Interestingly, the Australian Design Institute is listing in career profiles “Design Management” amongst graphic, industrial, interior, etc.

It states: “With the integration of design into the business planning process of many large national and international companies and the identification of design as a major factor in competitive advantage the management of design has become a specialisation in its own right.”(DIA)

With this in mind, I researched who offered jobs with the title of “Design Manager”, or “Manager, Design” in Australia or who included ‘design management’ as skills/experience/qualification. You may have guessed it, the “Design Manager” demand, I found, is for a property and construction industry profile. Alternatively, it is also a production manager’s job. So who and where are these professionals in Australia that work in ‘design management’ as defined by DIA? Would be good to hear from the companies who employ them or the recruiters who place them.

QUESTION ONE

What are the pre-requisites (skills/attributes) needed to obtain a career in your specified field (eg. illustrator, brand/identity designer, photographer, etc.) within the Creative Industries? (4 pre-requisites needed + one line explanation OR reason why)

Consensio Brand Developer

1. Attention to detail (quality design requires flawless execution and cooperation with all parties involved)
2. Big Picture awareness (“how does what I do fit in with client business objectives?”)
3. Service Delivery (quality control and communication skills to sell ideas)
4. Research skills (includes keeping up academic and research about industry and competitor trends)

QUESTION TWO

What are some of the typical activities you perform within you current role/position? (4 examples needed)

1. Presentation of ideas to clients and stakeholders
2. Project management
3. Execution of design ideas
4. Quality control of project execution

QUESTION THREE

What project/accomplishment are you most proud of within your career?

When our client says: “I love it, I get it, I want it, it’s better than what I could have imagined, and my customers want it too!”

QUESTION FOUR

What personal advice/tips would you give to someone wanting to enter into your career path?

What I do now I did not imagine 20 years ago. I only got there because I was open to learn more about myself, the industry and where the gaps are. Don’t be defensive about feedback, no matter how it comes across. Maybe you should not follow a defined path. Make your own rules and step out of the picture now and then and evaluate on an ongoing basis your weakness and strength. After all, we are getting paid for thinking and working creatively in return for authentic business results. The only personal brand you should cultivate is your distinctive sense of humour.

We strive to match Plato’s world view when we describe the intangible as follows: we interpret the world in terms of archetypes (good-bad, beauty-ugly, single-multi, intangible-tangible, asset-non-asset…).We strive to define it by using changeless absolutes and look for the essence of universal truth and structure about ‘intangible assets’.

We ask what is the precise relation between the pattern of ‘intangible asset’ and the empirical world of everyday reality. Why is this important to the way we do business 2000 years later?

In scholarly debate, intangible assets (IA) are often defined as…

…including those factors that are nonphysical sources of economical benefit and are rarely, if at all included in the firm’s financial statements… Intangible resources include intellectual property, culture, reputation and know-how. The researchers found that investment in these asset groups are indeed of competitive advantage to firms (Galvin & Galbreath 2006,152).

By ascertaining the underlying patterns of things we are researching the meaning of IA. We are actually chasing Plato’s archetype of IA, the ‘veiled essence of things‘ by looking at its embodiment in non-physical sources of intellectual property, culture, reputation and know-how.

Rational philosophy forms insights but it remains an example and representation and leads further down the track to classification and compartmentalization that is cutting off what businesses in the 21st century need the most- creativity and ideas.