’t look like a prison.”Along with similar, smaller postersscattered throughout the college,Design Factory and Design AssociateGavin Pryke held a series ofpresentations throughout the collegewith key stakeholders, faculty and staff.If you pick up a prospectus from anynumber of institutes or universities,chances are you’ll be greeted by itsPresident espousing what makes theircollege the best. The focus is typicallyon the institution itself. The messagescoming out of IT Sligo were now allabout the customers of the college.The general response from the staffaccording to McCormack was “Yeah, ofcourse it is about the student. I’m gladsomebody finally said that.”38|39 CASE STUDY FOUR: T h e I n s t i t u t e o f T e c h n o lo g y S l i g o

I think it will raise ourprofile nationally. Thebrand is strong enoughto do that.

Measuring successDemand for third-level placement isstatic. The supply of courses beingoffered nationally to new students isincreasing dramatically, which meansincreased competition. The college hasalready delivered upon two successmeasures for the project: differentiatingitself from other Institutes of Technologyand consistency of communication.Whether the brand can help increasefirst-preferences and non-traditionalstudents remains to be seen. “It’s veryhard to measure its effectiveness. That’sone of things we asked when we wentto the agencies. ‘How can you provewhat the brands you introduced havedelivered for your (client) companies?”Dara McGoldrick, who will be managingthe brand internally is optimistic. “I thinkit will raise our profile nationally. Thebrand is strong enough to do that if wekeep going with it.”Some may question whether educationproviders should concentrate onteaching and leave the design andbranding to business. Padraig Cuffe,Academic Administrator & StudentAffairs Manager, is more pragmatic. “Ithink it has to be viewed as a businessnow, within the context of who we areand what we do with our customers.We’re there to make sure that the wholeentire experience for the individual, thestudent in particular, is positive. That isall linked into the design, and so on, ofhow we do it.”The new brand is the tangible outputof the programme, but changingmindsets in the public sector cannot beunderestimated. Library staff grabbedthe designers to speak about how theycould improve the atmosphere in thelibrary through branding. “To get any oftheir services across to a student; they’rebecoming more visually aware andconscious on how they are seen,” saiddesigner, Julie Mitchell.McCormack sees staff using the designtechniques moving forward. “We havelife-long learning students. I would liketo see us begin to use techniques tounderstand how they interface withthe learning process. It’s a change inattitude, and perhaps it’s a small groupof those involved, but rather thanthinking I’m a public servant, sittingbehind my desk, filling out forms;we should have a direct relationshipwith the customer. Seeing what we dothrough the eyes of the customer.”40|41 CASE STUDY FOUR: T h e I n s t i t u t e o f T e c h n o lo g y S l i g o

CASE STUDY5

Ireland West Airport KnockIreland West Airport Knock was established in 1985 as HoranInternational Airport; the brainchild of Monsignor James Horan,Parish Priest of Knock. A group of key supporters had theextraordinary vision to build an international airport that tomany seemed unrealistic and unattainable. In 2006, the airportwas re-branded from “Knock International Airport” to “IrelandWest Airport Knock” as an indication of the airport’s strategyto become recognised as an international airport on a globalscale and to act as a signifier to the location of the airport asthe main airport in the West of Ireland.

The most valuable partwas the whole customerjourney mapping exercise.

Seeing what customers dofirst hand is much morepowerful than being toldwhat customers do.

