Toward Design Orientation and Integration: Driving Design from Awareness to Action

摘要

This research outlines and details the approach used by a nonprofit aged care organization seeking to achieve design integration. Initial stages of the study saw the researcher embedded as a design innovation catalyst, with the task of introducing and demonstrating the value of design, and moving the organization toward design integration. Organizational outcomes of the two-year embedded practice period included the following: (1) a shift in the key stakeholder focus-from the government to the consumer; (2) a deeper understanding of the customer segments in an aging demographic; (3) a new organizational structure for the Strategy, Customer and Marketing Department; and (4) a new start-up business that developed customer insights into new services outside the organization's original scope. This progress suggests that even in markets where organizations are not typically design-oriented, design is able to offer strategic value.