Design & Management Research Group
The Competence Centre Design & Management is a research group part of the Lucerne School of Design, Film and Art at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU). Its basic and applied research is dedicated to the study of human-centred design in the context of organizational and societal change, transformation and management. Our strength is to help organizations understand how they go about designing for human experiences and human interactions. We realign organizations around people, thus supporting needed transformations to generate new possibilities to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and to realize a desirable Digital Transformation. In this process, we develop organizational design capabilities through the art of design, its principles, processes and methods.
Our experts are highly trained design researchers who are internationally and nationally recognized for their contribution to design practice, design education and design research. They are experienced in co-designing with citizens, business people, civil servants, and policy makers on the local, national and international level. Besides contributing to the discipline through peer-reviewed publications, they continuously engage with design researchers and design practitioners on projects. Most hold an appointed or elected membership in a design association through which they contribute to the contemporary design discourse.
Our projects target the future and build on our combined expertise, including ethnographic research, visual and interaction design, service design, product design, speculative design, information design, communication design, storytelling, and design semantics. We open paths for students in our BA and MA programs to engage in design research projects careers.
Our methods are informed by our human-centred approach. We combine qualitative methods (mixed methods) and lean on an action-based Grounded Theory approach. We focus on participatory, emergent and iterative processes, embracing concepts like agile approaches and design thinking.
Our aim is to generate new possibilities for innovative yet concrete solutions to address complex and wicked situations that require the involvement of business, civil society and government. Our overall aim is to enhance the design capability of those in charge of giving shape to our future products and services in the public and private sector.
