Innovation by design - Centre for Design Innovation

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