The document discusses the importance of business education for designers, emphasizing the need to understand clients' businesses to add strategic value beyond traditional design skills. It highlights various educational options, including a one-week program by AIGA and Harvard Business School, aimed at equipping designers with business perspectives to enhance their problem-solving capabilities. The author shares insights from alumni who benefited from the program, illustrating how a deeper understanding of business can improve communication and collaboration with clients.

1. BUSINESS: EXTERNAL MATTERS
Business Ed for Designers:
MANY OPTIONS, ONE KILLER PROGRAM
BY ROBIN TOOMS
THERE'S MORE TO BEING A DESIGNER THAN JUST KNOWING ABOUT DESIGN.
THERE ARE OPTIONS TO SUIT EVERYONE. AND FOR THE SERIOUS STUDENT,
AN AIGA/HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PROGRAM OFFERS AN INTENSIVE EXPERIENCE.
How do you stay competitive and a step ahead of your peers?
How do you add perceived value to your clients? How do you
become a better problem-solver? You can accomplish all of this
by gaining a better understanding of your clients' businesses and
then using that knowledge to improve your services and land
more high-value work.
In our traditional design role, we used our creative problem-
solving skills to address design issues and created pieces that com
municated well. But in today's marketplace, design is increasingly
seen by business as a competitive advantage and a way to differen
tiate. Design is now thought of as a resource on the strategic level.
That's good news for design and great news for designers who are
interested in expanding their role. The industry has changed, so
we need to change as well.
Unfortunately, a traditional design education does not provide
students the skills necessary to be "strategic business designers."
Granted, I've met many designers who are also great business peo
ple and have picked up these skills over the course of their careers.
And there are young, smart designers who have potential to do the
same, given enough time and real-world experience. Yes, their tra
ditional design education has taught them to be problem solvers—
but on a creative level, not a strategic one. As designers we must
look beyond our traditional training to better understand the
issues our clients face, and thus be able to better apply design and
design thinking to those issues. So how do we do this?
BOOKS & CLASSES
There are many options available to pursue some business educa
tion, and the right choice for you depends on your career path and
time commitment. Minimally, there's self-taught. There are lots
of business books out there if you're willing to venture beyond the
design section of the bookstore. Additionally, you could subscribe
to business publications such as The WallStreet Journal. The point
is to familiarize yourself with current business issues and see what
your clients are reading.
Ready for a class? Most colleges offer continuing-education
courses. You could take a marketing class or, better yet, take a
finance class. If you desire a more structured learning environ
ment, thrive on classroom discussions and are willing to forego
some sleep, then perhaps you should consider seeking a graduate
degree in business. These two-year programs are not for the faint
of heart, but they can be scheduled around your full-time work
schedule and can give a boost to your career.
AIGA & HARVARD
You might also look into the intensive one-week program "Busi
ness Perspectives for Creative Leaders" hosted by AIGA and the
Harvard Business School. The goal here is to learn some of the
same basic business principles your clients learn, and experience
it in much of the same way they do. Think of it as walking in your
client's shoes for a week: What metrics and information concern
them? How do they make decisions? Or more to the point: What
keeps them up at night?
Business Perspectives is a unique experience. It's an intense
week of learning through the Harvard case-study method but,
unlike a conventional Harvard classroom, you experience the pro
gram with other creative individuals from the design community.
The personal connections you make by experiencing this pro
gram with peers can strengthen both your personal and profes
sional networks. Having attended the program myself in 2003,
I observed that the conversations both in and outside the class
rooms were some of the most insightful and engaging discussions
I've participated in. These conversations enriched the learning
experience and were a refreshing change from the usual shoptalk
conversations you might normally get in such a group.
THINKING LIKE A CEO
Do you remember the first time you heard someone utter the
word Pantone and wondered what it meant? Now, you can picture
each PMS color exactly just by hearing the numbers. That type of
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2. "Were at a stage where designers need to learn a lot more about business. Its not
enough to say, We educate our clients about design.' They don't want to be edu
cated about design, not very much. They want you to understand what they re
doing so that you can help them do it. When you can do that, the value of design
Increases dramatically. "—Marty Neumeier, Neutron
THE IVY-GARLANDED DEAN'S HOUSE EVOKES MUCH OF THE ARCHITECTURE AND ATMOSPHERE ON THE CAMPUS WHERE THE BUSINESS PERSPECTIVES FOR CREATIVE LEADERS PROGRAM
IS CONDUCTED BY THE HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOLAND AIGA.
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3. "We are now better communicators of how we are creative problem solvers-
not just problem solvers for creative issues. Our goal is for our clients
to mre us because they agree with the way our thought process works,
andgood design will follow!1— Craig Welsh, Go Welsh!
knowledge gives you the confidence to specify colors and know
exactly what you're going to get. Learning about business issues
follows much the same process. Seminars such as the AIGA/Har
vard program give you greater confidence because, armed with
new knowledge, you'll feel better equipped to solve your clients'
challenges. It's the difference between knowing just enough to be
dangerous and truly being a force to be reckoned with.
