{"id":2251,"date":"2015-03-30T15:23:31","date_gmt":"2015-03-30T20:23:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ulprospector.com\/knowledge\/?p=2251"},"modified":"2016-04-12T09:35:55","modified_gmt":"2016-04-12T15:35:55","slug":"pe-how-to-talk-designer-npe2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/2251\/pe-how-to-talk-designer-npe2015\/","title":{"rendered":"NPE 2015 in Retrospect: How to Bridge the Communication Gap & “Talk Designer”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"NPE2015_logo\"ORLANDO, FLA. \u2013 Design. Engineering. Marketing. Together they comprise the three legs of the proverbial product-development stool. Remove one, and the project is likely to teeter and fall.<\/p>\n

Good communication and collaboration between these disciplines is vital to delivering the types of products and user experiences necessary to succeed with today\u2019s demanding customers and consumers. And yet these links often fray, if not break, resulting in cost overruns, launch delays and unseemly compromises in the appearance or function of the final product.<\/p>\n

Why does this happen, and what can be done to avoid it?<\/em><\/p>\n

A blue-chip panel of designers and engineers tackled this topic at the recent NPE 2015 trade show in Orlando, and drew on their decades of experience to share insights and suggestions with a standing-room-only crowd of about 90 on March 26 at the Orange County Convention Center. The panel was one of two pre-conference sessions staged in conjunction with the Industrial Designers Society of America (www.idsa.org<\/a>), which held its IDSA South District Design Conference at NPE.<\/p>\n

\"Left
Michael Marcotte photos courtesy of Plastics News. Left to right: Augusto Picozza, Marco Perry and Kevin Shinn were part of a panel of experts who discussed the necessary, and often difficult, collaboration between designers, marketers and engineers, during a pre-conference session at NPE 2015.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Marco Perry, founder and principal of Brooklyn, N.Y.-based industrial design firm Pensa LLC (www.pensanyc.com<\/a>), helped to frame the discussion by assessing the differences in training and culture between designers and engineers. Perry, who has a bachelor\u2019s degree in mechanical engineering, and a master\u2019s in design, explained:<\/p>\n

Engineers are trained in school to follow the rule of thumb. \u201cYou take a scientific approach to creating repeatable results and you put a function to it, that\u2019s basically some form of invention. \u2026 So they\u2019re really trained not to change the past, because it\u2019s been proven to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Designers, on the other hand, are trained in design school to come up with something completely original, with originality being among the most-valued goals. A designer \u201creally doesn\u2019t want to repeat the past because there\u2019s nothing different about it \u2013 and there\u2019s no value in that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you talk to the designers, they\u2019re going to imagine possibilities you never thought of before. It\u2019s not because they\u2019re more creative, it\u2019s because they\u2019re not cursed by knowledge,\u201d he said, prompting a wave of laughter in the room. \u201cThere\u2019s this curse that, like, it can\u2019t be done that way, and therefore it is not done that way. And so sometimes you get pretty far with some blissful ignorance.\u201d Perry sees great value in tapping into designers to push the ability of materials into unknown and unproven areas.<\/p>\n

Augusto Picozza, long-time director of industrial design in Boca Raton, Fla., with Jarden Consumer Solutions (www.jardencs.com<\/a>) \u2013 parent to such brands as Mr. Coffee, Crock-Pot, Sunbeam and Oster \u2013 added:<\/p>\n

\u201cSomeone asked me once what my greatest value was to the company. And I said, \u2018It\u2019s my ability to challenge assumptions.\u2019 We don\u2019t want to repeat the same old thing every time \u2013 you\u2019re [always] discovering.\u201d<\/p>\n

Picozza, who began by studying engineering before becoming a designer some 38 years ago, believes strongly that all industrial designers should steep themselves in technical knowledge about manufacturing, tooling, processes and materials, and aim to be very well rounded.<\/p>\n

