1 The Changed Role of Design

THE
CHANGED
ROLE
OF
DESIGN
1 February 2010
Provoke Design Oy/Ltd.

Christian Aminoff, Timo Hnninen,
Mikko Kmrinen and Janne
Loiske
This report was commissioned by the Ministry of Employment and the

Economy, as part of the Strategy for the Creative Economy. The feasibility
study and its documentation were implemented by Provoke Design Oy/Ltd.
Interpretations of interviews express the opinions of the authors. Any errors
herein are solely due to the author.
Create Meaningful Experiences.
Contents
1.
Summary
2.
TERMS AND CONCEPTS
2.1.
2.2.
2.3.
2.4.
2.5.
2.6.
Open Innovation
Design Thinking
Crowdsourcing
Co-creation
Social Innovation
Service Design
4
5
7
8
9
9
3.
BACKGROUND
10
4.
METHODS
13
4.1.
4.2.
4.3.
4.4.
Workshops
Case studies
Interviews
Analysis and grouping of results
13
13
13
14
5.
CASE STUDIES
17
5.1. A system for innovations in medical care Kaiser Permanente (HMO)

5.2. Development of the business idea: Sermo
Event permit procedure, Helsinki: the user-oriented design of public
5.3. services
5.4. Innovations of the supply chain in trade: Kraft and Safeway
17
20
6.
23
INTERVIEWS
6.1.
6.2.
6.3.
6.4.
6.5.
6.6.
6.7.
6.8.
21
22
Experienced roles and change of design

Difficulty of terms
Role of design
Internationality
Service design
Education and training
Innovations
Public sector
Relationship to economic success and the desired status as regards
6.9. enterprises
6.10
.
Perception of time, and time window of future visions
24
25
26
31
32
35
38
41
47
7.
CONCLUSIONS
49
7.1.
7.2.
7.3.
7.4.
7.5.
7.6.
7.7.
Change
Challenges
Proposals: Promotion of the Sector
Proposals: Education and training
Proposals: Public sector
Proposals: Enterprises
Discussion
49
49
50
50
50
51
51
45
2 / 52
1. Summary
The role of design has changed significantly in the wake of the recession. The Muotoilu 2005!
(Design 2005!) programme facilitated the rapid progress of a transition already underway, and
created a basis for research on design. At that time, new, changed roles were developed
alongside the old, rather than supplanting them. For example, the scope of design was
expanded from aesthetics to usability and product branding. The programmes follow-up group
regarded the continuity of the development process underway as critical.
Since the programmes implementation, a new perspective on changes in the role of design has emerged
around the world. This shift in perspective is due to climate change, globalisation and the global
recession. The aim is to apply design-related approaches and methods outside the field of product and
service design, as a form of expertise in multi-professional innovation. This work is focused on areas such
as user-oriented innovation in business activities, organisations or in meeting social challenges. Design
thereby has a plethora of roles, for example in terms of user involvement in development activities or
acting as a visual interpreter between various organisations and stakeholders. Other roles include the
organisation of brainstorming sessions and the creation of solution prototypes as services.
This novel way of utilising design is termed Design Thinking. As during previous transitions, this will
supplement rather than replace old roles. However, a new aspect lies in the fact that developing expertise
in this role has been globally considered an opportunity widely available to non-designers as well as
designers. Design Thinking is taught at educational institutions within various sectors, as an innovative
approach and an interdisciplinary subject.
In this feasibility study, case studies, workshops and interviews were applied in discerning the opinions of
those who work closely with design including users on the current status of design and the related
change needs in Finland.
A number of results were obtained. The following are examples of issues requiring action:
A clear gap remains between enterprises the number of leading experts in design is
small. In addition, many enterprises have yet to go through the previous transition,
particularly in the domestic markets.
Design offices have been slow to internationalise.
Overshadowed by product design, service design has failed to develop.
Although education is in transition, Aalto University alone will not be sufficient.
The pace of change is rapid. Some interviewees doubted whether Finland would be able to
maintain a leading position in this new role.
The following begins with a clarification of the concepts and terms used by the interviewees
and a description of the feasibility studys background.
Two classification models were used to describe the various roles played by design and the
related changes. These are presented at the end of Chapter 4.
Case studies on the consequences of change, documented for the report, have been presented in a
separate chapter.
The summary of the workshops is followed by a summary of the interviewees' opinions on the
current role of design and the changes needed. On occasions, these change needs turned out
to be surprisingly profound.
The thematic areas of the interviews have been discussed in separate chapters. A summary
is provided at the beginning of each chapter, followed by quotations from the interviews.
The report is concluded by the authors' opinion on the transition underway and
proposals for further measures, based on the workshops and interviews.
3 / 52
2. TERMS AND CONCEPTS

A number of concepts and terms arose in the interviews. The contents of these are briefly
described below. Many concepts still lack a generally accepted Finnish translation.
In the interviews, the changing role of design was often associated with a more profound transition in
innovation for example, rather than technological innovations, or in addition to them, the interviewees
considered innovations in processes, organisations and operating models to be necessary. They
associated design with abstract issues lying outside products: user-orientation and innovation methods.
Designs role was viewed as one type of expertise among many, manifesting itself in the phenomena
presented below for instance, as an interpreter of open innovation, between technology, marketing,
users and various organisations.
2.1. Open Innovation

Open innovation is a term coined by Professor Henry Chesbrough, who works at the Open
Innovation Center, UC Berkeley.
According to Chesbrough, open innovation involves the use of purposeful inflows and outflows
of knowledge, in order to accelerate internal innovation and expand the markets for the external
application of innovation. 1
As a result, companies have begun seeking other ways of increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of
their innovation processes. For instance, this is being done through an active search for new technologies
and ideas outside the firm. Another method involves cooperation with suppliers and competitors, in order
to create customer value. An important area of this lies in the further development or out-licensing of ideas
and technologies which do not fit in with the companys strategy. As an operating model, open innovation
meets these challenges.
Open innovation deals with research and development as an open system. Such a system
defines what external knowledge should be utilised in the company's activities, and what
internal knowledge should be outsourced. The opposite idea, closed innovation, limits the use
of internal knowledge to inside the enterprise and eschews the use of external knowledge.
Open innovation is distinct from the Open Source development model, which is based on cooperation and initiated and concluded by volunteers.
1 CHESBROUGH, H (2006), Open Innovation: Researching a New Paradigm
4 / 52
2.2. Design Thinking

