Managing the Design Process-Implementing Design

An Essential Manual for the Working Designer

Terry Stone

• Publisher: Rockport Publishers
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN: 9781592536191
• eBook ISBN: 9781610580649
• Topic: Design
• Subtopic: Design General

Managing the Design Process—Implementing Design focuses on design implementation and execution. This is where design ideas become real, tangible goods in the marketplace and beyond. This book examines design management concepts and methods in real-world applications. Unlike other books on design management, this bookis visually stunning, featuring many image-rich case studies to illustrate the fundamentals of design management in a way that speaks to a design audience. The information is not something that is typically taught in design (or business) school—it's learned on the job, making this an invaluable reference for designers.

Design Process Overview Chart

Chapter 1
Project Management

What Is Project Management?

A designer can have a great project, for the most amazing client, with a generous budget, and still barely break even. Designers can actually lose money, plus be tearing their hair out in frustration throughout the project because their team is disorganized, or worse, their client is out of control. Their project mismanagement can turn a great opportunity into a nightmare.

Good project management affects

▸ Creativity

▸ Quality

▸ Relationships

▸ Work flow

▸ Timelines

▸ Costs (fees and expenses)

▸ Profitability

In short, project management affects everyone on a design project. Managing a project consistently and well is critical to the project and to the designer’s bottom line. In the short term, it makes projects more pleasurable and profitable. In the long term, good project management means a robust and rewarding design practice. It’s worth the time and effort to understand project management best practices, use tried-and-true tools, and fully implement some sort of project management program. It will pay for itself in financial terms and in client and design team satisfaction.

A Brief History

Project management has its origins in the multitasking, multiperson, highly schedule-driven construction industry. Early project management theory and practice came out of the building and manufacturing industries until the 1950s when corporations such as DuPont and Lockheed lead the way. In 1969, the Project Management Institute (PMI) was formed. By the 1970s, project management tools and techniques were primarily influenced by the nascent software industry. In 1981, PMI published A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, often referred to as the PMBOK Guide, which is essentially the bible of project management. Many believe we are stepping into a new era, with design and design process influencing professional project management theory.

In moving from bricks and mortar to bits and bytes, project management has landed more squarely in the realm of the designer. But should you run out and buy the PMBOK Guide to better run your design practice? Probably not. PMI espouses lots of procedures and methods that require so much work that the return on time invested would be very little for most designers. Instead, we should look to the project management procedures that graphic and industrial designers already use, sharpen them with some of the professional project management industry’s methods, and develop our own theories and practices for graphic design project management.

The Constraints That Affect Projects

Traditionally, project management deals primarily with managing three constraints: cost, time, and scope. This is often visualized as a triangle, with some people placing quality at the center of the triangle as a unifying theme that informs the three constraints (see charts at upper right). However, because commercial projects must be delivered on time and within an agreed-upon cost and scope of work, as well as meet the client’s and the designer’s quality expectations, some people illustrate the constraint concept as a diamond, with quality as one of the four points (see charts at right). Regardless of the illustration you use, cost, time, scope, and quality are major mitigating factors that influence and impact all work.

RIGHT
Taking this idea a step further, design project management constraints can be diagrammed as a complex triangle that defines in more detail the terms time, cost, and scope.

Constraints

Project Management Constraints

Time management is critical. Good time management means working within specific periods for each task and meeting incremental milestones such as presentations and other deadlines within a project schedule.

Cost management includes the overall budget the client has agreed to for design services and outside costs such as printing. Plus designers must marshal their resources appropriately, ensuring that the right people, equipment, and materials are employed to complete the design.

Scope is a bit more complex conceptually, but designers must be mindful of two aspects: the product scope, or the overall quality of the design they are delivering, which should be summarized in the creative brief (see page 31); and the project scope, or the work, measured in specific tasks per phase, that is required to deliver the expected product scope. Designers must always be aware of these issues to keep the project in balance and moving forward.

Design Means Constraints

Each assignment requires a unique, short-term management structure comprised of the designer, the client, and their respective teams who work together during the project. Although designers can affect constraint parameters, most designers can’t control them, and instead work within the parameters the client has set; time constraints, budgets, and at least some of the people required for the project are frequently dictated by the client. Combine that with communication goals, audience needs, and brand infrastructure, which also all affect design, and that’s a lot to manage.

Overview of Project Management

Estimates are never perfect, and creativity is hard to schedule so that it fits into neat little time units. But in business, time equals money. Designers must deliver their creativity in a timely fashion so that they can move on to the next client opportunity. If they don’t, they may end up working at below minimum wage, or even lose money, in spite of decent client budgets and plenty of projects lined up. Without good management, a designer’s business will fail.

What’s the best way to tackle design project management? This book will break down some best practices in detail. These nitty-gritty details of running a business are boring compared to the exciting intellectual and creative challenges that are at the heart of design work. Unfortunately, creative activities typically comprise less than half the time spent on a design project; usually, most time is spent on technical, communication, management, clerical, and billing issues, all in service to the project. The reality is, these activities can make or break a design project and a design firm.

The process work flowchart on pages 10–11 breaks down the phases of work on a typical design project, including the tasks typically completed in the phase. Each task affects the project’s schedule, costs, and scope. Therefore, each task must be defined, resourced, scheduled, and managed.

Common Mistakes in Project Management

Project management can be sabotaged in millions of ways. Here are some of the most common mistakes graphic designers make:

1. Lack of Commitment:

This often occurs because so many firm owners are creative directors. They want to commit to project management, but it cramps their style.

2. Lack of Clarity:

This is usually the result of poorly defined goals and objectives. This causes confusion, lack of clear-cut action, or even mistakes.

3. Poor Communication:

This stems from not obtaining or disseminating information in a timely fashion to the design team and/or the client.

4. Wrong Person:

The project manager doesn’t possess the skills or temperament for the job. So, even if the owner is on board with the concept of project management, he or she has sabotaged the activity by hiring the wrong person to implement it.

5. Disorganization:

Project management is about determining the components of the design project, and that means keeping a lot of details in order. Whether it is personal or companywide, disorganization is fatal to project management.

Design Project Management Cycle

This diagram describes the steps in the design project management process. Whether it is a large or small assignment, someone must manage each aspect from start to finish.

Project Profile in Project Management

Frolick designed by Asylum / Singapore

Frolick Frozen Yogurt Bar brings the frozen yogurt craze to Singapore. Asylum, a design studio that also operates a retail store, a workshop, and a record label, gave the Frolick brand a politically incorrect attitude. The store frontage is dotted with badges sporting catchy slogans such as “We stay hard longer,” “Size does matter,” and “I like it topless.” These slogans appear as button graphics on everything from serving cups to store interiors. They’re also on buttons that are given as collectibles to fans and customers, who look forward to updated buttons with each new store opening. “We wanted to approach yogurt in a fun, unexpected way,” says Asylum creative director Chris Lee. “The pull factor is tasty yogurt, good design, and a spunky attitude.”

BELOW
Frolick is frosty, preservative-free frozen yogurt that’s low in fat and sugar but high in flavor. The graphics (below, left) express a fun yet cheeky attitude, appealing to a quirkier, unconventional customer than most yogurt brands target, as seen in a series of promotional buttons, (lower left), which also appear on the serving container (below, right).

OPPOSITE
Rolling out a full branding program takes coordination. All the graphics—from environments to gift cards (opposite, above) to promotional booklets such as the Frolick Invaluable Tips on Courtship an...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• Design Process Overview Chart
• Directory of Contributors
• Index
• Bibliography
• Resources
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author
• Copyright Page