Learning to think like a CEO and understanding the "C-level"
thought process really does help you to be a better design part
ner for your clients. At Savage Design Group, we routinely work
on brand strategies and identities for large corporations, and this
business knowledge is essential. Our advice and recommenda
tions for these types of assignments go beyond visual communica
tion materials to include strategy statements and messaging. Yes,
they hire us for great design, but it's our deeper understanding
of the client's business and our ability to better link its business
strategy to our design strategy that really sets us apart. Programs
like AIGA/Harvard, along with other business education avenues
we've pursued, help us help our clients.
ALUMNI
David Burney, VP Corporate Communications at Red Hat,
attended the AIGA/Harvard program in 2005. He sees programs
like these as an important step in "a journey I had already begun."
Thinking like a business person is nothing new to Burney, as he
had already begun work integrating "design thinking" within
his organization through a formal program to help other depart
ments "think more like designers" when they're redesigning pro
cesses and solving business issues. His approach is to demonstrate
to business colleagues that design can be more closely integrated
within a company to its advantage.
"Investing in the AIGA/Harvard program is a smart, quick,
deep dive into understanding the language, culture and priori
ties of corporate business leaders," Burney says. "If you truly seek a
'seat at the table,' do it. For yourself. And for our profession."
After attending the program last year, Craig Welsh, principal
at Go Welsh!, says the feeling of being energized and more confi
dent is still with him. Welsh says that finding ways to incorporate
specific Harvard case studies into current projects is appreciated
by his clients. Through this, he is able to better demonstrate where
creative solutions have solved business issues, and show he's think
ing about the issues important to his clients. He was even able to
connect a client to one of the companies featured in a case study,
which solidified his relationship with that client. I'm not sure how
many other designers would have taken that extra step.
"We are now better communicators of how we are creative
problem-solvers—not just problem-solvers for creative issues," he
adds. "Our goal is for our clients to hire us because they agree with
the way our thought process works, and good design will follow."
Robert Fabricant, executive creative director, and Sabah
Ashraf, business development director, both of frog design in New
York, attended the program together. Ashraf, who is not the typ
ical attendee because she already has an MBA from the Columbia
Business School, noticed an advantage in attending the program
with a coworker, since now they share a base of understanding.
Both she and Fabricant found discussions with other participants,
both in and out of the classroom, to be among the most rewarding
aspects of the program. Ashraf notes that designers are collabora
tive by nature, and the program's environment fostered their abil
ity to build on others' ideas to come to new conclusions that might
not have happened otherwise.
"The program was like 'camp' for designers," Fabricant says.
"It was truly fun to be in an environment where you are working
together with other designers on the case studies and learning from
the shared experiences of your team. Using the case-study method
is like brainstorming around a scenario, which is a practical way for
designers to imagine an issue. With us, the combination of business
people and designers tackling issues together is very powerful, and
something we've used effectively after the program."
While working at Sterling Brands as chief creative officer, Mar
cus Hewitt was looking for ways to match his business knowledge
to his brand knowledge, so he turned to the AIGA/Harvard pro
gram. Having never experienced Harvard's case-study method
before, he found this experience to be an amazing way to learn.
For him, the program was a real "injection of inspiration" and,
again, not unlike a summer camp for designers. While it may seem
surprising to say that you can get energized and inspired from a
business program, Hewitt found that the learning methods and
thought-provoking discussions did just that. A useful outcome
of the program was the ability to shift focus and look at the big
ger picture, which was reinforced by reading a follow-up "letter to
himself six months after the program.
"I was prepared to be challenged by the AIGA/Harvard pro
gram. I was also prepared to think about the design business in new
ways," Hewitt reports. "I wasn't prepared for the stunning level of
teaching, for the beautiful campus, for the camaraderie, for the non
competitive 'pooling' of experience or for the sheer joy of learning!
It was so good, my wife Susan, also a designer, is going this year."
Sam Shelton, principal at KINETIK, always knew that, in gen
eral, designers and business people follow different thought pro-
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4. INSIDE A HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL CLASSROOM WITH SEMINAR STUDENTS, PROFESSOR JAN RIVKIN AND AIGA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR RIC GREFE
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5. "The way^ we present to clients has completely changed based on this program.
Now, were more strategic, we dig a little deeper and we provide information
that improves the clients understanding, thus better influencing
their decisions."—Sam Shelton, KINET/K
THE 2006 CLASS OF THE BUSINESS PERSPECTIVES FOR CREATIVE LEADERS PROGRAM
cesses, but the program experience turned this knowledge into
action. It proved to be so important and eye-opening that Shel-
ton's business partner, Jeff Fabian, attended the following year.
From that experience, Fabian incorporated the communication
techniques taught in the program and restructured the way the
firm does proposals and pitches.
