Focus: Applying for Design management jobs in the private sector of Switzerland.
Since design management is a relatively new job term in comparison to others, I am constantly asked what it is. What happens after graduation, and who offers this job, are frequently asked questions by friends and family of design management students. In this blog, I’d like to discuss where design thinking and other design manager skills are required, as well as how this job will become more well-known in the future. I felt compelled to write about it because I noticed a lack of information while applying for this course and struggled in the beginning to answer these questions.
The first step for us would be to consider what design management is. Is it simply a combination of design elements and learning managerial skills? What does it even look like when put together? Only during the course was I able to answer these questions for myself; having a design background and having taken some business classes, I assumed there wasn’t much I wouldn’t know, but I was wrong. To explain this shortly, the most accurate and widely used definition is from dmi.org „Design management includes the ongoing processes, business decisions, and strategies that allow creativity and the creation of well-designed goods, services, communications, environments, and brands that improve our quality of life while also ensuring organizational performance.“ (Design Management Institute, What is Design Management?)
The term is unfamiliar to most people, but the tasks and skills have been around for a long time. If we know it consciously or unconsciously, different job titles have implemented them. Among the main skills developed during this course are design thinking, product development or communication (graphic design, web design), ethnographic research, service design, social design, managerial skills such as accounting, law, business thinking, brand value creation, project management, and so on. These abilities are required for tasks such as innovation, problem-solving, creative thinking, analytical thinking skills, attention to detail, organization and time management, team leader, relationship building and influencing, and organizational culture design. These are also characteristics and skills found in top entrepreneurs and exceptional managers, and therefore, this job is diluted to different positions.
When applying for jobs, it is critical to be aware of this. Looking for companies that are always speaking to your values is essential, and when looking for titles, keywords to look for include team managing, market research, business design, project management, and product development manager, graphic design, public relations, general creative roles, and so on suiting to your strengths and interest.
Design managers face challenges when applying for jobs in Switzerland, to some extent because, as Switzerland’s reputation grows, the way business is conducted here mostly is more traditional, and creativity is only now being recognized in such fields. Typically, design refers to products, clothing, and artistic endeavors, and it is not widely known in the business, so articulating yourself and how you benefit from them is critical. The potential you’ll have will exceed their expectations, so make sure to explain your core subjects, the skills you’ve acquired through projects, and how you were able to find solutions to complex issues and challenging systems that can help an organization move forward and benefit in the long run. Angela Meyer’s Embedding Design Practice Within Organizations explains how design is implemented in organizations and why it is important for them to do so. In this chapter, the content is about how design can help organizations become more competitive and productive, as well as the challenges they face along the way and how to overcome them. As a design manager, it is in your nature to take on new challenges. Most importantly, recognize that we want to create change and move organizations to a better economy with sustainable and holistic approaches, but be aware of the culture that the companies invite; are they more welcoming to short-term benefits, or do they want to change strategies and approaches toward benefiting society and going sustainable, and only then apply to them? Knowing where you are welcome will help you grow and expand to your full potential in your professional life; otherwise, you will be underutilized, and your skills will be wasted. When applying, use research expertise, look at their history, sustainability reports, cross-check facts, what projects have been done, have there been changes in organization and organizational structure, do they have awards or certificates, how do they differentiate themselves from competitors, and if it is a start-up, you will find it easier to implement strategies. Studying a company shows them how serious you are about getting this job, and you will also mention how you adapt to them and how they can benefit from your creative mind.
The future of Companies
Companies‘ future is human-centered and focused on achieving sustainability goals; countries are pushing forward and changing policies to achieve these goals, and the entire world is watching to see who is doing better and taking examples. Companies are compelled to always do better and look for people who can make this attainable for them, especially in „Switzerland, the driving force behind the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)“ (United Nation, Switzerland.:. Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform 2018). Companies will also have to focus more on human-centered approaches. According to one study, millions of people will lose their current employment to emerging technology in the coming years, perhaps as many as 36 million. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this trend, with AI replacing unemployed people faster than ever before. A human-centered company can create employment that can not be replaced by robotics, artificial intelligence, or machine learning in the near future. This entails establishing positions in the company for people to use inherently human skills such as creativity, communication, and empathy. (Lau, The Key to Growing Human-Centered Businesses 2021). The Business Roundtable, a non-profit organization based in Washington, has revised its statement highlighting the need to move away from shareholder primacy and toward a more human-centered nature, which CEOs have committed to and are implementing. This is a promise to design managers that they will become increasingly important.
As previously mentioned, there is potential because design management will not be replaced by AI or robots and also encourages the creation of new job titles; becoming aware of this will help when beginning a design management course and applying for jobs. These suggestions are for the early stages of a design manager’s career; as time passes and you gain experience and more projects under your belt, your skills will be required in more fields, and you will be able to advance to creative directors, start your own company, and take on more top managerial positions.
By Ann Maria M
Sources
Design Management Institute. (n.d.). What is Design Management? https://www.dmi.org/page/What_is_Design_Manag.
Go Construct Team. (n.d.). Design Manager Job Description, Salary & Duties : About. Go Construct. https://www.goconstruct.org/construction-careers/what-jobs-are-right-for-me/design-manager/#what-does.
Lau, A. B., & Brigette Lau. (2021, February 4). The Key to Growing Human-Centered Businesses. MIT Sloan Management Review. https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-key-to-growing-human-centered-businesses/.
United Nations. (2018). Switzerland .:. Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform. United Nations. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/memberstates/switzerland#:~:text=From%20the%20outset%2C%20Switzerland%20was,Sustainable%20Development%20Goals%20(SDGs).&text=For%20example%2C%20Switzerland%20is%20free,compulsory%20and%20of%20good%20quality.
Updated Statement Moves Away from Shareholder Primacy, I. C. to A. S. (n.d.). Business Roundtable Redefines the Purpose of a Corporation to Promote ‚An Economy That Serves All Americans‘. Business Roundtable Redefines the Purpose of a Corporation to Promote ‚An Economy That Serves All Americans‘ | Business Roundtable. https://www.businessroundtable.org/business-roundtable-redefines-the-purpose-of-a-corporation-to-promote-an-economy-that-serves-all-americans.
Meyer, A. (n.d.). Embedding Design Practice within Organizations. https://www.ida.liu.se/~TDDD61/readings/Meyer.pdf.
This topic has piqued my interest because, in the near future, I will have to apply for jobs as a design manager, hopefully in Switzerland, and I agree that design management is currently an invisible job. Since my studies at DMI, I’ve been asked about what I’m learning, what fields I can work in, what my skills are, and so on.
To begin, I’d like to say that this is a very interesting topic, but I believe the author could have further explained one or two of the jobs and compared it to design management in paragraph three rather than simply listing them, because not everyone may be aware of what these jobs entail. Furthermore, it would also have been beneficial to give examples of design managers who have become top entrepreneurs and exceptional managers so that one can reference someone on how they utilize their skills. Although this gives me hope that this career will not be taken over by robots or artificial intelligence, I believe that we, as future design managers, can help create jobs for others, rather than just thinking about ourselves.
Another point that was mentioned is that it is reassuring to know that companies are becoming more human-centered because, in the past, designers have lacked in thinking about the user, such as with medicine packaging, where many people have died due to the design of the packaging being similar to others or having small letters. On the other hand, this blog has helped me reflect on how important it is to list my skills when applying for future jobs as design managers vary in skills and fields. My final piece of advice to the author is to have a stronger conclusion on maybe mentioning how to make the job more visible.
Claimed by Zirzareth Molina