Design value now has a broader definition inside the organizational structure and companies’ viewpoints on strategic thinking. Leading companies can provide an example of how design can improve the business position in the market. A recent study incorporated sponsored projects at Stanford University, Art Center College of Design and other elite educational institutions around the […]
Creative Diversity: Doblin’s 10 Types of Innovation
In a previous article, we discussed Why Creative Companies Can’t Innovate, and we explored the reasons behind the failure of the innovation process in different companies working within the creative sector. One of the reasons behind this failure is the limited understanding of innovation. Most companies tend to innovate is one direction rather than thinking […]
The Inspiring Life of Typography Icon Hermann Zapf
On the 4th of June 2015, Hermann Zapf died at the age of 96 after a legendary career as a typographer, calligrapher, and book designer. Hermann Zapf’s typeface design can be seen in his projects including Optima (1958), Aldus (1954), Palatino (1950), Sistina (1950), Venture (1969), and Zapfino (1998). During his versatile life, Zapf invented […]
How Social Media Affects Your Creativity
Social media has become a part of our daily life. Although the debate about how social media may affect the quality of life, users of different social media have increased over time. Facebook users for example increased from 75 million to 600 million in the between 2008 and 2011. LinkedIn users increased from 20 million […]
Achieving a Sustainable Graphic Design Process
Graphic designers should no longer be seen from the old narrow perspective of the creative process. As a part of a holistic design role in the production process, graphic designers contribute to project development beginning with the ideation process and ending with the delivery stage. Along with the existing and future challenges that face our […]
Using the TRIZ Method for Creative Problem Solving
During the conflict and problems time in an organization, projects, at times, seem to be blocked from moving forward. At this crucial time, innovative and creative solutions are required to help the project survive through this difficult time. Problem-solving methods and tools are considered predefined ways that can be used to organize thoughts to carry […]
Marketing Research as a Method for Designers to Understand Clients
In every design and innovation process, understanding the end consumer through marketing research or user experience research plays an essential role in the success of the final product or service. This understanding is commonly identified in different design process models. For example, the Stanford University model starts with the spiral model of design process. The […]
How to Run a Successful Brainstorming Session
Many companies and practitioners believe that brainstorming and creative thinking can help companies and teams to focus on their objective and find creative solutions for existing problems. However, many brainstorming sessions fail and do not provide any sufficient results. This failure leads to a waste of critical time at the early stage of the project […]
Six SWOT Analysis Tools and Applications
SWOT analysis is an essential tool for any organization to evaluate its position in the market based on four factors; Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat. While the strengths and weaknesses are considered internal factors, both opportunities and threats are considered external factors. In a previous article, we covered SWOT analysis as a tool to explore […]
Designorate Mind Map Template
In a previous article, we covered mind mapping as one of the effective tools to organize and visualize ideas during brainstorming sessions. Mind mapping can be used in the educational, business and personal domains. While there are many digital tools that allow teams to visuals ideas through computer generated applications; the traditional paper and pen […]
How to Use Mind Mapping for Better Thinking
During brainstorming meetings and problem-solving sessions, many outputs are shared and presented in fractals. Many of the design thinking methods we discussed aims to direct the attendees thinking towards a specific flow in order to achieve creativity or find innovative solutions for problems. Mind mapping is one of the efficient methods that organize all these […]
10 Tips to Achieve Creativity and Innovation in Education
Our current world is evolving more rapidly than the capacity of any existing education system. The challenge of learning is getting even harder for the next generations. We do not have a prediction of how tomorrow will look like, but we know that flexible process models are able to face the changes comparing with fixed-style […]
A Guide to the SCAMPER Technique for Design Thinking
Creative thinking and problem-solving are essential parts of the design thinking process to turn ideas into innovation and break the barriers against creativity. One of the successful methods used in creative thinking is the SCAMPER technique. While there are different creative thinking and problem-solving techniques, such as reversed brainstorming, Hurson’s thinking model, the six thinking […]
Break Through the Barriers to Sustainable Development and Innovation
Sustainable development is defined as a joint long-term strategy that aims to develop the current needs with human and environmental impacts in mind. The development process aims to supply the present needs without compromising the next generation’s ability to meet their expected resources and needs. Some companies such as IKEA and Lego understand the importance […]
Disney’s Creative Strategy: The Dreamer, The Realist and The Critic
Summary: Disney Creative Strategy is a creative thinking method. It separates the teams' thinking process into three roles: The Dreamer, the Realistic, and the Critic. It helps ideas to be imagined, planned, and improved. Recently, I introduced you to a number of methods and tools to fuel innovation and creativity within organisations through creative thinking […]
Problem Solving Using Hurson’s Production Thinking Model
The ability to solve problems is one of the essential strong points inside successful organizations. Seeing the success of a companies’ innovation and creativity does not mean that everything went perfect during the production time. Each creative process or innovation to build a new product is faced with barriers and problems before and during the […]
SWOT Analysis: Exploring Innovation and Creativity within Organizations
Innovation and creativity are considered by many strategists a key factor of business success and prosperity. However, only one from six ideas achieve the goal and return profit to the organization. How to determine the potential success in innovative ideas? Many tools and methods are used to evaluate ideas such as pass-fail evaluation, evaluation matrix […]
Turning strategic innovation Into Profit: Tips and Practices
Innovation plays an essential role in a company’s success in the market. Large enterprises such as Apple, IKEA, Lego, Johnson & Johnson and others are paying much attention to innovation and leading the market with new products and solutions. Many of the leading companies have a dedicated research infrastructure to facilitate the process. A few […]
Building A Sustainable Packaging Design Process
The United Kingdom creates 23 million tons of waste each year, 30% of this figure consists of packages. Considering the fact that the UK recycles 39 percent of its waste, the number increases in other countries that have a lower recycling rate. Having the packaging process part of every product development turns it to an […]
White Paper: Building the Innovative Organization
As we, in Designorate, try to provide useful resources for designers and design managers. We would like to introduce to you our first white paper resource, Building the Innovative Organization: A Select Literature Review of Key Factors of Organizational Innovation and Their Impact on Employees. This white paper is written by our contributor author and […]