Part 3: Hierarchy of subjects & professions

Article series on:

Digging for the roots to the trials facing design in business application & integration

By Ellen Wheatley "All views are my own".

Back to the industrial revolution again... The public education system around the world came into being to meet the needs of industrialism. And in this system there is a distinct hierarchy of subjects. This hierarchy is rooted in two main ideas, the first being that the most useful subjects for work are at the top, i.e. mathematics, sciences, languages, then humanities and the arts at the bottom. The general perception, in society, being that engaging in what we denote as creative activities will not provide you with a job, and occupations in this spectrum are not serious.

The second being that academic ability dominates our view of what intelligence is. And consequently, intelligence tests assess our ability to logically reason (mostly our mathematical (deductive) logic), finding rhyming words and naming objects (this in line with the hierarchy of subjects). Today however, we all know that intelligence is so much more.

Intelligence is diverse and dynamic and originates from an interactive brain whose ability to make sense of the world is the sum of all abilities, be it through seeing and visualisation, hearing and sound, taste and smell, kinesthetics and movement or abstract thought. Mind and body are a unity, its capacity the sum of all its parts. Despite this we tend to focus our education efforts and view of intelligence exclusively to the brain, and ironically only one side of the brain.

Intelligence, I would argue, it is the creative ability to apply your skills, often in novel ways, to create (new) understanding. The most intelligent people I have met are also among the most creative. Not uncommonly dyslectic or hyperactive.

This almost 300-year-old, and rather outdated, hierarchy of subjects and definition of intelligence is still very much a truth by which we abide. It is still the core of our education system. And this truth still affects the hierarchy/status of different professions/disciplines in society and business.

When “creative professions” * thereby enter the arena historically perceived as suitable solely for “academic professions”, they do so at the bottom of the hierarchy, mirroring the hierarchy of subjects in education.

This challenging scenario is of course not made any better by the fact that the general perception is that design is associated with, and isolated to, aesthetics, the act of making things look good. A perception we can blame on two things; 1. The objectives of design, 2. The hierarchy of our senses.

Reason 1. the objectives of design

Good design is often invisible because it:

-??????makes things easy to use (removes pain points and promotes gain points)

-??????makes things easy/intuitive to understand

-??????makes things enjoyable (and desirable)

In other words, if executed well, the thing that will most stand out, are the aesthetics. (Even though designers will spot good design, few in the general public are able to).

Reason 2. The hierarchy of our senses.

Furthermore, our strongest sense is our visual one and research estimates that roughly 80-85% of our perception and cognition are mediated through vision. So, the combination of these two factors actually makes this fallacy explicable.

Other aspect that adds to the status of design are the difficulties we have in defining and explaining what design really is. On the one hand it is a Noun, i.e. a plan or drawing showing the look and function of a product/experience before it is made, or the actual end product/solution itself. On the other hand, it is a Verb, i.e. the act of making a product/experience. An act, where several design decisions are made that will define its function and qualities. This act of designing is often interchangeably, and confusingly, described by us designers to people from other disciplines, as:

-??????a mindset

-??????a process

-??????a toolbox of methods** ?

Even though, designers know that the act of designing is a combination of all these things, in the same way as Agile development often talk in a similar manner. To a beginner or outsider, however, these multiple definitions make the term “design” ambiguous and difficult to form a mental image of. Equally, these multiple definitions of “designing”, also pose challenges when wanting to evaluate the impact of design in business. Several attempts have been made, both in academia and in popular science, yet again, because of the ambiguity in the term they fail to make a case for design and hence instil it as a trustworthy, new and innovative method to be adopted into business development & management theory and practice.

To sum up, as the creative subjects in our education system are down prioritised and the related professions viewed as unserious - it is no surprise that we, as designers, are met with scepticism with regards to our ability to contribute to the strategic discussions in business. Combined with the fact that we are still far away from being able to provide a succinct and convincing description (and business case ) of what contributions design actually bring to business. And, when our work is done well, the aesthetics of the experience will inevitably be what people see and judge us by (irrespective of it being a physical, digital or service product), neatly placing us in the sketch money cage, from which have difficulty in escaping.

