Managing for design excellence

Find out how some of the world's leading design teams are managed, how design teams work within global businesses, and why leadership matters

Putting the right people - and the right processes - in place

What lessons about managing design and designers we learn from eleven world-leading companies?

To understand the way design operates in leading global companies, the Design Council undertook its most in-depth study ever.  Researchers visited the design departments of eleven companies (Alessi, BSkyB, BT, LEGO, Microsoft, Sony, Starbucks, Virgin Atlantic Airways, Whirlpool, Xerox and Yahoo!) all world-leaders in their fields and all with a public commitment to the use of design to improve their brand strength and product and service offerings.

All the companies we visited have invested heavily in people, processes and infrastructure to make design work in their businesses. Looking across the eleven companies, we can see some common themes emerging, with key areas of focus. The study shows that design has helped many of these companies respond better to management challenges that will be familiar to many businesses - including integrating, managing and motivating designers within the organisation.

Key activities undertaken by almost all include:

• Ensuring strong, visible leadership of the design function
• Fostering a corporate culture that values design
• Integrating design activities as tightly as possible with wider business processes
• Equipping designers with broad, business relevant skills beyond their core functional capabilities
• Maximising senior management support for design
• Developing and using design tools and techniques
• Promoting formal but flexible control of the design process

The Eleven lessons study shows that design plays a fundamental role in the success of many of the world’s leading companies and it picks up plenty of tips and design tools which smaller businesses can take advantage of.