Putting yourself in your user’s shoesOne of the benefits of workingalongside your customers, is youhave great accessibility to them to dodesign research. In order to investigatefamilies travelling with children, threetables were set up in the upstairsairport lounge with crayons, paper andinstructions. The tables were monitoredby airport staff and adults were freeto leave their kids to do the activity.Children drew pictures in responseto three questions: What do you likeabout travelling through the airport?What don’t you like? What would youlike to have at your favourite airport?Tables filled up quickly and one parentremarked, “I think it is great that theairport is doing something like this withthe kids in order to keep them occupied.”“Our ability to look at problems in aslightly different way has improved;particularly the way we’ve evaluated thepassenger experience has opened oureyes.” Other staff created photo journalsof families travelling with children inarrivals and departures and othersrecorded personal inventories of whatfamilies had packed for travelling withchildren. Staff member, Orla Gibney,was taking photographs. “Seeingwhat customers do first hand is muchmore powerful than being told whatcustomers do.”The airport has implemented a numberof improvements to address premiumcustomer services and removingqueues. They trialed loyalty cards andare incorporating a business loungeinto the new terminal design. Thoughbecoming queue-less is a long-termgoal, check-in queues were re-aligned.“It isn’t pretty, but functionally it’sworked and it’s worked because we wentthrough the passenger flow process.The best example of that is last Saturdaywe accommodated 3800 passengers,a record day, but the building wasdesigned to handle 1500 passengersa day, no more.”A re-alignment of passenger screeninggave people a lot more room and time toget their belongings into trays. “Designhas raised the bar on what’s ideal for us.Two or three years ago we would havebeen overjoyed with the re-alignmentof the security screen. Today it’s helped,but our bar is much higher.”46|47 CASE STUDY FIVE: I r e l a n d W e s t A i r p o rt K n o c k

The long-term solutionstill is the design of a cartthat serves an airport userrather than a cart that’sjust designed to hold bags.

A prototype is worth a thousand picturesDesign Associate Gavin Pryke captured avideo of travellers struggling to releasestacked luggage trolleys while waitingfor their baggage. He brought CarmelKilcoyne, Operations Manager to arrivalsto see what was happening first hand.She knew there was a problem withthe trolleys, but hadn’t realised theextent. Something needed to be done.The airport made an investment in 200trolleys just two years earlier, hopingthey would last ten years.Ireland West Airport Knock turned to theindustrial design students at the Instituteof Technology Sligo for a solution. Thirdyearstudents Marc Torrades and AlanHarrison were assigned to a summerplacement to fix the faulty ‘stickingtrolleys’ and to develop proposals forinnovative trolleys. “Having to workin the real world in real time and withreal deadlines puts the right sort ofpressure on the students to producethe goods. The interaction between theclient, manufacturers and the end userfamiliarises them with a good templatefor working that they will use again andagain,” says Diarmuid Timmons, ProgramChair, Creative Design and Innovation,IT Sligo.Within four weeks the two studentspresented five costed and prototypedsolutions back to the airport. Onealternative was a simple, no-cost andready to implement resolution. “Justhave someone separate the trolleyswhen they are returned to the bay.”Applied design thinking at its finest.Consider the students came up withfive potential fixes to the design flaw ofthe cart that the manufacturer did notincorporate.At the end of four more weeks, thestudents presented three prototypeddesigns to the management at IrelandWest Airport Knock for trolleys thatcould offer a better experience tofamilies travelling with children. Oneconcept was a sustainable design,potentially made without metal thatmight provide customers the benefitof taking their trolley through securitywith them. “It fits with our values aroundthe environment. Whether it’s feasible,we need to see. We’ve seen the wearand tear on metal carts. The long-termsolution still is the design of a cart thatserves an airport user rather than a cartthat’s just designed to hold bags.”The airport is currently exploringoptions for how they might work withthe college to help bring a new trolleyto market.48|49 CASE STUDY FIVE: I r e l a n d W e s t A i r p o rt K n o c k

Design is now part of whatwe do as a company, notjust what marketing mightdo or finance might do.

