My path to the Institute of Design

Today is the second day of the Fall recruitID, where great companies from all over attend. It’s a fantastic opportunity for students to meet with companies and design consultancies. One question I’ve been asked during interviews is how I ended up at ID. I have been meaning to write on this every since Jamey commented on this blog a few weeks ago.

Jamey wrote:

“Jon - 
David Armano turned me on to your blog. I'm facing the same dilemma it seems you have gone through. I'm considering the my career and agree that design is key to the future of business for innovation and development. I've been exploring MBA versus MDes and will be looking at the MDM program you're involved with. As a fellow Milwaukeean, it looks like Chicago is the location that is leading the way via IIT or Kellogg to achieve that type of education.
I'll be curious to follow your posts and get a better idea of how you reached the decision to go the MDM route and what you feel the future value for you and your career will be.”

So I thought I would share my “journey” to the world of design thinking. Here it goes.

I was working at Cramer-Krasselt as an ad account executive in 2004. At the time, the agency was working on a lot of TV and print and I felt there had to be better ways to engage people than shouting to them through TV spots and cluttered magazines. Media fragmentation was making “mass” media less massive and as you know it’s only getting worse. The end was coming for the Advertising Industrial Complex.

I was working on the WD-40 Company account and we were doing some fantastic work on their core hardware products – WD-40, Lava and 3-IN-One oil. Starting with a clean slate, we went from ideation sessions and concept evaluation to ethnographic research, prototyping through marketing communications program execution. It was incredible! We developed with WD-40 the Smart Straw, solving the number one customer complaint of losing the little red straw, the Lava Pro line and 3-IN-One Professional. There was nothing that got me jazzed like walking through a Lowe’s or Home Depot and seeing a customer putting a product I helped bring to life into their shopping cart.

I came across Seth Godin’s Purple Cow in the Fall of 2004 which helped generate more interest for me. If you haven’t read it, the premise is largely based on the idea that you can’t just yell out marketing messages about a product anymore. You have to build the marketing into the product, make it remarkable from the start.

I got the opportunity to join Harley-Davidson and felt that working on the client side for a while would give me the opportunity to implement some of this thinking since I would be looking at the full business rather than just touching the marketing communications slice of the pie.

I kept reading and talking with people about design and innovation and then in Spring 2006 attended the Wisconsin Innovates conference where Tom Peters was the keynote speaker. During a breakout session I asked Tom, a frequent critic of MBA programs, what his thoughts were on going back to school for an MBA, for design or to keep working. His recommendation was to stay in the workforce and do something remarkable or, if I wanted to go back to school, that something unique like design would be the way to go because you learn to approach problems differently and find solutions in other ways.

That sealed it for me. Here are Tom and I after the breakout session. Kinda cool I got a picture with him. I'm on the left. :)

I had read an article about ID by Bruce Nussbaum in BusinessWeek the year before and started researching schools that taught design with business and only found a couple – ID and Roger Martin’s Rotman School of Management – that really intrigued me.

So it took me a year from talking to Tom Peters to get up the nerve to apply to ID and then take the risk of quitting my job to do something I was passionate about.

And it’s been so super worth it. I’ve been able to interview with companies and design consultancies that get it and have been doing this for years. They understand that all the touchpoints that have been ignored for decades while mass media was the focus are where you create and reinforce brands – product/service development, environments like retail locations, employee dress and signage, interactive, packaging, collateral. All based on insights derived from user-centered research.

So that's my long-winded story, what's yours? Were you always in design? Are you just now getting into it? Are you still in the exploration phase?

Comments

[Todd Kalhar]

Jon, I just want to thank you again for posting your thoughts and experiences at the Institute of Design for the rest of us to enjoy and learn from.

I came to design by way of "climbing the food chain" so to speak. I worked my way through high school and college selling software and hardware for a retail chain that took off along with PCs in the late 80's and early 90's. For all the wonders of the technology, I found that people were intimidated and frustrated with most of what they purchased. The gems that stood out, all had something in common ... good design.

My following jobs took me into software training, network administration and software programming, then web development. As I got closer to the "source", I found that most products were being built with the best of intentions but the worst of experiences.

