A couple weeks ago, another professor from the University of Utah forwarded me a PowerPoint presentation on the changing nature of graphic design and how these changes are, or should be, affecting the education of design students and their curriculum. Historically the purpose of graphic design (and most other design disciplines) has been the creation of “things”, i.e. logos, Web sites, brochures. The PowerPoint suggested that the new goal of design education should be to change “the focus on the design of discrete objects to systems-level thinking, that situates design between people and what they want to do in diverse contexts.”

The very description of the goal evokes some difficulties. The concept of “systems-level thinking” is not what the average person readily grasps—and that goes for design students as well. How does a designer describe what he offers? How do those seeking solutions to problems “between people and what they want to do” know where to look?

The global design consultancy IDEO, has led the popularization of design thinking, a human-centered approach to innovation that uses the techniques familiar to designers. The goal of design thinking is not to create discrete objects, but instead to deliver tangible strategies that marry “the needs of people, the possibilities of technology and the requirements for business success,” says Tim Brown, IDEO President.

The techniques designers use are pretty well known: observation (research), prototyping (sketching, models) and storytelling (through images, objects, brands, emotions). Everybody can use the same design techniques, in all levels of an organization, right up to the “C-level”. Further, according to Brown, design thinking “can help us grapple with a vastly greater range of problems than has previously been the case.”

Historically designers have not been at the forefront of innovation. Typically, designers have been called upon to make things pretty. Not to say that we aren’t all attracted to beautiful objects, Web sites and logos—we are. In recent decades, business has increasingly recognized that design can be a competitive asset.

The objective of the design educators’ initiative is to prepare designers to move upstream in the development process. Instead of just making an already developed idea more appealing, designers should be innovating new ideas “between people and what they want to do”. The former role is just tactical and has limited value creation; the latter is strategic and leads to significant new value types.

For years modern8 has married strategy and design to achieve a shared goal. Our Perception Branding 5d Process uses the techniques of design thinking in the development and application of brand strategies.

For many years, we have helped the Utah chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth put on the Intermountain Capital Connection and Deal Source conference. We brand the event and create marketing blasts, magazine ads and the conference program and identification signage. The event, scheduled for March 14 at the Grand America hotel, will feature Michael Leavitt as the keynote speaker.

Historically, employees of modern8 have predominantly been graduates from the University of Utah. So we were pleased to help our alma mater with a project to drive interest in the Masters of Fine Arts program in Art and Art History Department. We developed a social media strategy, then created a poster/mailer directed to undergrads at other schools. We capitalized on the “create and recreate” opportunities in the state with artistic and geographic points of interest to potential applicants.

Every entrepreneur needs four things: money, marketing, mentoring and networking. Grow America was founded by Alan Hall to provide those things and ignite the dreams of real entrepreneurs. We updated their identity and created a brochure that explains the Grow America difference: business plan competitions, community involvement, sponsors and mentoring. We avoided cliché photos and used bright illustrations to carry the message in 16 pages, housed in a conveniently sized folder.