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inform Newsletter: October/November 2005
POETRY AND PRAGMATISM Balancing the beautiful and the practical By Annie Gray
Design. For many in business it may seem to be at the warm, fuzzy end of pragmatic business practice. Or its perhaps seen as an expensive, indulgent exercise that fails to deliver in real business terms.
But design, according to one of New Zealand�s most experienced and awarded designers, Mark Pennington of Formway, is also an element of business where a solid design process can bring solid business rewards.
Pennington was recently awarded The John Britten Award, which recognises a person who has made an outstanding contribution to design in New Zealand. He is also the man responsible for the LIFE chair, which is now the biggest seller in its category in the United States market.
And Pennington is nothing if not pragmatic. For design to work, says Pennington, it must work as a process. By its very nature, design is a creative, explorative activity and designers need to have room to deviate and digress over a given path.
�On the other hand good design is good business and it needs to deliver what is expected on time, within budget and to the right price point. Therefore there is a conflict that needs to be balanced between pragmatism and creativity �between poetry and pragmatism.�
And this is where the design process comes in.
Over the years Formway has developed a specific design process, illustrated as a waisted funnel, which is wide at each end and narrowing towards the centre. This exacting process begins as the business enters the first phase at the �fuzzy front end� where the team will explore the opportunities in the market and investigate whether an idea is worthy of a project. At this stage, Pennington says, the brief will be quite general.
Once a decision has been made to go ahead with the project a comprehensive brief is needed and all stakeholders need to be involved so there is buy-in across the company. The idea then moves into the concept development phase, again with a lot of creative exploration. But you need to know the target. Exploration might move laterally to look at all the opportunities before the process starts narrowing again to focus on the best opportunity and the design solution.
Pennington says at the end of the conceptual design phase a review with all stakeholders is needed so that the concept is measured against the brief and the project is being consistently measured against the criteria.
�You have got to have the feeling the brief is a winner and that everyone owns the brief.�
He says a cross-functional team, representing all the relevant disciplines within the business is vital. This would include design, finance and marketing.
At the end of the concept development phase the team needs to be sure the concept is good enough to begin the design development phase which will refine the concept into a final design solution. At this point you need another stakeholder review to ensure the project delivers on the brief.
�It�s at this stage you start spending big money as you move into the productisation phase � the translation of the idea into produce-able form.�
When the product is in a form where it can be produced another review needs to take place before entering the sales and marketing phase. The marketing team also continues to review the product as market adoption grows so the information can be fed back to the front end of the design process. Pennington says the Formway design process has several critical success factors.
1. Establishing a winning brief that is well researched and is owned by the full team � a brief that is a living reference. 2. A committed team that is passionate, creative, focused and can generate excitement and motivation. 3. Balanced project management. Pennington says the balance between pragmatism and exploration is, in itself, an art form and a delicate and subtle hand is necessary. �The thing here is to let people explore and let them grow [the idea] but know when to stop and bring it to a conclusion.� 4. Cross functional collaboration � a team that includes everyone involved in the process so there are no surprises. 5. Establishing a budget at the beginning of the project that will encompass the entire project. 6. Ensuring stakeholder reviews are held at regular, relevant intervals in the process and that there are clear and accountable responsibilities for each member.
Of the critical success factors, Pennington says the most important one is having a committed team and a culture where creativity can bloom - but in a way that is healthy, ego-free, egalitarian and supportive.
Annie Gray is an Auckland-based contract editor, publisher and writer. Email: annegray@xtra.co.nz
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