Strategic design

Strategic design is the application of future-oriented design principles in order to increase an organization's innovative and competitive qualities. Its foundations lie in the analysis of external and internal trends and data, which enables design decisions to be made on the basis of facts rather than aesthetics or intuition. The discipline is mostly practiced by design agencies or by internal development departments. "Traditional definitions of design often focus on creating discrete solutions—be it a product, a building, or a service. Strategic design is about applying some of the principles of traditional design to "big picture" systemic challenges like business growth, health care, education, and climate change. It redefines how problems are approached, identifies opportunities for action, and helps deliver more complete and resilient solutions." The traditional concept of design is mainly associated with artistic work. The addition of the term strategic expands such conception so that creativity is linked with innovation, allowing ideas to become practical and profitable applications "that can be managed effectively, acquired, used and/or consumed by target audiences." Strategic design draws from the body of literature that emerged in recent years, which outline strategic design principles that provide insights and new methods in the areas of merchandising, consuming, and ownership. There are at least four factors that demonstrate the value of strategic design and these are: it affects consumer behavior through motivation by creating a perceptual value; it offers a way for firms to differentiate their products and services from the competition; it creates meaning, by effectively making the customer understand the product and its value; and, it can be used to manage risks by providing a structure that offers opportunities for collaboration, innovation and the creation of a mechanism to meaningfully address problems. Businesses are the main consumers of strategic design, but the public, political and not-for-profit sectors are also making increasing use of the discipline.