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Why MIT's New Design Program Will Get Designers a Seat at the Table

Matthew Kressy on MIT's Integrated Design and Management program's unique approach to engineering, business and design

By Matt Kressy - April 6, 2015

in design.edu | Design Business | Entrepreneurship

As designers we know that good design is not just a pretty rendering or a cool concept. It's a process—understand the problem, generate concepts, test concepts, repeat. Real design is a holistic, interdisciplinary process of discovery and ideation that can address messy, complicated, poorly defined challenges in ways that not only transform products, but the individuals designing them and the customers as well.

Design education is at a crossroads. In the '90s, business schools around the world discovered "design thinking" and many executives enthusiastically participated in workshops and seminars, returning to their offices a certified "design thinker." This seemed to signal the beginning of the corporate sector understanding the power of design, and with it, the hopes that designers might finally be included in corporate leadership. Unfortunately, that only played out in a few select companies (like Apple) and a watered down version of the design process seems to have been implemented in most companies.

Use of design thinking in lieu of real design is a what I call "D-washing." As with greenwashing, the perception is that an organization is practicing the design process and reaping its rewards, but in actuality, it is only getting a washed out version of both. I'm sure most designers can think of a company or two that are guilty of this practice.

The problem with D-washing is two-fold. First, the organization believes that it designs, when it doesn't. This is a big problem when an organization is counting on design to give a competitive advantage, but it can't deliver. Perhaps design thinking was talked about and thought about, but there was no design talent on the project. If there was a designer, perhaps their talents were used to make pretty pictures. Second, D-washing perpetuates the exclusion of real designers from leadership roles. If an organization recognizes that it needs design leadership, and then fills that spot with an MBA who took a design thinking workshop, the amazing value of design is never realized for the company, and designers remain marginalized, in less demand, and at reduced pay levels.

Unfortunately, today many design professionals are still on the sidelines. However, with education and proper utilization, design can offer a competitive advantage. When we look at the most innovative, successful companies out there, they usually have a strong design culture. Companies like Herman Miller, Bang & Olufsen and Apple epitomize the power of an integrated approach. Organizational structures that enable the design process to bring out the best business models, deepest customer insights, and super exciting products will help companies succeed in ways that go beyond their wildest dreams.

Apple is a great example of a company that has fully integrated design into its culture. Take the PC wars of the '90s. The technology and architecture of a PC compared to a Mac was never much different, but the user experience was night and day. Many thought that Apple would lose, but Jobs persisted with the idea that the real market was "the people"—not the technologists and engineers that loved the idea of typing a string of code to access their hard drive.

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Take the MP3 player: there were lots of offerings on the market, but Apple took the same technology and gave it an amazing new user experience. Another hit. Then came iTunes, a great experience that redefined how we shop for music. All of this innovation is due to a purposeful, meaningful integration of design, business and engineering. Fortunately, this ethos at Apple remains sanctified by an organizational structure that puts design at the top with its business and engineering peers, thus enabling the Apple design team to create visionary experiences for years to come.

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Another example of where the designers are in a leadership position is Airbnb, co-founded by two of my former RISD students, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia. Joe and Brian identified an opportunity through personal experience when faced with the need to raise some cash quickly by renting out part of their apartment for an IDSA conference. As designers, the process of understanding the problem and designing an elegant solution came fairly naturally. But they were more than designers; they had learned about business and engineering in a course I taught called Product Design & Development (PDD), a collaboration between RISD and MIT Sloan School of Management. In PDD, they learned not only about business and engineering, but also about how to integrate these fields with design by working on interdisciplinary teams and creating their own products. These fundamental interdisciplinary skills learned at MIT enabled them to remain effective managers as Airbnb scaled from nothing to it's current $10B valuation. We need more integrated designers like Joe and Brian so that good design becomes prevalent, thus improving society and our lives.

Like the PDD course, MIT Integrated Design & Management (IDM) is based on the premise that the best products result from a balanced design approach that integrates design, engineering and business. It's mission is to enable the learning and development of extraordinary, innovative leaders that will bring new levels of creativity, vision and integrity to business and society.

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IDM's core curriculum will be taught in the Integrated Design Lab (ID Lab), a design studio environment that allows deep immersion, empathy and creativity in their projects. Working in interdisciplinary teams and closely with faculty, students will practice the design process on projects ranging from consumer and medical products to remedies for societal issues. We are now accepting applications for an inaugural cohort to engage in a new way of teaching and learning at MIT where I believe we will produce visionary business, design and societal leaders who will accomplish great things by practicing the integrated design process.

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David Beck

9 years ago

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Why does "Design" have to be a part of any title?

I think this is the problem. It almost feels like some petty insecurity. "Design" doesn't normally get a chair at the big boy table so we overcompensate by insisting that that we are the owners of this integrated approach.

We are not.

We are a part of it. Business/marketing/finance/design/engineering/manufacturing all have a place at this table. Why does "Design" be mentioned over the others? Sounds like a giant pissing match to avoid at all costs.

It is NPD - new product development. All areas play a vital role, not just design. As you wrote, if a company omits any role form this integrated process, they will have a more difficult time being innovative. They will have no chance of being consistently innovative.

So let's keep the "Design" ego out of the picture. It is not helping.

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Nathan Shedroff

9 years ago

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Another great program to add to the community!

The trick with these programs isn't on the design side as much as it is on the business side. When we initiated the Design MBA programs 8 years ago, we initially sought a partner until we realized that all basically wanted to add a design course or two to their existing MBA curriculum and call it something new. That's not what we were after.

