07 November 2008

Concept: Design Board



From time to time working for a large corporation with little design support breeds an interesting idea. This one came to me when I realized I was swimming in a sea of business people who could not support me, or often even talk with me about design and its role in the products we develop.

I call the concept "design board".

Companies or organizations with small design teams (or teams of one) would field a board of local and remote design resources. These people would come from a variety of places: design firms, ad agencies, similar (but not competing) companies, and perhaps cohort designers or design leadership. For a fixed fee, these board members would prepare for and attend regular design review meetings. Also, they would agree to be on-call for the sort of advice senior level design support would provide if it existed in the board's company.

What does the company get out of it?

  • Expertise of a gifted group of designers.
  • Sounding board for new approaches--sanity check for the business interests.
  • Enrichment of the company's in-house design team.
  • Additional name recognition for the company's design efforts.


What do members of the board get out of it?

  • Cash money.
  • Recognition for design experience.
  • An enrichment of their own skills in a wider variety of circumstances.
  • More interesting Curriculum Vitae.

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