Project description:

To better understand the relationship between business and design, I interviewed seven professors: three in business and four in design. Presenting the participants with a simple toolkit, I asked each one to place circular post-it notes on a large piece of paper, indicating the relationship between business and design, now and in the future.

Results:

• Business professors: Two out of the three business professors anticipated that design will play a more important role in business in the future.
• Design professors: Also saw business and design growing closer in the future, but additionally spoke about other issues such as the environment and social justice.

Analysis:

I created charts summarizing the key visual, verbal and observational notes with each group. I also made word clouds based on the transcripts of each group.

Conclusions:

Design and business speak different languages. The two groups have different priorities and needs, and perceive that they serve different interests.

Recommendations:

Design strategists should be hired by organizations to help bridge that gap by translating between the two groups. Ultimately this function can improve businesses by more thoroughly serving customer and societal needs.