Tag Archives: Pivot

Publications

Design brief helps advisors help business people working with designers

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Bertao, R. A., Brum, A. L. D. S., & Joo, J. (2023) The design brief as a pivotal tool: A study of Centro Brasil Design’s practices to promote design, The Design Journal, 26 (2), 188-209. 

Abstract

In the early stages of the design and innovation processes, stakeholders often develop a design brief. As a document gathering all design requirements, it is adopted as an agreement and a roadmap to facilitate communication throughout the project. This study expands the current literature about design brief tools by delving into the briefing process within design interventions conducted by design promotion organisations. We investigated the strategies and practices of Centro Brasil Design to nurture design among Brazilian enterprises. Particularly, we focused on its Design Export program, which aims to insert design in export-oriented businesses. Supported by the Design Quality Criteria framework, our study probed the program’s development and its design briefs, as well as the designers involved in the projects. The findings revealed how a design brief could lever the design advisory service. We further identified a new approach to briefing procedures and a design brief model for design interventions.

Keywords

Design brief, briefing, Design Quality Criteria, Centro Brasil Design, design promotion

*Event

What do we need in the Post-Covid Era?

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Professor Steve Blank gave a speech on the topic of innovation and entrepreneurship at the Dong-A Business Forum 2021. I was invited to moderate his speech in December, 2021.

Steve is a serial startup founder and entrepreneur educator. He founded 8 startups in 1980s and then developed the concept of Customer Development. In 2011, Steve designed a class of Lean LaunchPad by combining his Customer Development with Agile Engineering and Business Model Canvas. His Customer Development is known to inspire Eric Ries and the basis of Lean Startup. His curriculum has been adopted by multiple universities and NSF Innovation Corps, in particular, the departments of defense and diplomacy. Steve is currently working as a researcher and teacher at Stanford University, UC Berkeley, and Coumbia University.

In our conversation, he mentioned that “Don’t just come up with a business plan in your head.” Instead “go to the field, meet customers in person, and verify hypothesis quickly.” This is a so-called Lean Startup. He advised large corporations in Korea to “separate the teams who implement existing business models and the teams who are free to experiment with innovation.”

While he stressed Voice Of Customers (VOC), he highlighted pivot particularly in the post-COVID era. “If you meet a piece of information which tells you that the concept is wrong, you need to revise your business model quickly. In the 20th century, doing so was impossible. However, doing so saves money and time now. It prevents you from going to the wrong direction.”

He claimed that pivot is more than a methodology. “A culture where everyone including executives can openly communicate about what went wrong with the initial plan. No business plan can survive if it is reprimanded for pointing out something is wrong. So I think pivot is a cultural issue not a methodological one.”