The call for papers raised a few important questions about the state of the PhD in design. I have worked in a few PhD programmes over the years, supervised well over a dozen students to completion and examined another 35 theses in perhaps seven countries. I have also run at least two programmes and have been on steering groups of, by now, three national and one European programmes. As the editors noted in their call, a PhD has become an entry criterion for academic teaching positions in design. The process has taken less than 20 years and is ongoing. It has had its hiccoughs, but the shift from a practice-based to a research-led occupation has been much faster than I expected 20 years ago. We are in good company with business and engineering schools – just 20 years behind.

This visual research explores processes of mapping, structures, and form as content. A series of maps present processes of time, and research narratives, truths and fictions. From Tolstoy’s use of the present in war and peace, slowing down time, and cinematic conventions, to T. S. Eliot’s ideas of past, present and futures, in Four Quartets. Michail Bakhtin describes a sense of epic time, as a closed, historical past. This research presents research and journeys, as open forms, through poetry, music by Beethoven, and works by Samuel Beckett. A visual essay presents nine images, including original works by the artist in relation to music, and my current project: Recipes for Baking Bread. Colour, forms, closed, and open truths

This seventh number Cubic Journal was originally conceived to capture emerging discussions about the contested roles of PhD design and a design PhD and was fuelled by the experiences of COVID-19. On reflection, and in compiling this issue under the title ‘PhD Design and Design PhD: In, Through and About’, it is clear that there are still many valid and important questions about the incremental next steps and the value of the doctoral experience and its outcomes. Through doctoral education and bringing together design researchers and an expanded portfolio of research design opportunities, there is the potential to rebalance and strengthen human capabilities that complement and counteract emerging technologies that can limit our agency and ability to think, wrestle with and give form to ideas as well as balance our capacity to develop both IQ and EQ. This collection of papers is only the beginning of how doctoral studies and design training can evolve, contribute to advancing research and develop the capability, collaboration, compassion, creativity and courage that distinguish and highlight the integrity of research beyond what is invisible, intangible, searchable and discoverable, even if rarely read, understood or impactful.

In this paper, we present the findings of a project "Let's take care of the caregivers", an initiative carried out during the COVID-19 health crisis. The paper highlights first, the potential of experience design to identify the empathic, emotional challenges and assaults that caregivers have to cope with, and second, its capacity to design new work solutions and strategies that improve the lives of caregivers themselves. Moreover, the project also helped to structure a research program that will be developed through an academic chair devoted to the study of experience design in relation to transdisciplinary research in the fields of ethnography, medicine and management sciences. The ambition of the chair is to change managerial practices in care institutions (hospitals, nursing homes, hospices) and its potential for performance (Borja de Mozota 2001, 2010, 2014).

The belief that strategic design leads to improved firm competitiveness is broadly recognised in contemporary research. However, much less is understood about the precise, concrete mechanisms by which organizations translate their design-based resources and capabilities into higher performance. This paper provides context to this relationship by introducing the variable of pricing power as a potential element of unobserved “dark matter” that clarifies how design-based differentiation results in product performance. Pricing power is described by Stephan Liozu (2019) as “the ability to increase prices without losing demand”. Remarkably, nowhere in the vast literature on pricing is design mentioned, while in parallel pricing has not appeared to be of particular interest to strategic design researchers. In an effort to spur further interest in this variable a case study is provided, illustrating the process footwear and apparel brand Nike employed to leverage design-based differentiation to support the pricing power of a new offering.

As humans we are urged to imagine and realise radically different, more desirable, and most importantly more sustainable futures (Hulme 2020; Pereira et al. 2019). However, the dominance of dystopian scenarios of irreversible environmental and social collapse, along with business- as-usual scenarios, hinder progress and contribute to a gap in futures literature relating to imagining desirable visions for humanity and how to reach them (Bennett et al. 2016; Rana et al. 2020). In this short paper, I share an experiential, meditation-inspired visioning exercise that can aid in enhancing people’s capacity to envision desirable and motivational futures.

The Whole-being © framework was developed as a starting point for a holistic coaching approach, devised in the pursuit of a meaningful way to thrive both in our personal and professional lives. It is only when people are whole that a world based on integrity, freedom, kindness and compassion can materialize. This paper is aligned to the perspective of!experiences, specifically addressing the role design has in helping organisations understand what really drives their employees, while bringing attention to the “whole-being ecosystem” which influences people’s motivation and performance. A whole-system approach is necessary so that executives can thrive without running the risk of burning out. Policies must align themselves in the direction of this purpose, to create the right conditions for “whole-beings” to thrive, but in the midst of all of this self-awareness remains essential for the system to work. The training focuses on optimizing the participant’s energy as well as on developing certain attributes to feel and be whole.

Consensus on the impact of design on perfor-mance can be said to be evident at all three levels of decision-making in organizations: strategic, tac-tical, operational (Brunswicker et al. 2019; Gemser & Leenders 2001). This impact broadly assumes the following forms: Design impact for strategy in action and customer experience Design impact for business strategy, process, innovation, and performance Design impact for cultural change and organization transformation Despite these revelations, precious little guidance is found in the way of forming a holistic view of the why of design science, core capabilities, theo-ries, and methods in business economics and the ultimate pertinence of the design function in any given organization. Similarly, the how, which would outline the ways in which these capacities could be built and coordinated towards the support of stra-tegic design and forward-looking decision-making processes is at best assumed, yet very rarely articulated. This issue includes both the papers from academia and professionals we received through our Call, as well as the results of a complementary survey con-ducted by the editors with Chief Design Officers. Our editorial foreword uses the model (Figure 1) as the framework for a synthesis, linking strategy in design science and strategy in business science: Part I - The vertical axis of Strategy from Vision to Mission through Value: design strategy versus cor-porate strategy, and business economics in design-driven organizations.Part II - The horizontal axis of Strategic Manage-ment and the Strategic design decision path. From design leadership and strategic positioning to busi-ness strategy and design management to strategy in action and design.

This paper is a reflection of the evolution of a user experience (UX) consultancy's transformation into a brand experience consultancy in an increasingly competitive market in China. As part of this transformation, the value of design has shifted from tactical to strategic. The authors compare and contrast the nature of experience design and experience strategy and how they are delivered to close the gap between designers and strategists. While this paper serves as a case study of one consultancy in China, the lessons, knowledge, and understanding gained are applicable to the user experience industry and global design community at large.

The number of design patents has grown significantly in the last 140 years. However, a data-driven approach for design patents has been overlooked and underutilised in the design management and innovation research communities. Through the prism of a patent professional, data analyst and designer, this photo essay demystifies the complexity of design patent data and sheds light on the underlying value of design as it features among a range of diverse innovation activities. Patent network analysis and visualisation techniques enable the building of a series of patent citation maps and co-inventor networks. Cases from renowned companies—Apple, Dyson, Samsung, and LG electronics— reveal different shapes of innovation activities, focusing on product diversification strategies, collaboration patterns and design-technology cross-pollination flows.