Entrepreneurial Design: The Future of Designers Working in Technology

Panel

Entrepreneurial Design is the intersection of business, design thinking, branding and human centered practices. With a multidisciplinary and diverse body of speakers, the lead instructors guided design students to question the validity, and value of their business ideas. They were given the tools to methodically predict risk and opportunities of a new venture. They were taught how to design their own instincts and skills as trained designers to create products and services that people want to use.

This session explores the edge where design meets business and technology. This is the edge where entrepreneurs live. The session provides a framework for other educators to start the journey in their own curriculum, and invites the audience to participate in a dialog about the future of design education. On the entrepreneurial edge, who is responsible for the experience of customers?

Timetable

  1. The session will start with the working definition we have of Entrepreneurial Design and the goal of the course at Texas State.
  2. It will then cover the semester, explaining how we used technology to create a hybrid class, where visiting instructors joined online and students presented to them and the class in the physical space.
  3. We will follow with a a student business idea.
  4. The session will finish with a prompt to start a dialog between panelists and the audience on the future of Design Education in the entrepreneurial edge.

Takeaway

With technology, the role of the designer is changing. From the way designers work to their role in the success of a business. Consumers expect good experiences from every brand they choose so design has become key to the strategy of every company. Designers must know how to execute the strategies, but to do this they need to understand business first. This session will provide a test case for the future of design education, and the audience will build on this case to create a shared understanding of what it means to be a designer today.

Abstract

John Maeda's 2018 Design in Tech report highlights business as one of the top skills designers need to know in order to succeed in the startup world today. Brian Chesky,founder of AirBnB and a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, uses design to create critical differentiation for AirBnB.

Artificial Intelligence is the new era of computing. New businesses will be created to solve a myriad of problems or to automate certain parts of every occupation. As a result, workers and users will demand human centered technologies and businesses.

For the first time, Design has a key leadership role in tomorrow's innovations. If new design graduates are going to achieve C-level positions, then design education must prepare students to use design to impact business.

This Spring we introduced a new class at Texas State called Entrepreneurial Design. This course prepared graduate design students to create businesses of their own. Through customer journeys, revenue strategies, and market research, the students learned how to assess the value and viability of their business ideas.

Students were given three areas of investigation: women in positions of power, Austin's identity, and higher education. Out of these three themes, each student developed a value proposition that focused on a specific need or problem. With their value proposition defined, they created a business solution with design as a key differentiation.

To provide students with a broad point of view and guidance throughout the process, we invited thought-leaders in design, branding, and business to guide students throughout the process. This approach gave students the opportunity to hear different perspectives and gain invaluable feedback from industry professionals. The result was an engaging, multidisciplinary curriculum packed with rich content, feedback, and active encouragement.

In this panel , we will share the impact of the explored edge effects in industry and academic collaboration via analogue and digital tools as well as present one student's business idea. We will define entrepreneurial design and encourage a dialog on the future of design education and the need for multidisciplinary curriculum.