I came across the concept of interaction/experience design in my web development years and it explained all of the things that had been coalescing in my mind. I've since spent a great deal of time reading and integrating better design practices in my own work, and trying to convince others to do the same.

It's been a very strange, organic growth into the area of design, but it has also been incredibly rewarding. Now I'm looking for ways to get a wider range of experience in design and find mentors that can help me continue to grow.

Keep those posts coming!

[Matt Melchiori]

There is a fairly new option in the midwest for those looking to advance their knowledge of product development, innovation, and design. The six-year old Master of Product Development (www.mpd.northwestern.edu) program at Northwestern is a two-year part-time degree that encompasses all areas of product design. Including courses like Creativity and Innovation, Strategy in Design, and Human Factors, in my opinion this program combines the best of the MBA and design worlds.

I started the program this fall and so far find it to be a first-rate operation. The courses are taught by enthusiastic, knowledgeable professors (some Kellogg, some McCormick, and some brought in) that truly care about what they are teaching. The students are motivated, driven, and very knowledgeable since 98% of them come from within the product development industry. Harley-Davidson is among the companies represented.

The courses are taught 1 day per week, alternate Fridays and Saturdays. They require a signed letter of commitment from your current employer so they know that you are serious about the program.

I would highly recommend the program to anyone who wants to advance their career in product development but wants to stay at their current position. I am certainly enjoying it!

[mvellandi]

Jon,
Interesting to hear about the WD-40 and the smart straw. How did your firm play a part in the project? I ask this because from my July/August 07 edition of I.D. magazine, they highlight the smart straw (best of category: Packaging) as developed by Gad Shaanan Design (Montreal). I know PD is a multidisciplinary process; articles can often leave out important auxiliary parties to a larger meta projects.

I came to design through self-taught multimedia design in college, although majoring in International Business, German, and Supply Chain Management. In 05, I worked in sales for a CPG firm (design here, import from China). Slowly since then, I've taught myself more about marketing and graphic/web design. Taking on a complete web makeover project for a NPD consultancy earlier this year, I fully delved into books by the PDMA, Robert Cooper, Tom Kelley, and many other resources along the way. An invaluable experience into the larger scope of marketing and industrial design. I'd love to do a Masters someday...I'll wait for the right time and program.

[Jon Campbell]

Hi, Mario. Thanks for sharing your "arrival in design" story. Also, you're absolutely right Gad Shaanan was involved. They developed the swivel top in the middle of the new product process. C-K led the ideation sessions, concept evaluation process, prototyping, research and then during the usability testing we found that the original swivel-top attachment provided by the contract manufacturer was too flimsy and also conveyed a cheap feeling. This was important because of the heavy-duty use of WD-40 and the fact that the margins on the product were going to be higher than a regular can. At that point there was the need for industrial design expertise and the client engaged Gad Shanaan because of some local San Diego ties with WD-40 being based there. GS did a great job in designing the top. With the top done, C-K completed research, handled the packaging design and the product launch. So we were intimately involved from start to finish on Smart Straw. Very exciting project. I'll have to hunt down a copy of the article.

Thanks.

Jon

[mvellandi]

Thanks for the explanation. It further goes to show the true nature of the process of PD. At my first employer, we had a product design & development dept. that would make the various company lines AND exclusive products for retailers. My territory was Food, Drug, and Mass so certain key accounts like Walgreen's, Wal-Mart, Rite-Aid, and others were quite picky (they had a natural right to be if they're purchasing $400k - $1.5 million). Despite great design talent, good ideation and group participation, and a retailer-focused culture...the big problems were resource management (people, funds, time), poor up-front homework, and the owner's tendency to micro-manage and meddle with projects in addition to expressing anger/impatience that ended oft with low morale for the next few hours. Fun times nonetheless :)

[Jamey Shiels]

Jon,

Thanks for the follow up on how you worked your way to the design program. I appreciate the insight. Also, thank you for the posts on the material you're involved with. It helps to define the expectations of the program and your learnings in design.

Jamey

[chaeri Jang]

thanks jon, i'm chaeri who is doing promotion & design jobs at samsung. and now preparing for applying to ID where i can learn design thinking and design planning. i'm so inspired to your posting and happy to find your site. :>