Strategic design

The role of design professionals' in innovation is growing towards a more strategic one. They are no longer just executors of new product and/or service design briefs but are increasingly involved in the crafting of these briefs and in the strategic decisions leading to these briefs. In order to effectively play this role, design professionals need to master a set of strategic practices - i.e., routinized actions and ways of working. However, since the strategic role of designers is a relatively new development, many designers lack knowledge on specific practices for acting effectively on a strategic level in innovation projects.

This book introduces ten strategic design practices: envisioning, inspiring, reframing, focusing, road mapping, simplifying, aligning, translating, educating and embracing. These ten practices will help the design professionals become familiar with effective tools for strategic innovation projects and give them a set of guidelines for easily and quickly applying these practices and tools.