David Kusuma, vice president of product development worldwide for Tupperware Brands (www.tupperware.com<\/a>) in Orlando, began his career as a designer before also getting an engineering degree (followed by two MBAs and a Ph.D.). Early on, Kusuma worked\u00a0for Bayer Corp., the U.S. arm of the big German materials company, and he got frustrated when he was not allowed to do things he thought he was well qualified for.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere I was the designer, and I shouldn\u2019t be doing the materials specification \u2013 things like that. What I learned, after I finished going through engineering school, was that you\u2019re only as good as your terminal degree. Once I became an engineer, I was told, \u2018No, you can\u2019t work on the creative side\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Tupperware, a $2.6 billion global company, he said, \u201cWe\u2019ve been trying to figure this whole thing out over the past couple years. Is it better to have designers who are very knowledgeable in materials and manufacturing processes, or is it better to give them the route of the ivory tower \u2013 let them design products without the constraints of manufacturing, and hope they bring something much more unique out that we can figure out how to make later on?\u201d<\/p>\n

Kusuma doesn\u2019t think there is a right or wrong approach \u2013 both can work. But what Tupperware has been doing lately is organizing all its development people into what it calls \u201ccategory teams.\u201d It segments its product lines into different categories \u2013 such as microwaving, children\u2019s products, on-the-go products, etc. \u2013 and then assigns designers, engineers and marketing people to each of these teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir job is to work with each other to make sure that everything is taken care of from the ground up \u2013 all the way from defining the market size, doing all of the market research, and then carrying the development through the design and through the technical process of delivering a product. We find that this has made communication a lot better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kevin Shinn previously worked as a design leader at Newell Rubbermaid Inc. and at materials giant Dow Corning Corp., but now is vice president of design at Altair ThinkLabs (www.altair.com<\/a>), a Troy, Mich.-based software and services firm that does end-to-end product design and development.<\/p>\n

Speaking of his role as a design manager, Shinn said: \u201cIt\u2019s less of an effort of leading the design team, and more of an effort of managing the rest of the company. So a lot of the purpose of my job is to run interference so the designers can do what they can do.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m big on pushing my teams to learn to speak the rest of the business, as well. You need to understand the finances; you need to understand how engineering plays in product development, the marketing, and all aspects of the business. I think when you do that, people are more likely to understand what we<\/span> do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Michael Marcotte photos courtesy of Plastics News. Left to right: Kevin Shinn, Mark Dziersk and David Kusuma. Dziersk challenged the points of fellow panelists, saying that having cross-disciplinary expertise is not always necessary if you’ve achieved excellence in your specific skill set.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But fellow panelist Mark Dziersk, Chicago-based managing director of consultancy Lunar Design (www.lunar.com<\/a>), pushed back a bit. He challenged some of the points being made, and stressed that he believes it\u2019s not necessary to be an all-rounder, as long as you are excellent at your chosen skill.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome consultants came up with the idea of the T-shaped person \u2013 you\u2019re deep in your discipline, but you have to be a \u2018T\u2019; you have to go across the disciplines, and you have to learn to speak engineer, and speak finance, and speak marketing. I\u2019m gonna kind of call bullshit on that.”<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy can\u2019t we bring the \u2018I\u2019 back into T-shaped people? Why can\u2019t you be so excellent at what you do, that people seek you out [because] you bring something to a discipline, or expertise, that\u2019s never been seen before? The organization can figure out \u2013 like Tupperware has \u2013 how to make those people communicate. But celebrate insanely great engineering, and then expose designers to that. I don\u2019t care if they don\u2019t speak the same language \u2013 they\u2019ll collaborate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dziersk applies the same logic to those firms that want to attract good design talent \u2013 either to hire or simply to work with.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want designers to come to you, that\u2019s all you have to do. It\u2019s like a magnet; it\u2019s like an elixir. Pursue excellence, and designers will seek you out. Figure out a way to make things that nobody has ever done before, and you\u2019ll own their attention for as long as you want.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, Dziersk warned that designers sometimes can get too emotionally attached to their work, to their own detriment. \u201cAs soon as that happens in a boardroom, or whatever, you get discounted,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s also a good reason for such intensity and passion, he noted. \u201cThere are no statues in Central Park that are erected to honor the work of committees.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chris Bray, director of IQ Design Labs (www.iqdesignlabs.com<\/a>), the St. Louis-based, in-house design team for materials giant PolyOne Corp., stressed the need stay grounded as a designer and focused on the end game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I go in front of a business leader in our company, and I need a new 3-D printer, he wants to hear how this is all going to fit within his or her business objective.\u201d<\/p>\n