Design Thinking is a creative process or approach involving the search for new prospective
solutions. Rather than focusing on the improvement of existing solutions, this approach analyses
challenges and the potential for the discovery of new, user-oriented solutions meeting such
challenges.
Business schools tend to focus on inductive thinking (based on

directly observable facts) and deductive thinking (logic and
analysis, typically based on past evidence).
Design schools emphasize abductive thinking imagining what
could be possible. This new thinking approach helps us challenge
assumed constraints and add to ideas, versus discouraging them. 2
A.G. Lafley
CEO, Procter & Gamble
Design Thinking is often described as the ability to combine empathy, creativity and rationality
in order to meet user needs more effectively and to enable the success of emerging, new
ideas. As such, Design Thinking is a creative process, based on constructing and synthesising
ideas rather than de-constructing them. The diagram below presents a macro-level perspective
on Design Thinking.
???
Divergence
Needs?
Brainstorming
Synthe
sis
Analysis
Observation
Solution
Convergence
A simplified presentation of Design Thinking
Generally speaking, Design Thinking is more reminiscent of an
approach or cultural way of thinking than a model or process
see below.
(A simplified model, based on the work of Tim Brown, Michael Barry, Sara L. Beckman
et al.)
LAFLEY, A.G. (2008), The Game-Changer: How You Can Drive Revenue and Profit Growth with Innovation
5 / 52
In Design Thinking, since ideas are not evaluated or rejected during the early phases of brainstorming,
fear of failure is eliminated and participation encouraged in the brainstorming and prototyping phases.
Since it leads to creative solutions, lateral, outside-the-box thinking is encouraged during these processes.
Organisational and management theories have viewed Design Thinking as forming part of the
A/D/A (architecture/design/anthropology/) approach. Andrew Jones has stated that the A/D/A
model is typical of innovative, human-oriented enterprises, where it has replaced more
traditional M/E/P (mathematics/economics/psychology) models. Jones has analysed
4
enterprises such as Southwest Airlines, Whole Foods, Starbucks and Google.
Design Thinking applies design methods to problem solving, including outside the field of industrial design
itself. Such methods involve user-oriented design and the creation of new ideas, visual communications,
synthesis and prototyping. But the issue to be resolved typically involves something other than a product
it may be a service, or an organisational or social challenge.
The term 'design thinking' has gained in popularity because it

makes it easier for those outside the design industry to focus on the
idea of design as a way of thinking about solving problems, a way
of creating strategy by experiencing it rather than keeping it as an
intellectual exercise, and a way of creating and capturing value.
Design thinking is more than a methodology. Design is a cultural
way of thinking. It's important to understand its power, commit to
evolving your culture, even restructuring the company, resourcing
and rewarding those who practice design thinking. You can no
longer tolerate those who shut down design thinking. We have to
get rid of the devil's advocates and experts who own their domain
to the detriment of innovation. 5
David Burney
Vice President of Brand Communications + Design, Red Hat
3
4
5
De BONO, E (1992), Serious creativity: using the power of lateral thinking to create new ideas. HarperBusiness
Dr JONES, A (2008), The Innovation Acid Test. Axminster: Triarchy Press
http://www.redhat.com/magazine/019may06/features/burney/ , retrieved on 10 November 2009
6 / 52
2.3. Crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing refers to outsourcing the tasks of an enterprise to its customers. The customer is
included in the processes, generating added value for the enterprise (and for him or herself). In most
cases, the customer obtains only a modest financial reward from crowdsourcing. There are multiple
Finnish translations for this term, which was originally coined by journalist Jeff Howe in 2006.
Howe presented a new way of understanding how large crowds can be exceptionally
productive and creative when given the opportunity to gather around something they find
interesting. As an example, he cited the iStock-photo, which has radically changed the way
photographs are sold.
Peer recognition, or granting the customer visibility in an environment meaningful to him or her, can
be used as a means of motivation. Other such means include learning anew and having fun or the
opportunity to participate in interesting activities on ones own initiative. Success depends on
identifying people who are able to generate target-oriented results.
Equality, fairness and trust between the participants must be maintained in crowd-sourcing
projects. Such values, which create and preserve communality, can be maintained by following
universally familiar rules. On the same basis as it forges trust among its customers, an
enterprise must build public confidence in itself.
Jeff Howe later described the crowdsourcing model as social behaviour: people gather together, either
free of charge or for very modest compensation, to perform tasks which were previously carried out by
employees. In some instances, a community constitutes a more efficient work force than a company. 7
Crowdsourcing and the Open Source development model are distinguished from one another
by the latters basis in communality and its initiation and performance by volunteers. In
crowdsourcing, the company itself outsources its tasks, thereby retaining the initiative whereas,
in conventional outsourcing, tasks are carried out by actors or individuals not specified in
advance. They may be amateurs or volunteers, or experts working in their free time. On the
other hand, the task may be carried out by a company with which the orderer is not previously
familiar.
6 HOWE, J, (2006), The Rise of Crowdsourcing. Wired magazine, June 2006

7
HOWE, J. (2008), Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd Is Driving the Future of Business
7 / 52
2.4. Co-creation
Co-creation is an active, creative and social process based on co-operation between producers and
users. Value is increasingly generated through co-operation between enterprises and their
customers rather than inside enterprises. In the most extreme form, N=1, meaning that the target
group consists of an individual user.
The initiative is taken by an enterprise aiming at generating value for its customers. Herein lies
the difference with crowdsourcing, which is focussed on outsourcing an enterprises tasks
rather than on the value generated by product users.
The co-creation matrix, Promise Corporation & LSE Enterprise.
PRAHALAD, C.K. and KRISHNAN, M.S. (2008), The New Age of Innovation: Driving Co-created Value Through Global Networks
Promise Corporation & LSE Enterprise, (2009), Co-creation: New pathways to value, An overview
8 / 52
2.5. Social Innovation

Social innovation refers to reforms of regulative systems, policies, organisational structures and
operating models improving societys economic and social performance, and its operational
10
capacity, in both the public and private sectors.

