What is my design strategy?

I take a step back from the traditional single product or service and looks at how they interact within the systems they occupy. It is the balancing act between doing what is best for the users, stakeholders, and partners; everyone involved. Design strategy relies heavily on qualitative research and empathy to focus on analyzing and solving human centered problems. Creating and maintaining change over time is what makes a project truly viable, feasible, and desirable to both customer and company.

Co-creating solutions with both users and stakeholders allows for a better understanding of the ecosystems they reside within. These can be business ecosystems, cultural ecosystems, and environmental ecosystems.

Storytelling is a way design strategists broaden the scope to tell the story of how a problem came about, what rules or regulations govern it, how it effects not only primary users or customers but secondary or tertiary participants.

Design works towards making a product or service that people need, that is usable, makes sense from a business point of view, and is within the resources, technology, and scope of its employees and partners.

Governance keeps track of a project management's ability to meet goals while remaining sustainable to both the environment and the company culture. Accountability is vital to keeping projects documented, within budget, and reduce fraud/waste.

Identity outlines how a companies balances its values, resources, and goals to create its guiding mission. This is the ethical and moral roadmap all initiatives fit within.

Strategy is the high level understanding of how it all fits together. Design, management, and identity all have their own goals, and every member of each team make choices based on these. From departmental strategy up to corporate vision there are always people working toward creating healthy change and maintaining well run systems.

A birds eye view of my four design strategy lenses in relation to a project or company.