Concept to capability to cultureIn order for the airport to reach itsgoal of a million passengers by 2010, itneeds to be the traveller’s choice withinits West/North West catchment area.Annette Kearny, Marketing Manager,believes a customer-focus is key. “Thecustomer is the focus. Because theprogramme was user-centric, thatmessage has got right across the boardto all managers and they’re all looking athow we can improve the experience andobviously, by default, improve our ownmarket position. That has achieved morethan what four years of lectures couldhave achieved. It’s moved parametersaway from traditional thinking of designas being graphics and brand image and,to an extent, architecture to designing abusiness around the customer.”“It’s opened up the team to being morecreative and allowed some outside thebox thinking which we would havenever facilitated really, as much as wethink we do.” Kearney does highlightone challenge to their potential abilityto designing service; a lack of servicedesign expertise in Ireland. “I thinkthe difficulty will be in the practicalimplementation of designing a serviceas opposed to a product where youcould get a hundred different designersand advisors to tell you that youneed ‘this gadget to fit in that yoke.’So the whole thing on guidance onimplementing service; there wouldn’t beas wide a choice of people that you cancall on.”Although the programme has “openedus up to potential solutions we wouldn’thave considered previously,” Grealisreports “implementation has beenhampered by acquiring planningpermission for the new terminaldesign. The planning process in Irelandhad a major impact on us being ableto implement solutions. 80% of thechanges rely on the new terminal designbeing in place.”However, a cultural “shift has occurredat the management level. It’s now in theconscious, so that if we are looking ata change, how that change is going toaffect our users, and therefore, how wedesign that change is far more up theladder than it was before. Design is nowpart of what we do as a company, notjust what marketing might do or financemight do. We probably thought we werea lot more customer friendly than weactually are, and that’s something weneed to build upon.”50|51 CASE STUDY FIVE: I r e l a n d W e s t A i r p o rt K n o c k

CASE STUDY6

Mantis CranesEstablished in 1999, Donegal-based Mantis Cranes is alreadyrecognised as the innovator of self-erecting cranes in the Irishmarket; providing equipment for sale and hire. ManagingDirector, Seamus McMenamin made the decision to keepmanufacturing in Ireland and to grow their R&D and designcapability to be less dependent on a single external partner.It’s a high-risk, high-reward strategy.

I realised at that time wewere going to be takendown a different roadthan I would tend togo myself.

It’s not what design is, it’s what design does“I went into the programme to addressan issue we had with the company,which was, whether we take on designhere.” From the first workshop onuser-centred design, it was clear toMcMenamin that this was a new anddifferent approach to design than heknew as an engineer. “Design as I saw it,and what my perception of what designwas, and what it would be for Mantis,compared to what I’ve learned (on theprogramme) would be totally different.And that would be a positive. I realisedat that time we were going to be takendown a different road than I would tendto go myself.”The marketing team went into thefield to observe operators using cranesalong with Design Associate, GavinPryke. The design and production teamobserved the erection and takedown ofcranes looking for insights into possibleproduct improvements. McMenaminwent to interview customers, a processhe “wouldn’t have done before.” Theresearch identified potential productimprovements and perhaps a newmarket opportunity “that came backdirectly from us getting the customersinvolved in the design process.”“I went myself to a number of customers… if we could write this (spec) again,what would you like to see? I went andtalked to a customer in Scotland whohas two machines from us and thefeedback was quite good. I got a fewbits and pieces from him. The main(insight) I got was (from) a guy thatruns a fleet of mobile cranes in Dublin.I was there with him a good part of theday. I came away realising there was apossibility of two versions. Some of thethings he wanted the standard customerwould not pay for. The ordinary builderout there would be looking at the priceand weighing up cost as opposed tothe value of the machine, whereas thelikes of the mobile crane guy who isused to paying a lot higher figure for anequivalent machine, would be preparedto pay extra money to have things tomake it easier for the operator, for thehandler. In other words, there were anumber of things he mentioned, and thebudget may be 20-23 thousand euros,he would probably pay for that becauseto him the cost of the machine as54|55 CASE STUDY SIX: MANTIS CRANES