Social innovation and society's structural ability to reinvent itself have major impacts on the longterm success of society and the national economy. Little research has been conducted on the
inception of social innovations and their impacts on society, including on an international scale.
The social innovation concept entered the language less than ten years ago, despite the fact
that such innovations account for a huge share of services and their organisation, and of
legislation and people's everyday activities.
11
Hannu Hmlinen of Stakes gives the following example of social innovations in the field of social and
health care:
"A social innovation in the field of social and health care is a new
idea resulting from the creative activity of an individual, a group, a
community and/or a network. This idea generates added value in
terms of the well-being of an individual or community, or with
respect to health or a service system. 12
Hannu Hmlinen, Director of Innovations, Stakes
2.6. Service Design

Service design refers to service innovation, development and planning through design methods. The key
objective of service design is the user-oriented planning of a service experience, so that the service meets
both user needs and the business-related needs of the service provider. The building blocks of the
customer's service experience are service touch-points, service moments and a service string or customer
journey.
13
In service design, all service touch-points must be carefully considered target areas of the
service. They must be designed so as to form a clear, consistent and coherent service
experience. This is important, since customers pay attention to service touch-points in particular
to all that they can feel and experience.
Account should be taken of the fact that nobody's service experience as such can be designed and
defined in advance, since meanings, values and expectations, which vary from person to person, are
included in such experiences. Thus, designing a service experience refers to the creation of a
suitable environment and tools for events and activities, so that the experience can be modified as
14
desired.
10
http://www.sitra.fi/fi/Ohjelmat/hankkeet_ennen_ohjelmatoimintaa/hankkeet/Sosiaaliset_innovaatiot/Sosiaaliset_innovaatiot_+yhteiskun
nan_uudistumiskyky_ja_taloudellinen_menestys.htm, retrieved on 10 November 2009
11 http://www.stakes.fi/FI/ajankohtaista/Tiedotteet/2007/70_2007.htm , retrieved on 10 November 2009
12 http://innovaatio.stakes.fi/FI/esittely/index.htm , retrieved on 10 November 2009
13 KOIVISTO, M, (2007), Mit on palvelumuotoilu? Muotoilun hydyntminen palvelujen suunnittelussa, TAIK (What is service design?
Utilising design in service design, UIAH)
14
http://www.palvelumuotoilu.fi/sanasto_ja_metodit/, retrieved on 10 November 2009

9 / 52
3. BACKGROUND
Design 2005! was a design policy programme, launched by the Government to promote business and its
competitiveness through design. In 2004, the programmes follow-up group presented the following
conclusions on the programmes implementation: on the whole, the implementation of the Design 2005!
programme began on several fronts. The industrial design technology programme funded by Tekes and
the research programme on industrial design funded by the Academy of Finland formed separate, unique
entities. Their research subjects were relevant and they created a basis for the renewal of the design
industry. The foresight project on education set down guidelines for the development of education.
Promoting the internationalisation of design offices was considered a major future challenge. Expediting
the design systems development will require investments in communications.
The follow-up group was of the view that the design system had developed on a broad front. Key actors
from outside the design community had been enlisted in the development of the design system. This led
to more dynamic development while boosting confidence in design. Significant volume growth has been
attained in a short period in the area of design research. A comparison with the international discussion on
research demonstrated that the research problems posed in Finland were relevant and topical. The followup group considered the continuation of the development process already launched as crucial.
15
However, rapid changes have occurred in the concept of design and its operating environment since the
implementation of the Design 2005! programme and the above-mentioned industrial design technology
programme funded by Tekes in 2002-2005: MUOTO 2005.
The concept of strategic design was earlier associated with putting an enterprise's strategy into
practice through product-related design solutions and brand management. Now, a new
concept, design thinking, has emerged alongside strategic design of this type. In design
thinking, a design approach is used to solve challenges that are unrelated to products. Other
changes to follow the implementation of the technology programme include the emergence of
service design and the challenges posed by open innovation. Research by Virginia Acha, for
example, relates open innovation to the application of design:
Our analysis indicates that design includes the translation of
understanding and expectations between organisations engaged in
open innovation practices. The findings demonstrate that firms
which actively undertake design activities in innovation and which
use design to control the innovation process, are more likely also to
pursue open innovation strategies. 16
Virginia Acha, 2008
15
SAARELA, LAPPI, TUUKKANEN, (2004), Muotoilu 2005! -ohjelman seurantaryhmn raportti The report of the
follow-up group on the Design 2005! programme, in Finnish), Reports of the Ministry of Education 2004:11
16
ACHA, V, (2008), Open by Design: The Role of Design in Open Innovation. Department for Innovation, Universities & Skills, UK
10 / 52
Education and training in the field of design has also changed in the wake of the programmes
implementation. Examples of this are provided by new Master's degrees, such as the Canadian
17
Master of Design in Strategic Foresight and Innovation , or in the combination of courses in
design with other subjects, as in Singapore where courses have been based on the Design
18
19
Thinking agenda or in Stanfords d.school which was established as early as 2003. Such
courses are not aimed at providing an education in the traditional role of design i.e. creating
new forms:
We want the d.school to be a place for Stanford students and faculty
in engineering, medicine, business, the humanities, and education
to learn design thinking and work together to solve big problems in
a human centred way. 20
This transition can also be seen in Finland. With the establishment of Aalto University, the
concept of design will change more rapidly here too. Designs new roles are influenced by how
well it is integrated into education in general and by how its various roles are emphasised
within Aalto University: amongst the associated innovation workshops, the Design Factory
focuses on product development, the Media Factory on the media sector and the Service
Factory on services of high added value.
At domestic level, Aalto University alone will not suffice the new roles of design must be
promoted more widely: as early as 2006, a visionary group working on a research project
funded by the Research Institute of the Finnish Economy (ETLA) proposed that design be more
efficiently integrated into educational programmes in the fields of business management and
technology. In addition, the quality of education and its international aspects should also be
21
improved.
The Finnish design sector remains small and may contract further due to the recession. This
sector comprises small actors, meeting demand for strategic design from a small number of
enterprises.
In 2007, enterprises in the Finnish design sector recorded combined annual net sales of EUR
22
122 million, industrial design accounting for EUR 47.3 million of this. However, a challenge
lies in the fact that statistics on this are insufficient and lack uniformity between different
countries. According to the Finnish TOL 2008 standard industrial classification, enterprises in
the industrial arts belong to the same category as industrial design, despite the fact that the
activities of enterprises providing design services are entirely different to the industrial arts.
In accounts of the changing role of design, foresight and the planning of new business activities based
thereon are often mentioned. Other oft-mentioned subjects in this connection include the user-oriented
design of private or public sector activities, as well as open innovation and social innovation. The change
that began following the implementation of the technology programme is still underway. Reform is
required of our innovation policy and educational systems.
17 Ontario College of Art & Design