"The way we present to clients has completely changed based
on this program," Shelton says. "Now, we're more strategic, we dig
a little deeper and we provide information that improves the cli
ents' understanding, thus better influencing their decisions."
THREE MORE REASONS
If these examples are not enough, just consider these three com
pelling reasons why you should think about adding some business
education to your own background:
i. If you have greater confidence in your business skills,
you'll feel better equipped to solve your clients' challenges.
Additionally, you will become a stronger designer when you're bet
ter able to view, digest and make meaningful connections with the
information around you. Learn about business, and not just your
own, in order to create the best possible solutions that fit both
visually and strategically.
2. Stand out and speak up. Why say the same things as your
competition? When you learn to speak to your clients in a way that
shows you understand their issues, you're more apt to win them over
and get your ideas across. Otherwise you're stuck trying to educate
them on design-speak, and isn't that what everyone else does?
3. Businesses are starting to understand the competi
tive advantages of good design and, now that design is more
closely linked with innovation, designers have a great oppor
tunity. "Design thinking" is important to your clients. If you can
progress from being a traditional "designer" to a "design thinker,"
then you're opening the door to higher-value work, both for your
self and the profession as a whole. £
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6. BUSINESS PERSPECTIVES
FOR CREATIVE LEADERS
Presented by AIGA & Harvard Business School
July 29-August 3,2007
Developed by Harvard Business School and AIGA, Business Per
spectives for Creative Leaders uses case studies, lectures, guest
speakers and study groups to give creative leaders a more complete
understanding of business and design through the eyes of business
executives (i.e., clients).
Business Perspectives for Creative Leaders examines cutting-
edge topics, addresses critical issues and engages top minds in
dynamic discussion. This program helps participants to under
stand the senior business executive's perspective: the approach to
cost-based decisions, marketing, new product development, strat
egy, brand management, customer relationship and knowledge
management. Participants acquire useful tools for communicating
with clients, running a business, understanding individual think
ing styles and structuring conversations with CEOs and other
senior executives. Participants also explore important and rele
vant ideas for real-world solutions to take to their clients.
Read more on the AIGA website, and view a list of current and past
participants, at www.aiga.org/content.cfm/business-perspectives.
THE AIGA/HARVARD
FOLLOW-UP PLAN
If you attend the AIGA/Harvard program, what you do afterward
is just as important as class time. Below is a one-year plan to help
you stay on track, based on suggestions from past attendees.
Immediately: Reach out and contact everyone you want to
keep in touch with so you can continue the momentum of those
relationships. Write a note to yourself (if you haven't already done
so) of the key takeaways that felt most relevant to you, and the
changes you'd like to make in your own business.
One week later: Review all of the materials and notes from
your binder. Highlight relevant points, order books and visit the
websites you've noted.
Two weeks later: Start your follow-up reading. Set goals and
deadlines for how you'll incorporate the program information.
Six months later: Read the letter you wrote to yourself and get
back on track.
One year later: Renew your Harvard Business Review subscrip
tion. Take stock of what you've accomplished the past year and
review your next steps.
BUSINESS ESSENTIALS FOR DESIGNERS:
ROBIN TOOMS' READING LIST
www.NextD.org
At the core of NextD is the belief that the traditional model of design leadership
needs to be radically reinvented to better adapt to a radically changed marketplace.
The ultimate goal of NextD is to help expand design's reach.
www.aiga.org
As the oldest and largest membership association for professionals engaged in the
discipline, practice and culture of designing, the AIGA website is a trove of informa
tion, including business-related essays in the Gain journal section.
Harvard Business Review
Each issue of this publication presents different perspectives on business issues and
touches on many of the core areas taught in business schools.
How Would You Move Mount Fuji? Microsoft's Cult of the Puzzle,
by William Poundstone (Little, Brown and Company)
Don't let the inclusion of Microsoft in the title scare you away from this book. It's
full of interesting logic puzzles and is a great way to engage your brain when you're
feeling sluggish. I picked up my copy when I saw it in the Harvard bookstore and
couldn't resist.
Marketing Management,
by Philip Kotler (Prentice Hall)
This textbook—yes, textbook—is one that most MBA programs use. Want to know
about some of the marketing principles your clients have been taught? Then pick
this one up.
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team,
by Patrick Lencioni (Jossey-Bass)
A 'leadership fable," this book is also taught to business leaders and is useful to any
one who needs to work in teams. It also incorporates some of the same communica
tion skills touched on in the AIGA/Harvard program.
Harvard Business Essentials: Finance for Managers
(Harvard Business School Press)
Since finance is a topic that usually strikes fear among designers, this easy-to-digest
paperback is a good primer for finance basics.
Michael E Porter on Competition,
by Michael Porter (Harvard Business School Press)
A classic, this book is a compilation of articles that have come to define the core con
cepts behind corporate strategy.
Also: read some business biographies.
For example, both the Jack Welch and Sam Walton books are good reads.
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