So another area of \u201cbridging the gap\u201d relates to demonstrating the value internally of having a design capability within your company. \u201cHow do you substantiate what it delivers for the company, and is it helping the company accelerate toward those business objectives?\u201d<\/p>\n

Bray said he spends just as much time selling internally as he does selling externally to customers. The reason why is that design as a discipline is much talked about, and it seems to provide value, but that value is difficult to quantify.<\/p>\n

He suggested a cautious approach when it comes to scaling up operations \u2013 because the last thing you want is a studio full of people you find yourself struggling to justify.<\/p>\n

As for the value of engaging with designers, both Shinn and Kusuma noted that while designers seldom directly specify a given material or process, they can have a huge influence on what does get specified in the end. And so there is a good reason for a materials or software provider to try to gain mindshare of young designers \u2013 even while they are still students.<\/p>\n

Despite all the communication challenges that exist, Pensa\u2019s Perry offered his strategy for success: \u201cI don\u2019t try to get the engineers to talk designer, or to try to get them to change anything that they\u2019re doing. What we try to do is to get everybody to focus on the main goal, which either is our client\u2019s goals, or trying to make a great experience for a product.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it comes to interacting with other departments, Picozza served up some principled advice of his own:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen marketing says, \u2018I really don\u2019t like the way that looks,\u2019 I think the designer needs to respond not with personal opinions but with principles. \u2018Well, let me tell you why this form is better than that one, in principle of design. It has a softer, inviting form, it has this, it has that, it has the other; now, tell me why you think that one is better.\u2019 And force on them the need to bring principles into play, rather than just personal opinions. Because when it comes to personal opinions, I\u2019m always right \u2013 aren\u2019t you?\u201d he said with a laugh.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndividual excellence,\u201d stated Picozza, \u201cin collaboration to a common purpose \u2013 that\u2019s really what teamwork is about. Each has an obligation to perform to their highest level of excellence, in support of one another, not in adversary to one another.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, FLA. \u2013 Design. Engineering. Marketing. Together they comprise the three legs of the proverbial product-development stool. Remove one, and the project is likely to teeter and fall. 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He has broad global experience and for more than 35 years has worked as a journalist, editor-in-chief, publishing executive and key connector of like-minded parties. He has launched successful publications and C-level events on three continents. While with Crain Communications Inc., he oversaw the relaunch of the 100-year-old European Rubber Journal in London and helped to start Urethanes Technology magazine there. \u00a0In 1988 Bob returned to Akron, Ohio, to serve as founding editor of Plastics News, an award-winning, weekly business newspaper. In 2005 he oversaw the editorial launch of the bilingual (Chinese and English) PN China e-newsletter and website. For more than a decade at PN he also held the titles of associate publisher, editorial director and conference director, and most recently served as business development director. A long-time affiliate member of the Industrial Designers Society of America, Bob has organized numerous design-focused events, earned a Personal Recognition Award from IDSA in 2013, and constantly strives to help bridge the gap between the design and manufacturing communities. In 2014 he left Crain and created RC Grace LLC in Akron, Ohio, as a consultancy that aims to help companies to enhance their branding and market presence, find business partners, connect with design resources (here or in Asia), secure funding and advance their growth initiatives. 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He has broad global experience and for more than 35 years has worked as a journalist, editor-in-chief, publishing executive and key connector of like-minded parties. He has launched successful publications and C-level events on three continents. While with Crain Communications Inc., he oversaw the relaunch of the 100-year-old European Rubber Journal in London and helped to start Urethanes Technology magazine there. \u00a0In 1988 Bob returned to Akron, Ohio, to serve as founding editor of Plastics News, an award-winning, weekly business newspaper. In 2005 he oversaw the editorial launch of the bilingual (Chinese and English) PN China e-newsletter and website. For more than a decade at PN he also held the titles of associate publisher, editorial director and conference director, and most recently served as business development director. A long-time affiliate member of the Industrial Designers Society of America, Bob has organized numerous design-focused events, earned a Personal Recognition Award from IDSA in 2013, and constantly strives to help bridge the gap between the design and manufacturing communities. In 2014 he left Crain and created RC Grace LLC in Akron, Ohio, as a consultancy that aims to help companies to enhance their branding and market presence, find business partners, connect with design resources (here or in Asia), secure funding and advance their growth initiatives. 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