18 University of Technology and Design, Singapore
19 The Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University
20 http://www.stanford.edu/group/dschool/big_picture/our_vision.html, retrieved on 25 November 2009
21 LINDSTRM, NYBERG, YL-ANTTILA (2006), Ei vain muodon vuoksi Muotoilu on kilpailuetu , ETLA B 220
22 ALANEN, A, (2009), Yritysten muotoilutoiminta: Omin voimin vai ostopalveluilla? (Design activities of companies: independently or
contracting out?) Tieto & trendit 8/2009, 3841.
11 / 52
Finland's national innovation strategy for 2008 also highlights demand- and user-orientation in
all innovation activities. User-orientation is a central perspective in design. Correspondingly, the
possibilities of applying this perspective and design tools outside the field of product
development have been highlighted in the debate on designs changing role.
In recent years, design has also developed rapidly as an innovation.
Most notably, this has resulted in concepts such as strategic design, design management and design thinking. Innovation policy
and support, as well as educational systems, have yet to catch up
with these developments.23
The above quotation is an excerpt from the document "Design as a driver of user-centred
innovation", published by the European Commission in April 2009. The Commission
organised a public hearing (535 respondents), the results of which clearly associate the role of
design with innovation: 91 per cent of the responding organisations considered design highly
important to the EU economys future competitiveness; 96 per cent thought that initiatives in
support of design should form an integral part of innovation policy in general; and 91 per
cent believed that such initiatives should be taken at EU level, in addition to domestic and
24
regional level. Some 74 % thought that design should be part of the EU's innovation policy.
A report on the OECD's innovation strategy will be published in the spring of 2010. This report is
expected to discuss the changing nature of innovation, and designs contribution to this. A new role
for design and new design expertise are required for innovation activities extending beyond
technology and products.
Non-technological, organisational and social innovation are

increasingly in the spotlight.
In recent years, the notion of innovation has broadened. In
particular, interest has grown in non-technological forms of
innovation for example organisational changes, marketing and
design and their contribution to productivity growth. 25
This report was commissioned as part of the Strategy for the Creative Economy, from the Ministry of
Employment and the Economy. This feasibility study set out to identify who new design concerns and
its field of activity.
The project constitutes a basic survey on the changed role of design, analysing the current status of
this new role in Finland, the associated actors and their current roles and tasks. Data was collected
through interviews and from literary sources.
The aim was to uncover a set of descriptions of the new concept of design, and to chart this
new field and its functional structures from the viewpoint of the sea-change occurring in the
markets. Opinions on the roles of various actors and their tasks within the field of design were
analysed with the help of interviews.
The report outlines the meaning of the new concept of design from the viewpoint of industrial policy.
23
COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (2009), Commission staff working document: Design as a
driver of user-centred innovation.
24
Results of the public consultation on design as a driver of user-centred innovation (October 2009) -
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/innovation/policy/designcreativity/design_consultation_en.htm
25
OECD (2009), 2009 Interim Report on the OECD Innovation Strategy: AN AGENDA FOR POLICY ACTION ON INNOVATION
12 / 52
4. METHODS
4.1. Workshops
The feasibility project was kicked off by a workshop "Muotoilun muuttuva rooli (the changing role of
design)" on 7 September 2009. The seminar and workshop were organised through co-operation
between the Ministry of Employment and the Economy, the Ministry of Education, Design Forum
Finland and Creative Industries Finland. Group work on changes in the role of design, from the
viewpoint of enterprises, education and training, formed the focus of the workshop. Over 50 experts
in the field of design participated, representing educational institutions, organisations and
enterprises.
The following workshop discussions were chosen as themes for the interviews:
What is the current role of design, will this role change in the forthcoming years?
Will social innovations and open innovation processes affect the value chain of design?
Can the design approach be applied in the creation of new businesses?

Does the expertise of design professionals meet the needs of other areas of expertise?
Can the scope of such expertise be extended?
Do other areas of expertise have sufficient basic awareness of design?
Can design support service development?
Can the public sector play a role in supporting design?
Another workshop was organised in Rovaniemi. Muuttuvat muotoilun kentt, Typaja muotoilun
edistmisest (The changing fields of design: a workshop on promoting design) was organised on
28 September 2009. Fresh opinions were expressed on the current status of design in Finland and
the preparation of Lapland's own design strategy was initiated. The University of Lapland was in
charge of preparations for the workshop and it was jointly organised by the national Culture and
Creative Industries network of the Regional Development Programme, the University of Lapland and
Rovaniemi Design Week. Staff and students of the University of Lapland, approximately 40 people in
total, participated.
Divided into groups, the participants created five scenarios for the role of design in 2015:
Education and training in the field of design have changed.
Design as a function has clearly extended beyond product design.
The designer is a DESIGN THINKER, an expert in perspectives and methods, not a
creator of new forms.
Service design has become a distinctive area in its own right.
Design is part of everyday life. It is automatically a "must" in the activities of enterprises
in Lapland.
4.2. Case studies

Examples of the new role of design were collected for the feasibility study. In addition to the chosen
themes, the case studies provided the basis for the interviews, and were used to stimulate discussion on
the current status and the associated changes in Finland. These case studies are presented in Chapter 5
of this report.
4.3. Interviews
In addition to those directly involved in design activities, persons responsible for, or involved in, the
development of new businesses, product development, service business, marketing and general
management were request to give an interview.
Individual, discussion-based interviews were carried out, including a small number of telephone
interviews. Of those requested to give an interview, 35 were interviewed in September, October and
November 2009. Some 20 of these interviewees gave their consent to the publication of their names
in connection with the interviews. These names are listed in Chapter 8. The interviewees
represented organisations (4 interviewees), educational institutions (4 interviewees), productoriented companies (12 interviewees), the public sector (4 interviewees) and service industry
companies (11 interviewees). Enterprises of different sizes and representing various fields were
chosen.
13 / 52
4.4. Analysis and grouping of results

The interviews were analysed by grouping the interviewees based on two grouping models:
according to their background organisation and the D1.0...D4.0 model presented below. In
addition, the interviews aimed to define the role of design as experienced by the respondent,
based on the levels model presented by Anna Valtonen in her doctoral thesis. In this way,
perspectives were gained on the background factors explaining the differences in how the role
of design was experienced.
In addition, common themes repeatedly raised in the interviews were gathered during the
analysis phase and are cited in the form of quotations in this report.
4.4.1. Background organisation