Unless the program is willing to confront the myths about business taught in the vast majority of programs, they aren't future-proof and they aren't adequately integrating design into the total understanding of business. It's not uncommon at all at many business programs where design has been added for students to hear their business professors say, essentially "forget all that stuff you learned over there (in your design courses), none of it is true."

We went it alone BECAUSE we wanted to teach business in a new way, in a new context, at CCA. We don't only teach Neoclassical economics, nor do we limit our teaching of accounting to the FASB party-line, and any program that doesn't integrate sustainability and systems thinking at the core, not as an option, isn't preparing students for the present, let alone the future.

My colleagues at other institutions, mostly research university have pulled they hair out trying to evolve standard business curriculum and it's taken, in some cases, 15 or more years! Integrating design into a business education (and vice versa) is an important start but the real prize is rethinking business itself and how to teach what it can become in this century.

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Brian Matt

9 years ago

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There is room in the pool for everyone! I, for one, am glad that a solid brand like MIT has embraced this topic to create a serious version of design thinking (let them call it whatever they wish). MIT only takes on things that are very well conceived, but flexible enough for change. This program is set up as a prototype, and as such, will be continually improved. That IS design strategy! I love having IDM as a staple in Boston. It is the first vital offering in New England.

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Matt Kressy

9 years ago

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Mark, I love what you're thinking. In fact, in essence, we are doing as you suggest. We'recross-educating engineers in design and business, designers in engineering and business, and those with a business background in engineering and design. We're not making designers better designers, we're making them better innovators and leaders and helping to create a culture in which collaboration is facilitated by a common language. Keep staying on top of this!

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Mark Sugg

9 years ago

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Having worked in industry as a User Experience Designer for over 20 years (under many titles, but the same basic job), I am happy to see programs like the one described, but I am not sure that they are the solution. In a typical technology lead company, it is the product development managers who really set the tone and make the decisions on the inevitable trade offs that come up while creating a product. They nearly always come from a engineering/programming background. The best results I have seen is when these managers learn the value of design over time and become champions without getting in the way. I have never seen a designer leading product development. I suppose this would lead to two paths - try to educate more dev mgrs on design, or make designers more technical so they can take on tech leadership roles. I am not sure making designers better designers is going to do much.

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Eric Anderson

9 years ago

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New programs to this space is encouraging and a recognition of the importance of a holistic education for those who wish to have greater impact in industry and society. Walter is correct that there are other programs that have been teaching the totality of design.

Carnegie Mellon University has been pioneering, teaching, researching, and publishing in this area for 30 years. It's creation of the Integrated Innovation Institute, an equal and unique partnership between the colleges of Engineering, Business, and Fine Arts (with the School of Design) establishes high commitment to interdisciplinary education and an integrated partnership model. Within the institute our MII-PS degree (formerly MPD) is celebrated for its unique cross-training education for students and professionals - creating hybrid thinkers and doers on multiple levels. See the spring 2015 IDSA INNOVATION publication for more detail on the philosophy of the integrated innovation education.

In response to the question on whether programs like this are available in New York, we are planning to extend the MII-PS program into Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York, staring in 2016 and will be taking applications this fall for that program. Of course our well-established Pittsburgh program continues to grow as well.

For more information see www.cmu.edu/integrated-innovation or contact Eric Anderson ea@cmu.edu

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Matt Kressy

9 years ago

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Thank you for the kind words, Walter. I did not mean to imply that IDM is all alone, and in fact Northwestern University's MPD2 program has been an inspiration to me and served as a benchmark as we developed the program for MIT. It is my hope that we can collaborate in the future to communicate the power of design and broaden its impact on the world.

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A Perpepaj

9 years ago

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Does anyone know of a program in Manhattan (metro area) that is similar to this or Northwestern's or C. Melon's PD programs?

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walter herbst

9 years ago

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Matt Kressy is spot on in terms of dealing with the totality of design and the need to better train more design professionals to get them off the sidelines and into the business side. He seems to indicate the MIT Intgrated Design Lab program, is "all alone" in this space.
Northwestern University's, Master of Product Design and Development Management program is the oldest in the US (entering our 14th year), having graduated approximately 450 professional designers and developers. Most all have matriculated on a part time basis, and take all the basic MBA type classes, as well as advanced concepts dealing with design and development.
Four colleges have their faculty teaching in the program, to include the business school, law school, engineering school,integrated with the Segal Design Center, and the college of arts and sciences.
Applications are now being taken, and open house visits are available at:
http://segal.northwestern.edu/programs/graduate/mpd2/
or, just call me:
Walter Herbst, cell 847 682 0129, anytime, as I love to talk about the program.

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David Beck

9 years ago

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Deleted my post?

Any particular reason why? Or does critical thinking have no place with design thinking? Talk about a d-wash. Except the d word I'm thinking of makes your "cleverness" redundant.

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Lucas Smith

9 years ago

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I'm pumped that this is happening and I honestly would love to see the intersection of these disciplines be more prevalent.

@iab (David Beck) I think the ultimate goal is that "Design" isn't part of any title. We have the opportunity to create a system of discovery through education that benefits everyone. A language we can be comfortable using together to solve problems is a great aspiration.

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When people talk about "solving problems" and the website breaks the standard behavior of the browser (creating problems) to make it "pretty" (?) we all lose. Drop me a line, I'd love to help fix that site. It really bummed me out, like enough to post a comment on an article...

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