compared to an alternative is favourable.There’s two markets out there asopposed to one market. There’s twodifferent types of customer, that couldtake a standard model or could take anupgraded model that they’re preparedto pay for.”McMenamin cautions that you better beprepared to take on what the customertells you. “The one thing about doingthis is it’s an unnerving process in away, because if you’re serious about itand you can make some of the changesthat’s grand. If you can’t do some of thechanges … that part of it is difficult.”Also, choosing the right ideas is moreimportant than coming up with goodideas. After initial observation in thefield watching crane operators use bulkycontrols that required frequent repairand replacement and weren’t considereduser-friendly seemed like a potentialopportunity. The existing controls weremanufactured by a third party. PerhapsMantis could design and manufacture abetter remote control. No pun intendedbut “we focused our time on somethingwe had no control over, and a lot of thatfocus was lost. We concentrated ourefforts on the wrong activity.” In thiscase, we (the Centre) could havelistened more to our own customer,Mantis Cranes.56|57 CASE STUDY SIX: MANTIS CRANES

We focused our time onsomething we had nocontrol over, and a lot ofthat focus was lost.

They were the first genuineworkshops that I’d ever beenon in a training programme...we were actually doingthe work.

All touch points are not created equalRobert Rowlette joined Mantis Cranesas General Manager at the beginningof 2008. “I was aware of the programmeand what was in it before I joined here. Itimmediately became apparent that therewas a little bit of a mismatch betweenwhat we expected from the programmeand what it actually could give.”Following a brand workshop thatintroduced the concept of customertouch points, an extended Mantisteam came to the Centre for DesignInnovation offices to map out theirservice offering. “They were the firstgenuine workshops that I’d ever beenon in a training programme. Normallyyou go in and you’re sitting there, butwe were actually doing the work. Wewere guided through a process, andwe were made to work. And there wasno hiding. The stuff was being draggedout of you and we know more aboutthis business than any outsider will everknow. Once we got on that track withthe programme we got the customercontact mapping points which is a very,very powerful tool and enabled us to dothings.”McMenamin would be the first totell you that “if we had been solelydependent on manufacture, we wouldn’tbe sitting here today. It’s the serviceaspect and hire, that’s keeping ushere today.” However, Mantis wasn’tconsciously managing the serviceexperience. Critical customer touchpoints were identified, including theservice engineers that had the majorityof contact with clients. They were theface of the Mantis Cranes brand.The service framework allowed Mantisto make discreet changes, like handlingready to ship orders, but perhaps thegreatest changes were in the mindsof the employees. The culture waschanging. Rowlette illustrates the pointwith a story. “We were doing a job inDublin putting up a tower crane and theproject manager more or less said to theservice guys on the site ‘If your back-upin Donegal was as good as you, you’d bes**t hot.’ If you had said that to us fourmonths ago, we would have been verydefensive about it. Lets take it on board.What are the issues that are causing thecustomer problems and address thosebecause that’s one person who’s sayingit, and there are probably others who arethinking it and we’re not hearing it back.”58|59 CASE STUDY SIX: MANTIS CRANES

The Managing Director was not onlylooking externally for insight, butapplied the tools to internal staff tosee how the service experience couldbe improved. “We took the serviceengineers aside and asked what wouldmake this easier for you?’ Not justthe customers. Going to guys on themanufacturing floor and asking what’sdifficult to manufacture? What shouldwe be looking to change?”“We always would have said it’s not justthe crane you’re buying, but it’s usyou’re getting. But we didn’t actually liveup to that promise. Now having gonethrough the (mapping) exercise we’remore focused on it and the downturn inthe economy has helped us focus a lotmore as well.”60|61 CASE STUDY SIX: MANTIS CRANES

We always would have said it’s not justthe crane you’re buying, but it’s usyou’re getting. But we didn’t actuallylive up to that promise.

The project managementtool for new productdevelopment has madea big impact.