?Be sure not to miss the next article: Part 4. Intrinsic & extrinsic motivation

*Why the professions originating from the arts are crowned as the creative professions are beyond me. Maybe because improvisation and experimentation are more accepted/applied there – and are recognised as indispensable activities in the pursuit of novel forms of expression. What saddens me though, is that mathematics and sciences are hugely creative when applied in novel ways to make sense of the world, and in problem-solving activities.

**These methods (forecasting, ethnography, teamwork, diverse & interdisciplinary team constellations, brainstorming, experimentation & iteration, visualisation, prototyping, participatory methods etc) in the toolbox are by no means new or novel in any way, but the way in which they are combined as a process is unique. Yet again this plurality of methods put together into one unified way of working, add to the difficulty in assessing and measuring the impact of design.

References & Inspiration (at least some of them…)

Films

Sir Ken Robinson?on creativity in education,?https://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_creativity

John Cleese?on creativity for management,?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb5oIIPO62g&t=6s

Out of the Blue #11 -?Marco Steinberg: How To Make the Shiny Thing Happen,?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unmCn_SM9_c

?Pods

John Cleese, Design Better Podcast, Dec 7, 2021,?Rewind: John Cleese: A cheerful guide to creativity?https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9kZXNpZ25iZXR0ZXIubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M/episode/NDdiMTdhYjQtNGU4Yy00MjcyLWIyNzItYjI2Y2U0MWFjMDlk?hl=sv&ved=2ahUKEwjAvevT6uH3AhWVQ_EDHWh2CFQQjrkEegQIAxAL&ep=6

Sir Ken Robinson,?The TED Interview, Dec 18, 2018,?Sir Ken Robinson (still) wants an education revolution,?https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5mZWVkYnVybmVyLmNvbS9UZWRJbnRlcnZpZXc/episode/cHJ4XzE3OV8xODlmY2Q1YS02MGM4LTQxOWUtYmJkNC01NmNlOGZkY2VmZmM?hl=sv&ved=2ahUKEwjs1Z7h7eH3AhUzSvEDHUK3BFEQjrkEegQIBRAL&ep=6

David Kelley,?Design Better Podcast, April 18, 2017, David Kelley: creative confidence and aligning teams,?https://www.designbetter.co/podcast/david-kelley

Leah Buley,?Design Better Podcast,?April 18TH, 2019 Bonus Episode: Leah Buley and the New Frontier of Design Maturity?https://www.designbetter.co/podcast/leahbuley

Maria Giudice,?Design Better Podcast,?June 11, 2018, Maria Giudice: DesignOps, diversity, and design making a difference?https://www.designbetter.co/podcast/maria-giudice

Jeanne Liedtka, UX Podcast, Nov 22, 2019,?#224 The business value of design with Jeanne Liedtka?https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly91eHBvZGNhc3QuY29tL2ZlZWQvcG9kY2FzdC8/episode/aHR0cDovL3V4cG9kY2FzdC5jb20vP3A9MzA2NQ?hl=sv&ved=2ahUKEwje88ff7OH3AhWxRPEDHZzFAOQQjrkEegQIBxAI&ep=6

Jeanne Liedtka, The Conversation Factory, Aug 18, 2021, Doing vs Experiencing Design Thinking,?https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly90aGVjb252ZXJzYXRpb25mYWN0b3J5LmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz/episode/NWQzOTEzNzgtYzIwNy00NzE4LThkYWItYjFkNGIxMjRmMmYw?hl=sv&ved=2ahUKEwje88ff7OH3AhWxRPEDHZzFAOQQjrkEegQIBxAL&ep=6

Books

Jeff Gothelf?(2017)?Lean vs. Agile vs. Design Thinking: What You Really Need to Know to Build High-Performing Digital Product Teams,?Sense & Respond Press.

Marty Cagan?(2018)?Inspired – How to Create Tech Products Customers Love, 2nd Edition,?Wiley press.

Tim Brown?(2019)?Change by Design, Revised and Updated - How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation, Harper Business.