The background organisations of the interviewees were grouped as follows: the public sector,
organisations, education/research and enterprises. Enterprises were further divided into
product and service providers.
4.4.2. NextDesign Leadership Institute: Design 1.0 ... Design 4.0

According to its founders, the NextDesign Leadership Institute was established in 2002. Its
purpose was to help trainers and professionals in the field of design all over the world to
prepare to lead the way in cross-discipline design and innovation in the 2000s. The Institute
26
focuses on three areas: NextD Education, NextD Research and NextD Conference.
The NextDesign Leadership Institute and its background organisation, the consulting firm
Humantific, were speakers at the workshop "The Changing Role of Design", organised in Helsinki.
GK VanPatter presented ideas on the new roles of design; the NextDesign Leadership Institute has
divided design into four groups, representing four different levels:
Traditional design (Design 1.0, D1.0)
Product and service design (Design 2.0, D2.0)
Organisational transformation design (Design 3.0, D3.0)
Social transformation design (Design 4.0, D4.0)
GK VanPatter, NextDesign Leadership Institute:

Design Strategy Workshop, Helsinki, 2009 .
26
http://nextd.org
14 / 52
This model, D1.0, is based on handicrafts or arts, in which creative individuals or groups of
designers design the aesthetics of a product. They work through a process that is closed to others.
At D2.0 level, design involves multi-professional groups and product or service development. It seeks to
design an enterprise's offering: the related challenges lie in user experiences, products and services.
User-oriented design and an expert designer role often form part of such activities.
According to Humantific, factors such as globalisation and technologys integration into everyday life have
facilitated the emergence of the D3.0 design role. Here, the target is not a product or service but any
strategic problem solving situation often related to challenges at industry, organisation or system level.
The problem is solved by multi-professional and multi-organisational (open) groups (participatory cocreation). Design has the role of bringing the user perspective to bear on this kind of problem solving,
alongside tools such as synthesis, visualisation and various brainstorming methods. Open innovation
models are included at level D3.0.
At level D4.0, open innovation models are extended further through the introduction of social
aspects. According to Humantific, this is the level at which e.g. problems related to the state of
society are solved. In addition to the (various) organisations that have assumed the D3.0 role, the
various stakeholders or individuals involved participate in this kind of problem solving.
4.4.3. Anna Valtonen: Changes in the Design Practice in Finland

Anna Valtonen's doctoral thesis, published at the UIAH in 2007, considers changes in the
professional role of designers. Its subject was the transformation of Finnish design from the
1990s to 2007.
According to Valtonen, the recession of the 1990s transformed industry structures, forcing
enterprises to seek new competitive edges and increase the use of design. Changes in industry and
society led to sharp specialisation in the tasks of designers.
A comparison of classification models

Compared to the model created by the NextDesign Leadership Institute, the creative, aestheticscentred role of design that emerged in Finland in the 1950s largely corresponds to the definition
given by D1.0.
Being integrated with product development and mechanical design, the role of design in the
1960s represented the first step towards D2.0, multi-professional product development. This
was further refined by the ergonomics-oriented role involving an understanding of the user that
emerged in the 1970s, and the role focusing on the co-ordination of portfolio management that
emerged in the 1980s. In the model created by the NextDesign Leadership Institute, product
branding in the 1990s (design aimed at creating customer experiences) remains at level D2.0.
According to Valtonen's doctoral thesis, the design roles recognised in Finland in different eras were
all product-oriented. Even strategic design originally concentrated on the management of product
portfolios and the branding of products based on user experiences. In the figure presented on the
following page, the newest, ongoing transition is related to intangible issues: innovation and
competitiveness amongst global competition. "Design as an innovation driver" has been proposed as
the new role of design. This transformation remains ongoing and forms part of the description of
levels D3.0 and D4.0, as defined by the NextDesign Leadership Institute.
15 / 52
Valtonen: The various roles of the designer and representative statements on

design 27
The lowest level, design as a creator (D1.0) is an aesthetic role with a background in handicrafts. In the
1960s, as a result of cooperation between engineers and marketing, this branched out into product
development (D2.0).
The ergonomic-oriented role of design of the 1970s represented a step towards user orientation. Product
portfolio management during the 1980s, or the management of companies product families, shifted
design towards a more coordinating role. In the 1990s, product branding was aimed at the design of user
experiences e.g. the appearance of the product, the environment in which it was sold and its package
had to be streamlined so that they could be used as branding tools. This still comprised the design of a
company's output (products and services).
By the 2000s, in Finland too the role of design had shifted towards the design of global competitiveness
and renewal. This may indicate a shift towards the design of organisations and practices, and away from
the product. The fact that the role for 2007 still bears a question mark speaks volumes change is still
ongoing.
27 VALTONEN, A. (2007), Redefining industrial design - Changes in Design Practice in Finland, UIAH
16 / 52
5. CASE STUDIES
Case studies were used to provide a basis for the interviews these, in turn, provided examples of
the new roles of design and respondents' opinions of the significance and impacts of these roles in
Finland. One of the world's best-known publishers of case studies is the Design Council (UK). This
organisation defines its national role as helping leaders amidst change and turning them into the
world's best users of design, with the support of the most talented design professionals.
28
5.1. A system for innovations in medical care: Kaiser

Permanente (HMO)
29
5.1.1. Background
Kaiser Permanente (KP) is a US-based HMO (Health maintenance organization). It was
founded in 1945 and employs almost 200,000 people
30
The main objectives of the company's 2003 long-term growth strategy include increasing its current patient base
through broader-based supply and major cost savings. KP feared that, in order to achieve its objectives, it would
have to replace the majority of its hospitals with new, expensive buildings. Co-operation with IDEO, a design
company concentrating on innovations and innovation processes, generated an idea that changed these plans.
Information gained from an individual project convinced KP that investments were required in the development
of patient experiences and services rather than new buildings.
KP has tried to move away from individual innovation and development projects to creating a more
holistic innovation structure. KP's internal innovations unit has created a system that improves the
quality of development projects and decreases risks. This system is based on methods originating in
the design sector. KP's innovations unit brings expertise on systems and user assets to the process.
By constructing prototypes of development targets, the innovations team is able to monitor activities
and collect experiences of the project, which is implemented at conceptual level only.
KP's innovation process is based on methods such as brainstorming, prototyping, field testing,
monitoring, creating a story and synthesis. KP requires that those participating in the process
are open-minded, capable of taking risks and uninhibited.
31
A model hospital has been constructed for KP's innovations unit , where the functions of various
units and the requirements set can be simulated. Premises and models are utilised in Kaiser
Permanente's new hospital projects in such a way that all premises to be built are based on
prototypes originally developed and tested in the innovation lab and then reproduced elsewhere.
The unit also engages in product development in co-operation with equipment manufacturers.
Because the premises can be test operated before a hospital is built, errors can be avoided and
multi-generational innovations can be realised in a single step.
5.1.2. An example of service innovations