Product development is a processThe last crane development projectat Mantis took three years to marketand they were looking to cut thatdevelopment time at least in half.McMenamin credits the programmefor helping “to highlight some of theinefficiencies we had in the engineeringdepartment, and there were someserious discussions as milestoneswere laid out and none of them weredelivered on.”In order to get to a new productdevelopment process with buy-in fromthe organisation, Design Associate GavinPryke hosted another workshop with theextended team. Rowlette describes that“before somebody would have made acomment, it might have been someoneworking on the floor. We wouldn’t havehad a mechanism for catching that.Unless he had the opportunity to talk toSeamus it wouldn’t have been acted on,and even if they had, it wouldn’t havebeen actioned.”With a draft NPD process in place, theteam was tested by preparing a cranefor a key national trade show in the UK.“The project management tool for newproduct development has made a bigimpact. I don’t think we would havedone what we did. We had a very tightdeadline for SED.”But has the combination of usercentreddesign tools and a new productdevelopment process resulted intangible changes to the TC-25 crane?Rowlette reported that “everybody wasgiven an opportunity to contributeand we ended up with an initial listof 35 (improvements) and when werationalised, there were 24 or 25 wewould run with.”The new TC-25 isn’t on the marketyet but Mantis shipped a revisedcrane to their American distributor.“The feedback from them was quitepositive about the changes. They wereimmediately apparent to them andwe didn’t really think they would benoticeable, but there were certain onesthey thought ‘yeah, we like this, we likethis.’ And the other thing is there werechanges they had though about; thatthey had suggested; that they nowsaw in the design so it feeds back tothem that they’re not just shoutingin the dark.”62|63 CASE STUDY SIX: MANTIS CRANES

I would have taken design as ahuge mammoth task, and it’snot. It can be as difficult or assimple as you want it to be.

Turn your customers into advocatesIn the current economy, with theconstruction sector being more exposed,Mantis had to reduce design staff. Theyintend to replace that role and add asenior designer with elite experienceagainst their in-house design objectives.“The market failed. That has affectedeverything within the company. And ithas also affected the programme for us.The productivity we hoped to have, wehave pulled back. Our concentrationhas shifted from, I suppose, a companylooking forward to, for a period of time,to consolidate,” says McMenamin.When the economy begins to pick upagain, Mantis expects the new toolsand approach to help them enter newmarkets. The ongoing improvements tothe TC-25 crane will make Mantis morecompetitive and less sensitive to pricepressure. “There’s been quite a number ofchanges both implemented and to64|65 CASE STUDY SIX: MANTIS CRANESbe implemented in relation to the newcrane. It will be more user friendly forthe customer, and more friendly forfabrication and service. Lead times havebeen reduced and that goes back to thefact that we now have a formal designmanagement tool for doing it.”Time was spent against logo consistencyon product and marketing materials. Thenewly designed corporate brochures andpamphlets have changed to reflect thelanguage that came out of the servicemapping process. Mantis turned to theirDesign Associate for help on the designbrief to get their website redesigned.Rowlette said, “Gavin, with the websitebrief, was pushing us. We got goodhelp there.”Rowlette believes “everyone that hasbeen exposed to the programme,and there have been a wide numberof people, it hasn’t been just Seamusand myself, but people from the salesside, engineering, production, finance;they’ve all become sensitised to designwhich I don’t think would have beenthere before. They’re aware of issuesand how they impact on customers andthe consequent knock-on effect thathas coming back to us. Things like paintquality; we would have looked at froman engineering viewpoint, than from adesign or service thing.”In the true sense of turning customersinto advocates, the best designendorsement comes from ManagingDirector, Seamus McMenamin who isworking with active members of DonegalEngineers. “They keep talking about newproducts, but still have the perception ofdesign that I would have had before theprogramme. I want to employ someonefor 18 months to two years to workindividually with these companies. I justneed to get the funding.”

