Masters of Collaboration

The 21st century design environment trades individual stars for teamwork uniting designers, engineers, anthropologists, and others

by Steve Hamm and Helen Walters

"Design by committee" is rarely meant as a compliment. Rather, the term implies a lack of vision, a muddled strategy, and an absence of clear leadership. Yet in stark contrast with the heroic designers of the 20th century, of whom there were only a chosen few (think Charles and Ray Eames, or Richard Sapper (BusinessWeek, 1/10/08), design committees and consultancies are positioning themselves as the stars of the 21st century business environment.

As the potential of design to transform a business and help it grow has been more widely recognized and understood, executives are paying more attention to the department and its employees. Apple (AAPL) may have had more than its fair share of attention in recent weeks, but it's also done more than most to show how successful design can drive a business' bottom-line growth. Overseen by a notoriously detail-driven chief executive officer, the design team is led by Jonathan Ive, who has worked with a tight team of collaborators for many years, (BusinessWeek, 9/25/07). While reluctant to take sole credit for any project, Ive is also widely credited for keeping a firm eye on the design and development of every wiggling iPhone icon. Ive and Steve Jobs lead an army of passionate believers (both within and outside the organization) into battle in the marketplace.

Design Practice Extends Its Reach

Just as forward-thinking engineering firms have worked to team up with design partners to offer a holistic output to clients, many design consultancies have responded to the seismic shifts in technology and culture by adopting a radical, collaborative approach—in stark contrast with the magician/know-it-all designer type of old. And while there may well be outsize personalities within the consultancies' offices, the new philosophy seems to sit comfortably within these open-source, consumer/user-driven times.

Design Continuum, for instance, began in 1983 as a small shop with a simple mission: to design products for businesses. Since then it has grown into an organization with 200 employees worldwide that designs the strategies, brands, and customer experiences (as well as the products) of businesses. It has offices in West Newton, Mass., Milan, and Seoul, and its staff includes MBAs, psychologists, and ethnographers.

In short, the firm's orginal product design focus has enlarged to embrace design strategies applied to a wide range of businesses in a variety of industries. The firm, now known simply as Continuum, is presently working to build a systems-based method of building growth through design. "As design became more widely understood, Continuum has also become ever more involved in uncovering opportunities for fundamental product and service innovation, and even in assisting our clients in developing an innovative business strategy," says company founder Gianfranco Zaccai.

Fine-Tuning for the Consumer

It's a very 21st century approach to creating valuable products and services for global corporations (clients include the likes of Procter & Gamble (PG), for which Continuum helped to develop the billion-dollar Swiffer business), and it's one that is echoed in other increasingly high-profile design consultancies, such as IDEO, Ziba, and Seymourpowell.