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Design

Strategic Design & Innovation

Strategic design applies design principles and methods to the systemic challenges of business and social innovation. Strategic design assists in framing problems, identifying opportunities, applying methods, and developing solutions that improve the overall performance of companies and non-profit organizations. The practice is futures-oriented and focuses on creating value for the business or organization, customers, and society.

Featured Resources

Design Futures Research

This research project examines seven trends shaping the context for the practice of design. This change in the nature of work calls for new skills and perspectives beyond traditional college-level design education. It is critical that the industry expands its knowledge and expertise to remain economically viable and professionally relevant as it prepares for changing client demands and new opportunities for design influence.

Read the trends

Design Future Now! Podcast

How is design changing as a discipline and profession? How do we face these opportunities as a community? AIGA’s Lee-Sean Huang explores these questions and more with creative practitioners and leaders on Design Future Now, a show about designing the future and the future of design.

Listen to an episode

Professional Development

Grow with AIGA and Yale

The Business Perspectives for Creative Leaders curriculum is co-designed by AIGA and Yale School of Management to equip creative leaders to meet the challenges of management and to give participants the skills and perspectives they need to reach the next levels in their careers.

Learn more and register
Business Perspectives

AIGA Corporate Leadership Award

Established in 1980, the AIGA Corporate Leadership Award recognizes the role of perceptive and forward-thinking organizations that have been instrumental in the advancement of design by applying the highest standards as a matter of practice and policy.

Learn More

Featured Talks

Jason Mayden

Talk

Rise of the Creative Class

In this discussion, Jason Mayden highlights how branding and analysis impact design. When it comes to branding, engendering a mindset of brand “distinction” versus “differentiation” is key, and listening to the voice of the consumer can lead to significant competitive advantages. Learn how high-impact industries leverage the power of data and predictive analytics as a new medium for inspiring narratives and immersive experiences.
Suzanne MacKenzie

Talk

Design from the Inside: The Able Made Story

A personal tragedy led Suzanne McKenzie to start Able Made, an active lifestyle fashion brand that promotes healthy living and gives back to city youth through soccer. In this video, she talks about how design can solve the biggest problems, inspire, and promote a connected humanity.
Krystal Persaud

Talk

Designing for the Next Generation of Innovators

It is impossible to prepare students for what we think—today—will be the careers of the future. Krystal Persaud explores how littleBits, a platform of easy-to-use electronic building blocks, is designing unique learning experiences that draw on principles from the maker movement, STEM/STEAM, and ambush learning. Through this framework, the company aims to empower students with creative confidence, technological literacy, and lifelong learning skills to prepare them for the 21st century and beyond.
Joe Gabbia

Talk

The Duct Tape Solution

Joe Gebbia is a multidisciplinary designer, creative entrepreneur, and global explorer. He is the cofounder and chief product officer of Airbnb, which began in 2008, born of the need to pay his rent. Gebbia’s work spans industrial design, print, and digital experiences. With an eye for simplicity and an appreciation of craft, he leads his team in creating eminently marketable products. The results are cutting-edge yet useful tools that impact the user’s experience from the moment of online contact to the end of their physical stays in Airbnb listings around the world.
Tim Riley

Talk

Building a Creative, Customer-focused Culture

From its inception in 2010, Warby Parker has placed a strong emphasis on creative solutions to customer problems. In this talk, Tim Riley delves into how Warby Parker encourages creativity from every department internally (as it's grown from ten people to almost two thousand)—and the inner-workings of how those ideas are ultimately brought to life to improve the overall customer experience.
Mauro Porcini

Talk

Why the (Business) World Needs Design More than Ever

Mauro Porcini ​shares how Pepsi embeds design into every aspect of their business, and how it drives the creation of new products and services.

Be Inspired

View past AIGA talks about strategic design and innovation

Watch Now

Articles

Andy Epstein

Driving Design Innovation In-house: Part One

The six best practices that drove the success of Bell Labs—known for its landscape-changing innovations such as cellular telephone technology and lasers—can be applied to the in-house community. Begin to see that connection in part one of this two-part article, written by veteran in-house design manager Andy Epstein.

Andy Epstein

Driving Design Innovation In-house: Part Two

In the second part of a two-part article that spotlights the remarkable business innovations of Bell Labs, veteran in-house design manager Andy Epstein explores the link between in-house designers and research scientists, examining three ingredients needed to thrive in an in-house environment.

Laura Bolt

From Strategy to Styling: How 3M Designers Lead Business and Innovation

At 3M the design process is intimately weaved into the fabric of its business. The result is a team of in-house designers who have a chance not only to flex their skills but also make a tangible difference in the world.

Margaret Rhodes

How a New Design System Sparked Innovation at Capital One

Capital One’s in-house design team faces a branding problem: how do you unify branches around the world despite strict regulations and long-entrenched habits? But that’s not its real design challenge.

Liz Danzico

The Art of Discovering: An Interview with Scott Berkun

Why do myths of sudden genius endure in light of true, hard-earned innovation? Danzico gets a revelation from author Scott Berkun.

Recommended Books

Creative Strategy and the Business of Design

By Douglas Davis

Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation

By Tim Brown

Mental Models: Aligning Design Strategy with Human Behavior

By Indi Young

The Design of Business

By Roger Martin

Design a Better Business: New Tools, Skills, and Mindset for Strategy and Innovation

By Justin Lockitz, Lisa Kay Solomon, and Patrick van der Pijl

The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America's Leading Design Firm

By Jonathan Littman

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