IdeaSpice as a design firm works with a certain design process. While this design process works across industries, each industry has its own specific needs that need to be reflected in the design process. My initial project brief was to understand their design process, expand and detail it further for specific industries such as retail, hospitality, entertainment, real estate etc., and finally, document and formalize the process.
However, across all of these processes, I had to work towards creating a system that acted as a guideline for projects and not as an inflexible system that affected creativity.
While redefining the project brief I realized that the design process is part of a larger system of design firms. It is this system which needs to be looked into to be able to deliver to clients. Apart from looking at specific industry needs, it was important for me to look at the overall structure of the firm, which facilitates coming up with strategic design solutions. My redefined brief was to develop integrated systems and processes for IdeaSpice with main focus on expandable, flexible and paperless design processes.
While designing their integrated system and processes, I took care to maintain quality standards across all offices, develop guidelines/ directions for all stakeholders of IdeaSpice, and move from being a design agency to strategic partners of clients.
Two years at SDM have drastically helped improve my perception and ability to think laterally. It is a new course and the challenge for me, still is to define and improve the role of design management. There is no one way to define the role, but different situations and contexts define the role. This is not the end of the process, but the start.