Dispatch from THE FUTURE OF… DESIGN Conference

Our founder Julia Beardwood attended the recent The FUTURE Of… DESIGN “Unconference,” that asked the question IS DESIGN DEAD?

The answer from Design leaders was an emphatic NO. But, in a tumultuous world, Design IS at an inflection point.

Here’s what we heard about what Design leaders need to KEEP doing, STOP doing, and START doing to create the future of design.

KEEP

1. Putting the value of design on a stage, ensuring it’s seen as a strategic force to drive the business forward

2. Focusing on improved efficiency and effectiveness

3. Nurturing a strong design culture – ensuring we’re doing the right things with the best talent, and processes aren’t getting in the way

4. Being tightly integrated with cross-functional business and agency partners for deep understanding, collaboration and agility

5. Staying human-centered, putting customers and human language first

6. Synthesizing emerging insights to solve complex problems, create clear frameworks, and put new and innovative ideas forward

7. Building trust through diplomacy and politics to move design forward

8. Ensuring the entire end-to-end customer journey creates the brand

9. Bringing people in to our industry who reflect the diversity of the people we serve

10. Infusing design with AI, as a tool in service to humanity

STOP

1. Being a victim, complaining; lacking empathy for business leaders

2. Tearing each other down instead of lifting each other up

3. Giving no/little feedback, or failing to give feedback in an empowering way

4. Using dated terminology that diminish the value of design

5. Trying to do too much with fewer people; a recipe for mediocrity

START

1. Recharting the mandate for Design in your organization to reflect the need today

2. Being a constructive change agent within your organization, expert at bringing people with you

3. Pausing to think beyond daily demands – you’ve got to collect the dots to connect the dots

4. Being involved in building the business strategy, speaking the language of business with expert fluency

5. Defining skill sets for the future of Design and training for them

6. Building clear metrics into every brief to reinforce the value design will bring

7. Having and reporting qualitative and quantitative ways to measure Design impact

8. Rewarding people for winning behaviors, those that will help the organization achieve its growth strategy

9. Choosing where to put our time and energy – where can we bring an elite level of excellence? Where can we be world-class? Where are we not really qualified?

Kudos to organizers John Gleason, David Butler and Fred Richards, for bringing the community together for this valuable time to reflect. They called it an “Unconference” because it was more of a convening to talk to each other, without any slickly produced presentations. Props to Jenna Banks and Elisabeth Emory for their invaluable support.

Gratitude to these design leaders who shared generously with a notable lack of grandstanding: Fe Amarante, Tysonn Betts, Kara Buckler, Alexa Curtis, Melissa Dalrymple, Deborah Dawton, Charles Jones, Jennifer M. Kolstad, Kris Malkoski, Leland Maschmeyer, Jennifer Merchant, Ken Musgrave, Mauro Porcini, Kayo Roehm, Roger Rohatgi, Michelle Stuhl, and Mark Wilson.

Opening reception was held at the soon-to-open Chicago Brand Museum, with the most incredible collection of branding and packaging from the last 100 years.