Phuong Finds

Design leadership means taking on the responsibility to ensure the design solution encompasses a holistic approach. From social to economical to environmental, we need to consider design as a part of the bigger picture and every solution need to drive toward a positive change. For humans, the design solution need to be human-centered and empathetic to human needs in order to improve our lives. For the world, it needs to be sustainable and future-focused.  Without a sense of responsibility to the people and the environment, design lacks intentionality for viable resolutions and accountability for foreseeable consequences.

One of the concepts I have learned from class and one of the trends I discovered from my visual diary is how design leadership worked with parameters and leverage what was given to tackle on big, wicked issues. This approach led me to put a stake in the ground with leveraging the tangible mobile device and considering the intangible emotional need for my wicked issue of social engagement and disengagement for mobile device. It allowed me to put on a different kind of lens to see further into how design intervention and strategy were used and can be used to resolve for a desideratum. It is definitely something I will carry on forward for not only my current final project but future design leadership projects. 

Mobile applications can be designed with intentionality to combat mobile distractions. Particular for distractions on the road, Spotify tackles on this wicked problem with the feature to automatically detect a Bluetooth connection with a vehicle and changing the view for a simplified layout (Spotify Community). 

Mobile distraction is a habit to overcome. Users get distracted only to the extent they allow themselves to be and technology should exist to help users “develop their own sense of digital wellbeing.”

Companies and organizations, large and small, all recognize their place in designing their business with the environment in mind through a holistic design approach. Companies like Cisco and Metlife deploy design tactics to reduce their carbon footprint by implementing energy efficient projects and committing to reuse, refurbish, or recycle processes with their supplies. In addition, they also promote sustainable lifestyle like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Staffs at the CDC are encouraged to Go Green Get Healthy by making sustainable food choices, using alternative transportation, making energy efficient updates at home, recycling electronics, and more. In summary, a few key aspects for design leaders to consider, as these companies and organizations did, are (1) making sustainable consideration for the supplies they use in the business, (2) building and maintaining sustainable facilities, and (3) promoting sustainable lifestyles. They measure their carbon footprint and provide annual reports to measure and track their progress and goals. You can too! The CDC shared on their website the Footprint Calculator created by the Global Footprint Network. Together, we can take our first step! 

According to Reason Street’s article on the Buy-One Give-One business model, the ability to deliver positive social impact has its successes and challenges. Businesses with the Buy-One Give-One business model are consumer products with a tangible product and a simple message that shows authenticity in the company’s mission and in turn grow through word-of-mouth. They also succeed by marking up prices or reducing margins to afford the model. However, the challenges include keeping up with donations while matching demands and risking local economy of the communities services when demands reduce. Matching with the right non profit partners early on is, also, a crucial part of following a holistic approach to ensure the mission gets carried out successfully. 

In the recent years, Kodak reemerges by focusing on the idea of nostalgia. Their new product line was premiered recently and introduced the Kodak SMILE Classic Instant Print Camera, Kodak Smile Instant Printer, Kodak SMILE Instant Print Digital Camera, and a few others (Miller, 2019). Only time will tell how their strategy has improved.  

This month marks the ending one of the largest problematic stake in the ground that Google made with Google Plus eight years ago. Google Plus based their idea of creating circles for forming their social network, but their approach to this product only led them to go in circles themselves without "a clear plan to differentiate the service from Facebook (Fiegerman, 2015). According to a headline article on Engadget, they didn’t fail, they just didn’t succeed (England, 2019). Before the recent discovery of the product’s privacy bug, the product has long been struggling to breakout and instead been declining in engagement (Denning, 2015). They put stake in the ground for a product that lacked intentionality for a design intervention in their mission and had a poor design strategy in using company’s employees to build the network instead of considering at a holistic and empathic design to determine the desideratum. 

Disney is putting stakes in the ground for renewable energy that could power up two theme parks. Located outside Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park near Orland, Florida is the 518,000 solar panels feeding into the electrical grid on Disney’s properties. The Environmental Integration Director at Walk Disney World Resort pointed out three main environmental goals for their new operations with a holistic design approach: “divert 60% of waste from landfills by 2020, reduce net emissions 50% by 2020, and reduce water consumption across the board.” Their new 270-acre solar facility raised the stakes for the company and raised the bar globally for brands to take positive action (Field, 2019).

