Four Powers of Design: A Value Model in Design Management, The

Design Management Review, Spring 2006 by de Mozota, Brigitte Borja

The four perspectives of the BSC model neatly coincide with the four powers of design, or the four design values system: customer perspective (design as differentiator); process perspective (design as coordinator); learning perspective (design as transformer); finance perspective (design as good business).

As I noted earlier, the BSC model is widely known by MBAs and often used by audit and strategy consultants. It is a common language shared and understood by most executives, whether they occupy the CEO's office or work in finance, marketing, procurement, or R&D. This model is strategic and long-term-driven, which aligns it well with design thinking and design coherence, also based on long-term thinking. It offers help in asking about the four issues that are key to every design project: that is, client, performance, knowledge management, and finances. It is also simple to apply to any design decision, design policy, or design project.

But more important, the BSC tool is a causeand-effect model, in that each perspective has an impact on the other three. Employee quality, for example, drives customer value and financial value; process improvement affects financial value and customer value, and so on. Just as a designer working on a project is used to thinking holistically, the BSC indicators are meant systemically-improving the quality of product design improves employee satisfaction and creates new knowledge that can generate better production process performance (and vice versa). In the same way, the BSC shows how each design discipline is linked with other design disciplines in a system based on a common, central vision.

The cases starting on page 49 are examples of the implementation of this model in three companies, each of which focuses on a different design discipline: Attoma (information design); Decathlon (product design); and Steelcase (workspace design).

The Balanced Score Card for Running a Design Department or a Consultancy

Now, how shall we apply the Balanced Score Card to measure the performance of a design consultancy or a design department?

Imagine that you are a design manager or a CEO. What issue faces you both when you come in to work each morning? Company performance. What is design's responsibility in improving this performance? What indicators should you measure on a continuing basis? How could that goal be expressed with the design value model or the four BSC perspectives? Figure 4 offers an example.

For each of the four BSC perspectives, we chose indicators that are easy to measure and easy to link with company performance indicators. Some indicators are used by many functions of the organization; some are specific to the design function. It is important that design managers link their own indicators with the BSC indicators of the company's performance, as well as with design briefs, as a measure of the everyday performance of design staff.

Conclusion

Design offers four powers or directions through which to create value in management, and these four directions can be seen as a system with the vision in the center. The design value model and its application through the Balanced Score Card toolkit provide a common language for designers and managers and this can help the design profession effect a change from project-based to knowledge-based.