Consultancy Designer Involvement in New Product Development: Mapping a Novel Design Leadership Process

Abstract

The role of design and designers in new product development (NPD) has always been problematic and complex in its approach and in the extent of its involvement (Leenders et al., 2007; Murray and O’Driscoll, 1996; Veryzer and Borja de Mozota, 2005). As the industrial design profession seeks to confront the challenges of a recessionary environment, both the designer led ‘intuitive’ approach to NPD, and the marketer led ‘systematic’ approach become outmoded (Cross, 2001; Martin, 2007). There is shortcoming, even ambivalence, in the NPD and design management literature as to how design is involved in NPD (Cooper et al., 2003; Olson et al., 1998). Perks et al. (2005) suggest the designer’s involvement is moving from merely functional expertise to broader leadership activities. The research reported in this paper seeks to contextualise the fledgling position of design as NPD leader, and to understand the nature and level of design and designer involvement in NPD. Using a case study approach, the researchers sought to investigate these issues in Ireland’s largest industrial design consultancy. The firm, established 25 years ago, employs 30 design professionals. It handles projects for a range of well-known, international clients in mature, consumer product categories, for example, Palm, Terraillon and Logitech. The lead researcher spent six weeks embedded in the firm in summer 2009, carrying out quasi-ethnographic observation and semi-structured interviews with designers and management. Further interviews were conducted at the European studio of an international consultancy to enable a broader comparison. The firm was found to be in a period of flux, moving from a situation where the client called the shots, often based on uni-dimensional market research, towards one where the design studio sought to win greater involvement in NPD. A studio in such a predicament has yet to be empirically examined in the literature. Reorientation from a passive, and often late, role in NPD towards one of fuller leadership and greater input is a central feature of this research. A significant amount of conventional design work was gradually gravitating towards business analysis and marketing conceptualisation. Designers engaged in a high level of analysis on product, user and brand, and offered direction to clients through a range of activities. In many regards, they embraced the language and craft of the marketer. The company’s new mantra was to “manifest our clients’ brand through great product design”. This shift marks the division between the designer’s role as a mere service provider versus design authority. The extent to which leadership could be successfully offered depended, in a large part, on the relationship between designer and client. This relationship determined the extent and timing of involvement of designers in NPD. Different types and intensities of relationships were observed. For example, constant dyadic communication facilitated intense relationships where typical design briefs were extremely informal. However, an asymmetry in consultancy-client relationship, provoking vulnerability and internal tension, was uncovered. This revealed the transitional ground that the studio currently inhabits. This study charts in detail a move by a well-established design consultancy to take greater ‘ownership’ of NPD. In shaping this process, the constellation of the designer-client relationship is critical. A model of designer-client involvement in NPD, hinging around project classification and designer input, is developed. This model is predicated on three important insights from the research: (i) a broadened designer remit; (ii) extensive and early NPD involvement on the part of designers; and (iii) increased ownership of the NPD process by the consultancy designers. As the design profession transitions, as designers increasingly sell a greater range of expertise and provide greater value to clients, it is suggested that the model provides relevant insight to both design consultancies and client firms in the NPD process.