A development project on nurses reporting process is often presented as an example of development
projects implemented using KP's innovation system. Shift changes in hospitals present a major challenge
to continuity in patient care and smoothness of shift changes. As nurses go on and off shift, the smooth
exchange of information and duties is crucial in ensuring safety, quality of care and efficiency.
28 http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/Design-Council/1/What-we-do/ , retrieved on 25 November 2009
29 http://www.ideo.com/work/item/nurse-knowledge-exchange/
30
, retrieved on 10 November 2009
http://xnet.kp.org/newscenter/aboutkp/fastfacts.html , retrieved on 10 November 2009
31 Sidney
R Garfield Health Care Innovation Center
17 / 52
Simultaneously, routines must be handled. Previous studies had revealed that nurses arrived
35-40 minutes before they became responsible for patients, in order to receive the required
briefing. Both staff and patients were concerned that patients received little care or attention at
this point. In addition, each nurse had his or her own way of prioritising and communicating
information. The shift change also affected the time preceding it, since all tasks had to be
finished in a hurry.
5.1.3. Measures
IDEO and Kaiser Permanente conducted observations in four hospitals, watching shift changes
around the clock in an attempt to understand how information was transmitted. Based on
preliminary data collection and an analysis of current practices, groups consisting of patients
and experts proposed a number of solutions within a short time. Some of the total of around
400 solutions were radical. Most ideas focused on information: that it should be available faster
and that its processing should be less dependent on location.
Based on these ideas, the innovation team developed prototypes of new practices. These prototypes were
then tested for three weeks in a single test unit during every shift change. Continuous changes were made
to the prototypes based on feedback from the nurses, who could directly shape the outcome.
Picture from IDEO's website: www.ideo.com.

Based on the new model, the nurse in charge lists the goals for the next shift prior to the
shift change. The shift change was moved from the ward office closer to the patients.
Tables bearing patient information and goals were placed in patient rooms. In addition,
a simple list was created that could be printed out from the IT system, and which could
rapidly provide
18 / 52
Create Meaningful Experien
an overall picture of all patients in the ward. During the shift, notes were made in a portable IT
system that allowed the collection of data for the next shift change.
The new model was tested for two weeks in two hospitals, before being put into productive use after three
weeks. The time needed to prepare for shift changes fell from 17 to 9 minutes, the duration of shift
changes increased from 8 to 10 minutes while the time required for the new shift's first contact with
patients decreased dramatically, from 43 to 12 minutes. Of the four hospitals that participated in the
brainstorming phase, three introduced the model with enthusiasm and one returned to the previous model.
Unwilling to introduce changes, this hospital decided to retain traditional practices, which it considered to
be safe. The new model was spontaneously distributed to nine other hospitals. In addition, a number of
hospitals contacted KP's innovations unit in order to find out how to introduce the model. A total of 30
hospitals made preparations to launch the model.
5.1.4. Results
KP decided to introduce the system in all of its hospitals. The innovations team prepared a
model for the systems launch, based on which the system could be integrated in various
locations, with the help of IHI's Rapid Scale Up system.
KP uses both bottom-up and the top-down development strategies. While the starting points and methods
of these two strategies differ, both are needed. In every case, the top-down model always requires data
and indicators that enable an ex ante and ex post analysis of the situation. Analysis is also recommended
for the bottom-up model, but in some cases the nature of the problem is so evident that a refined,
systematised data analysis is unnecessary. Based on the bottom-up model, responsibility lies with local
actors (the units themselves), while under the top-down model it lies with the management group. With
respect to the development of shift reporting, the launch was initiated based on a bottom-up model, with a
top-down model being implemented later. The latter proved a much more efficient method of distributing
the model than a spontaneous launch. In each case, the management team must commit itself to striving
for change.
Among other awards, the system has won three prizes under the Institute of Health Care
Improvement's Best Practice and Spark Awards.
19 / 52
5.2. Development of business idea: Sermo
32
Due to a back injury, surgeon Daniel Palestrant found himself in the role of a patient for several
months. It was then that he realised that new techniques developed by pioneering doctors are
introduced slowly: it often takes years for them to be widely disseminated. He therefore had the
idea of establishing an internet community in which physicians could discuss ideas. Companies
could be charged for taking part in these discussions between pioneering doctors. But the idea
alone failed to attract investors.
Instead of hiring a conventional business consultant, Palestrant contacted Humantific, a New York-based
company. Humantific employs design methods in change consulting.
A series of negotiations were conducted in New York, during which Palestrant eloquently
described his ideas he likens his outpouring to "intellectual bulimia" as Humantifics
representatives, Elizabeth Pastor and Garry VanPatter, busied themselves drawing sketches
and taking notes. The two gathered Palestrant's rambling ideas and turned them into huge
posters with icons showing how the different parts of Palestrant's company would fit together.
Bearing these diagrams, Palestrant contacted venture capital investors and obtained $40
million in start-up capital.
The community created by Palestrant is known as Sermo (www.sermo.com). It currently has over 110,000
members and is the biggest internet community of physicians in the US. Paying customers include
pharmaceutical and health care companies, to which the community provides chargeable services such as
panels and surveys of physicians.
Picture from the web page:

www.sermo.com.
Transformation design is a growing industry, combining business consulting and

industrial design methods. Humantific is an example of these new-wave design thinking
companies that apply product design principles to intangible issues that are difficult to
conceptualise, such as the design of organisations or business ideas. This leads to
unprecedented co-operation between designers and actors in business life.
32 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1736729,00.html
, retrieved on 10 November 2009
20 / 52
5.3. Event permit procedure, Helsinki: the user-oriented design of public