The “rise of Netflix and fall of Blockbuster” was a particularly interesting case of the disruptive force behind competitors putting stakes in the ground (Chhabria, 2017). Blockbuster was a leading video chain in the ‘90s and continued with the same business model. Its competitor Netflix was expanding on the opposite end and placed stakes in the ground at first with DVD mailing to online streaming. In due time, Blockbuster lost its grounds to Netflix, it "busted” with bankruptcy by 2011 and closed the last of its stores in 2013. The future of streaming competitions are mounting up, Netflix’s next plan has been putting stakes in the ground for growth with original content and international audiences (Burgess, 2018). From this example, putting stakes in the ground doesn’t necessary work out when drilling the same hole of past success but it does when exploring and putting stakes into probing for new possibilities with design intervention and considering a wider scope with a holistic design. 

Web conferencing has conveniently enhanced telecommunication for the way we work, learn, and meet.Throughout our Design Management and Communications courses, my classmates and I have been using Zoom for our course meetings to group discussions. Zoom is one form of online collaborative services that provide online meetings, training, marketing events, town hall meetings, and now collaboration-enabled conference rooms and next generation enterprise phone system. The design intervention breaks the barriers of locality.  These type of telecommunication tools has changed the cultural parameter with how society can work in collaboration and where we can individually work with peers from our job and classmates within an online education program like the one I’m in. 

Sterling’s own experience pushed her commitment to alleviate the cultural parameter of gender gap and reshape this societal impact for young girls growing up. Her product design, GoldieBlox, creates books, toys, videos, and more to provide young girls with the opportunity to develop the skills and enhances learning in science, technology, engineering, and math. What children interact with during their youth to counter gender stereotypes can “influence the skills children learn and the possibilities they see for themselves” (Klass, 2018). Sterling’s design leadership is in challenging the existing social and cultural norm with her design intervention of these engineering toys for girls, “Just because this is the way things are doesn’t mean this is how things has to be.”

The company also tackle on the intangible parameter of anticipating the future by alleviating societal impact to the environment with their products and creating societal impact for people around the world with their donations. 2.3 billion people don’t have access to a toilet, poor water and sanitation put 289,00 children under five at risk of death from diarrhea diseases. Their effort is in donating half of their profits and to date, $1.8 million Aussie dollars have been donated “to non-profit organizations working to improve access to hygiene, water and basic sanitation in developing countries” (Who Gives a Crap).

How are these shoes sustainable you ask? Rothy’s greatest tangible parameter is in the materials they leverage to help alleviate a critical environmental issue. These shoes are made from 100% post-consumer water bottles, recycled foam for the insoles, carbon-free rubber soles, non-toxic and vegan adhesives, and biodegradable packaging (Rothy’s, 2018). So far, the company has re-purposed over twenty million water bottles to help reduce plastic pollution. In addition, their production process yields minimal waste and they carry little inventory to avoid overproduction. Their shoes are also durable and machine-washable for longer use. From hitting many eco-friendly aspects, they are nailing intangible parameters as well, such as the consumer’s emotional need with creating long lasting societal impact for the environment. People are becoming more eco-conscious with where their products come from and how they represent themselves with style and values (Chen, 2019). From such, Rothy’s innovative design leadership encompasses a holistic design process that tackles on an environmental issue in addition to providing a practical product that looks good and feels good for users on different levels.

AndroidAuto, Apple CarPlay, and AT&T Drivemode are a few ways to assist drivers with tasks so they could stay focused on driving. The AndroidAuto can be downloaded on your phone or displayed on compatible touchscreen in cars. This service includes the Google Assistant as the “perfect companion” to aid with tasks while driving such as agenda reminders, traffic alerts, calling/texting contacts, queuing music, etc. Through empathic design, services like the AndroidAuto improves driver’s focus on the road by understanding the context of what causes distractions and how to alleviate those distractions with their product.

Activities on mobile devices seclude people to their own individual interaction and exclude them from present social interactions. So games like Heads Up! is helpful to be inclusive of everyone and involve them in sharing a singular fun activity. Instead of condemning mobile technology as something that detaches people, here is where design intervention make use of the tool, to engage people in a social group setting. Design leadership can be seen from this design strategy to work with parameters not against. 

However, in 2018, they pivoted from creating a completely different type of phone to transforming the user’s existing phone with the Siempo Launcher on Google Play. This was a great example of design leadership where they identified their constraints and leveraged their technology for their product to evolve from their original idea.