1. Design is Leadership
Patrick Gibson

2. Problem
A designer has limited influence to advance bold
decisions in the typical role as tradesperson.

3. Hypothesis
By taking ownership over client goals, a designer
can become a leader who measurably impacts
business and society.
The more designers shoulder the consequences of
failure, the greater authority they possess in
employing their conviction and courage of
imagination to profound effect.

4. Content Outline
I. Introduction and Hypothesis
A. Problem
•
Design's crisis of identity: What is today's designer supposed to do? (SOURCE: Survey?)
•
The limited role of designers in decision making
•
The lack of innovative, design-driven companies
•
Design has the greatest potential to advance bold ideas
B. Hypothesis
•
Taking ownership of a client's objective changes the relationship
•
Designers must tackle the client's problem and not their own
•
Measurable/visible results are necessary to prove design's worth
•
A virtuous circle: Greater responsibility, greater influence, greater success
•
Profound accomplishments possible from the marriage of design and leadership

5. Content Outline
II. The Problem
A. Overview of problem
•
The designer's gripe: Clients don't "get it" (SOURCE: clientsfromhell.net, similar websites)
•
What do clients really think designers are for?
•
Paul Rand and Enron: Where a detached designer ultimately failed
•
Rand, following an old model of design, has no investment in his client, only his craft
B. The Evolution of the profession
•
Design is a threatened trade
•
Design's origins in the typesetting/printing trade (SOURCES: A History of Graphic Design, Philip
B. Meggs;
Graphic Design HIstory: A Critical Guide, Johanna Drucker and Emily McVarish)
•
Modern design and the birth of advertising, branding (SOURCES: "Mad Men," ABC; Paul Rand,
Steven Heller)
•
Macintosh and desktop publishing: A rattled print trade
•
Digital design: A specialty trade, but less design than engineering
•
Outsourcing design: China, India, logoworks.com

6. Content Outline
C. The profession today
• Adapting to more automated design: the designer/consultant/strategist mishmash
• Schizophrenia in academia: Varied and conflicting viewpoints
(SOURCE: "The Valorized Designer," Nigel Whiteley; Interview with Tom Klinkowstein)
D. The need for another way
• The future of design must focus on making actions, not artifacts
• Design must be more than another a tool in the kit
• IDEO case study
• Netflix and Quickster: Ignoring the end-user
• Apple versus Microsoft: Tomorrow versus yesterday
• Expanding information, choices for consumers leads to higher selectiveness
• The future U.S. economy must move beyond the industrial

7. Content Outline
III. Claiming A Stake
A. The power of responsibility
•
Example: Aristotle and the duties of citizenship
•
Clients have more responsibility than designers, which gives them more say
•
Having a stake in something gives weight to ideas
•
Design as self expression nullifies importance to business
•
Sharing the risk, sharing the reward
B. Design and leadership
•
What makes a leader
•
The design process as it relates to leadership
•
The importance of conviction
•
David Plouffe: Designing a campaign victory

8. Content Outline
C. Ownership
• No single model to cover all situations
• Ownership could be financial, emotional, procedural
• Learning from related professions
• The advertising model of agency involvement
• The designer as strategist
• The designer as entrepreneur
D. Barriers
• The concrete actions and practices required
• The heightened consequences of failure
• New skills: leadership, advocate, evangelist

9. Content Outline
IV. Conclusion
•
Design as a organizational core value trickles down
•
Jonathan Ive: When smart design advances business
•
Design's importance in a complex society/economy
•
Dutch design: An integral component of society
•
What a designer-led world could look like