33
services
The user-oriented approach is a success factor in the City of Helsinki's strategy programme, adopted in
2009 with the objective of providing more user-oriented services in the future. Service design plays an
important role in the City's Yritysmynteinen kumppani (Enterprise-friendly partner) project, in which the
practices of three service entities are made more user- rather than provider-oriented. This is done with the
help of service design consultants.
"User-oriented development activities do not concern only the

private sector. Being user-oriented means that services are
developed based on the needs of citizens. For example, with respect
to public services this means shifting the focus from providerorientation to user-orientation, the inclusion of citizens in decisionmaking on services and the introduction of service design."
Jussi Pajunen, Mayor, City of
Helsinki
The Yritysmynteinen kumppani (Enterprise-friendly partner) project began with three service
entities: creating a smoother permit procedure for organisers of private events, integrating
various city offices into the process for providing advice on establishing a business and
facilitating the purchase of building sites and premises for SMEs.
At the moment, each permit application must be filed at different times with each authority concerned, due
to inadequate communication between the authorities. Processing an application for a permit to organise
an event can take from 5 to 30 days, depending on the case. Since developing the related processes
using traditional tools proved difficult, the decision was taken to apply service design methods to the
development activities. The objective was to achieve more flexible and user-oriented solutions.
An electronic service system is currently being developed in which event organisers can find
the relevant advice and maps of venues. They can also file all of the required permit
applications via the electronic service system.
New, designed services.
The current situation: citizen-oriented

but office-specific service processes.
Office/
process
Office/
process
Office/
process
Office/
process
Office/
applica
tion
Office/
process
Office/
process
Office/
process
process
app lic atio n
One
applic
ation
One
app
licat
ion
One
Custom
er
Custom
er with
applicat
ion
One
with his
applicat
ion
Creating a meaningful
entity with the help of
service design.
Smoothness?
Rapidity?
Consistency?
Transparency of processes for customer?
33
Better management of the service experience as an

objective.
Kuntalehti 17/2009
21 / 52
5.4. Innovations in the retail supply chain: Kraft and Safeway
34 35
Kraft Foods is the world's second largest food and beverage company. Safeway, in turn, is the
third largest supermarket chain in the US. IDEO is a design company focusing on innovations
and currently employing 550 employees.
Kraft turned to IDEO in its search for supply chain innovations. The aim was to improve Kraft's relationship
with chain stores. Communication was not smooth and there were delays in getting products to market.
IDEO brought together 80 employees from both Kraft and chain stores, to create new solutions in
workshops. Between workshops, innovations were sought by means of structured brainstorming, and field
observation in stores and distribution centres. Employees were interviewed and new ideas were turned
into prototypes. The entire process took 18 months, during which findings were shared and new solutions
were created interactively.
Picture from the website www.caprisun.co.uk.

One of the supply chain innovations was realised in co-operation with the Safeway
supply chain for Capri-Sun. It was observed that when stores ran out of a certain flavour
of this beverage, warehouse staff had to unload other flavours in order to reach the
desired product, which had been shipped at the bottom of a mixed-flavour pallet. As a
result of brainstorming, a model was created whereby any flavour could be reached
without unloading the others. As a result, Kraft was able to increase sales of Capri-Sun by
162%.
Kraft has since trained its supply chains entire management team to introduce these methods
in internal teams and directly with customers.
34
35
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1736729,00.html, retrieved on 10 November 2009

http://www.ideo.com/work/featured/kraft,
retrieved on 10 November 2009

22 / 52
6. INTERVIEWS
In addition to design, the discussions with interviewees dealt with the roles of other, design-related
professions. There was much discussion of overlapping roles, particularly with respect to enterprises.
Roles of design and overlaps between them, as identified in the

interviews
In the diagram, the original role of design is represented by the green area originating in aesthetics.
It is close to technology, answering the question "What?" for instance: "What does the company
produce?" The role has been extended to cover technology in combination with product
development. Common challenges include e.g. usability and synthesis, that is, solutions combining
analysis results and converting them into concrete proposals.
In this figure, user-oriented design methods and perspectives can be deemed to extend the related role
powerfully towards the "To whom?" question: for instance, "To whom will the company offer its solutions?"
The red, marketing area already overlaps the familiar design roles, most clearly with respect to branding.
The most interesting area lies in the overlaps between the new roles. Here, the enhancement of certain
types of competencies can create a new competitive edge, since few competitors are employing the same
methods. Organisational development based on co-operation between management, marketing and
design was viewed by the discussions as an example of such overlapping areas. In an area where roles
overlap, each actor can express their own opinions and views, while enriching development activities with
new methods. For instance, organisational development through user-oriented methods was referred to in
the discussions as a natural role, and as a continuation to service development or service design.
A number of interviewees were of the view that, in the future, they would not have the option of
concentrating on performing the same task better or by producing more at lower cost. They saw
innovation as becoming the key task of the company's management team: new business ideas, a new,
more user-oriented model for creating value. It is in this respect that, through innovation methods and
user-oriented thinking, the role branches out towards the blue area of business management ("How?"). In
this area, design can assume roles such as user representation, or that of an interpreter visualising the
languages used in various areas of expertise or that of an expert in innovative methods. Design may thus
facilitate multi-professional brainstorming in which
specific expertise originates from the other
competence areas involved, or, in the future, increasingly from users.
23 / 52
6.1. Experienced roles and changes in design

As experienced by the interviewees, the role of design in Finland was divided into two groups: the
situation as currently experienced and opinions on the changes underway. The D1.0...D4.0 model
presented above was used as a framework for the analysis.
Based on the discussions undertaken, this change was visualised by dividing the interviewees into
groups according to their background organisations. Only one of the interviewees thought that the
role of design was diminishing. Seven interviewees believed that it was not changing or changing
only slightly. Some 27 considered the level of change significant.
Most defined the change as crossing the boundary between concrete and intangible design:
The most common way of defining the current role of design was based on the D2.0 role. The
majority of those who considered the level of change significant estimated that level D3.0 could
be achieved in the future.
The interviewers' interpretation of the current situation and changes in the role of
Finnish design, based on the interviews
In the summary of the interviews presented in the following chapters, the names of interviewees
given belong to those who consented to the publication of their names prior to publication.
Some interviewees withheld their consent to this, or failed to so prior to the publication
deadline.
24 / 52
6.2. Unwieldiness of terms

