Innovation by design - Centre for Design Innovation

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