About The ProgrammeInnovation by Design is not the firstdesign in business interventionprogramme, yet it is unique in taking auser-led approach to innovation. Fewcompanies put themselves in theircustomers’ shoes, even though the bestway to develop successful products andservices is to understand users’ needsfirst. This is what is meant by usercentreddesign.Unlike other programmes, companieslearn by doing it themselves. TheInnovation by Design programmetransfers design thinking skills intothe participating companies throughhighly interactive workshops, practicalapplication and individualised support,as opposed to just partnering up acompany and a designer.Participants attend three workshopsin total. The first on user-centreddesign is the cornerstone of theprogramme, dispelling myths about“design” and providing easy to use toolsto identify the right users; observewhat clients actually do; involve youruser experts; and prototype potentialideas. The second workshop is aboutunderstanding and developing yourbrand. It introduces the concept ofbrand touch points and the buildingblocks of brand development. A brandis not just a logo. The third workshoplooks at service design and customerexperience, providing a simple blueprintfor how to design and evaluate service.Organisations learn to go from a firstimpression to a lasting impression.This is good business as customerspay more for branded services andexperiences, than commodities orproducts. Decks of cards highlightingkey techniques and concepts fromthe workshops are retained by eachcompany for future reference and use.Following each workshop, theorganisations apply the new skills totheir own organisations with the help ofa Design Associate. Design Associateshave cross-disciplinary experiencewithin multiple business sectors anddesign disciplines. This facilitation andmentoring is key to integrating newskills and participants can requeststrategic expertise when needed.Companies receive five days of faceto-facetime over the course of theprogramme and the continuous66|67

BrandMarketingBusiness ProcessesVision & Strategy / AmbitionFacilities / Work EnvironmentOrganisational StructureResources (Time, Money, People)Intellectual PropertyCustomer ServiceBusinessShould we do it?support of the Centre. On two separateoccasions, all companies are asked topresent a plan of action and progressto their peers. Participating companiesprovide support or just enoughpeer pressure when its time for apresentation.WantsNeedsDesiresPeopleWhat do they want?ProductServiceProcessManufacturing ProcessManufacturing technologySupply Chain ManagementMaterialsAutomationOperationsR&DITTechnologyHow do we do it?Companies may approach theprogramme with a certain project inmind, though new opportunities areoften uncovered. Implementation oftenrequires professional assistance andcompanies are helped with briefing andselecting design consultants to see theprojects through to commercialisation.In the end, every organisation isequipped to use design as another toolfor competitive advantage.x|67 CASE STUDY NUMBER: COMPANY NAME

AcknowledgementsWe would particularly like to thank thesix organisations and all the individualemployees who worked so hard over thepast 18 months. At the Centre, we havelearned equally as much by deliveringthe programme as hopefully you have byparticipating in it.A programme of this size and scope is notthe work of a single individual or even asingle organisation. We’ve had the pleasureto collaborate with a number of talentedpeople from around the globe.Design Associates:Jonathan Ball, Gavin PrykeWorkshop development and delivery:Colin Burns, Richard Eisermann,Anja Klüver, Fiona MylesAdvice and consultation:Sally Brazier, John Buckley, PaddyCrowley, Ré Dubhthaigh, Keith Finglas,Deirdre Johnston, Seán McNulty,Alan Mumby, Frances Owens, Will ReeseCollateral design: Carton LeVertSpecial thanks to Brendan McCormack,whose initial idea and A R E applicationestablished the Centre; our funders,Enterprise Ireland; and the supportof Deirdre Brougham, A R E ProgrammeManager.To discuss any aspects of theprogramme, please contact:Justin KnechtProgramme ManagerCentre for Design InnovationITSBIC, Institute of Technology SligoBallinode, Co. Sligo, IrelandT +353 71 915 5496E justin@designinnovation.ie

The Centre for DesignInnovation is a centre ofexcellence for the research,understanding andpromotion of the effectiveuse of design and innovation.It is an initiative of theInstitute of TechnologySligo and is funded byEnterprise Ireland underthe Applied ResearchEnhancement Scheme.www.designinnovation.ie