Articles

C. Achakul & M. Yolles?(2012);?Intrinsic and extrinsic Motivation in Personality: Assessing Knowledge Profiling and the Work Preference Inventory in a Thai Population;?Article??in??Organisational Transformation and Social Change · May 2012

G. Attanasi et al?(2019)?Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic motivators onCreative collaboration: the effect of Sharing rewards,?https://www.carloalberto.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/GREDEG-WP-2019-20.pdf

C. Bason & R.D. Austin?(2018)?The Right Way to Lead Design Thinking, Harvard Business Review,?https://hbr.org/2019/03/the-right-way-to-lead-design-thinking

S. Bradley?(2014)?The Perception That Design Is How Something Looks?https://vanseodesign.com/web-design/looks-perception/

L. Carlgren?(2013) Design thinking as an enabler of innovation: Exploring the concept and its relation to building innovation capabilities. PhD Thesis, Chalmers University of Technology.

L. Carlgren et al. (2014)?Exploring the use of design thinking in large organizations: Towards a research agenda,?Swedish Design Research Journal.??

L. Carlgren, et al.?(2016)?The challenges of using design thinking in industry–experiences from five large firms, Creativity and Innovation Management 25 (3), 344-362

L. Carlgren et al.?(2016)?Framing design thinking: The concept in idea and enactment, Creativity and Innovation Management 25 (1), 38-57

D. Cooney et al.?(2022)?Redesigning the design department,?McKinsey & Company April 27, 2022 | Report

M. Dalrymple et al.?(2020) McKinsey Quarterly -?Are you asking enough from your design leaders??February 19, 2020 | Article

De Paula et al.?(2018)?Design thinking capability model (DTCM): a framework to map out design thinking capacity in business organisations,?Proceedings of the DESIGN 2018 15th International Design Conference

A. Faljic,?The Ultimate Business Design Guide

A. Gonera & R. Pabst (2019)?The Use of Design Thinking in Transdisciplinary Research and Innovation Consortia: Challenges, Enablers, and Benefits,?Journal of Innovation Management

J. Gonsal?(2015)?The Difference Between Agile, Lean and Lean Startup,?https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/difference-between-agile-lean-startup-jehan-gonsal/

A. Karhan?(2020)?Three Negative Effects of Competition in Recognition,?https://ideas.baudville.com/the-baudville-blog/three-negative-effects-of-competition-in-recognition

J. Kolko?(2010),?"Abductive Thinking and Sensemaking: The Drivers of Design Synthesis".?In MIT's Design Issues: Volume 26, Number 1,?https://www.jonkolko.com/writingAbductiveThinking.php

?J. Liedtka?(2014)?Perspective: Linking Design Thinking with Innovation Outcomes through Cognitive Bias Reduction,?Journal of product innovation management

J. Liedtka?(2017)?Exploring the impact of design thinking in action, “Evaluating the Impact of Design Thinking in Action.”?In:?Academy of Management Proceedings. Vol. 2017. No. 1. Academy of Management.

?J. Liedtka et al.?(2017)?Democratizing Innovation in Organizations: Teaching Design Thinking to Non-Designers, Design Management Review

?J. Liedtka?(2018)?Why Design Thinking Works, Harvard business Review

Livework?Service design - how to convince executives in the boardroom,?https://www.liveworkstudio.com/monthly-magazines/service-design-how-to-convince-executives-in-the-boardroom/

S.B. Mahmoud-Jouini et al.?(2016)?Contributions of Design Thinking to Project Management in an Innovation Context,?Project Management Journal.

I. Rauth et al.?(2014) Making it happen: Legitimizing design thinking in large organizations, Design Management Journal 9 (1), 47-60

S. Rekonen & L Hassi?(2018) Impediments for experimentation in novice design teams?- International Journal of Design Creativity and …, Taylor & Francis

B. Sheppard et al.?(2016) McKinsey Quarterly -?The business value of design?October 25, 2018 | Report

C. Wrigley et al.?(2020)?Implementing Design Thinking: Understanding Organizational Conditions, California Management Review