As a term, design was considered unwieldy and restrictive. It was evocative of form creation,
easily sidelining design thinking and the intangible role of innovators. In addition, service
design was unfamiliar to most of those engaged in developing service businesses.
The lack of a common language prevents communication on changes in the role of design.
"The word design should be banned, it causes confusion and harm. It
is associated with rendering things aesthetic, even though no one
can explain why."
"At the moment, I am not convinced that many managers
understand what design thinking is or what can be achieved
through such an approach."
Kalevi Ekman, Vice Rector and Professor, HUT/
Director, Design Factory, Aalto University
"Design is considered a remote term in our sector. Planner is most

often used."
A company
representative
"I wouldn't talk about service design but about designing a holistic
user experience."
Anne Stenros, Vice President, Design,
KONE
"The terms open innovation and social innovation should be

demystified. It all just boils down to how people distribute
information. I believe that both are important to enterprises, but a
lot of attention has to be paid to where they work and where they
dont. For instance, in most cases crowdsourcing only works if a
solution is being sought to a very well-defined problem."
Marco Steinberg, Director, Strategic Design, SITRA
"The challenge lies in the fact that the design approach has not been
sold effectively to representatives of other areas of expertise. This is
partly because there is no common language e.g. with financial
management and, thus, designs possible benefits to business
remain unnoticed."
Thomas Pimenoff, Marketing Director, Nordea Bank Finland
25 / 52
6.1. Role of design

The current role of Finnish design was viewed as being divided between levels D1.0 and D2.0.
Some of interviewees stated that only Finnish enterprises that operate internationally had even
reached level D2.0. Meanwhile, aspirations or views on changes in the role set the target rather
far from the current level. Most interviewees portrayed the role of strategic design as either
traditional design management associated with product families (portfolios) and brands, or as
being somewhat intangible in terms of enabling user-oriented innovation.
In our opinion, the experienced magnitude of change is based on the fact that the keenly
sought change created by global competition prior to the recession has only intensified in light
of the downturn. New business ideas, in which design plays a role alongside other types of
expertise, are needed in Finland.
"Design may show the way for new businesses. The aspirations of
enterprises in traditional industries are often limited in comparison
to the new business opportunities on offer. Holistic design thinking
may open up perspectives on completely new types of business
operations."
KONE
"The roles of design are many. For some, it means very little while
there are some who may have realised that aesthetics is relevant to
their products. At the upper end of the scale, there is some
understanding of Design Management. There is a huge spectrum.
The bottom end is most representative. Correspondingly, practices
and the understanding of their significance vary hugely among
designers and architects. I myself would like to believe that holistic
thinking is very modish, even though it hasnt spread that far.
Design can be viewed as far more intricate than mere product
design: it has characteristics relating to services or, more
generally, to the many processes taking place in an enterprise, its
sales department or at its customer interfaces at multiple
interfaces. I would like to think that we already live in this kind of
world, even if it isnt realised in many enterprises."
Toni Kauppila, Architect, SAFA (DipArch, The Bartlett, UK)
Architect bureau ND/ UIAH/ Theatre Academy Helsinki/ TSE
26 / 52
The role of design has extended. Design management is now an

important part of design activities. Portfolios are managed, and
user experiences are analysed and studied. Design has also been
thoroughly incorporated into strategic planning, and not just the
implementation role at the end of the pipeline. The role of the
designer is to bring these visions together. To create a concrete
overview of how these visions might be fitted together."
"Work in management teams very often consists of staring at the
figures, because most members of these groups are Masters of
Economic Sciences and engineers. Pondering visions or creating a
brand or product range strategy seldom find their way onto the
agendas of management teams. The role of designers is therefore to
introduce these activities to companies and management teams."
Petteri Kolinen, Design Director, Martela
"The next step is for design to become an agent of cultural change.

Creating communities, rather than just designing products, services
and experiences."
Juha Vaurio, Design Manager,
Vaisala
"Design is not a driver of innovation but a tool for management and

a catalyst of innovation."
"When communicating, different people often use the same words
but mean completely different things because their mental images
of the matter may be totally different. Design is capable of creating
a visual image that enables a consensus to be reached within a
multi-professional group."
Fredrik Magnusson, Design Director, Iittala
Group
"Design is not widely utilised because it is a young discipline and still

developing. The more the markets and competition force
enterprises to use design, the more important its role will become as
regards organisations, decision-making and resourcing. At the
moment, the role of the designer mainly focuses on operative
activities, that is, on implementation."
Markku Salimki, Dr.Sc.(Econ),
M.Sc.(Eng)
Programme Director, IDBM
Programme, HSE
27 / 52
"In my opinion, the challenge in design nearly always lies in

creating an identity for something. Previously, design created
identities for products and then later for larger entities such as
brands. Now its task at least in Sitra is to create an identity for
complex social problems and make them easier to understand."
Marco Steinberg, Director, Strategic Design,
SITRA
"The added value created by design is based on prototyping, that is,

acting at an early phase, and the 'meta-ability' to synthesise and
visualise things."
"The object of design is changing. Now we're realising that expertise
in design can be applied more widely."
The more actors there are, the more the meaning of visualisation is
emphasised. Words can be interpreted in so many ways. We need a
language more universal than words: images, visualising."
Anssi Tuulenmki, Research Manager, Aalto
University
"In the coming years, design will move to the strategic level and
the faster this happens the more business managers there will be
who understand its importance."
"Design Thinking will never be introduced in enterprises bottom-up.
First, it must be adopted by top management and then diffused
downwards. It is only then that we can talk about a real Design
Thinking approach in an enterprise where it is used as a strategic
tool by the management."
KONE
28 / 52
"The aim is to increase general awareness of the possibilities of

design. However, in practice it still has a weak position in many
enterprises. In such cases, design thinking and expertise should be
even better able to sell themselves. This would be the most natural
means of the practical promotion of insights into the benefits
provided by design in enterprises."
"Design must not become a value as such, but should be examined as
an additional way of improving the desirability of a product or
service. Design must be linked closely to the way it benefits the
business. It is strongly associated with brand thinking, enabling the
creation of an emotional bond with the consumer."
Thomas Pimenoff, Marketing Director, Nordea
Bank Finland
"It is hoped that the strategic dimension of design becomes

integrated in companies' renewal strategies. However, the results
are dependent on the kind of people in the company's management
team and to the extent to which Design Thinking is utilised as a key
to success. However, it seems that the majority of enterprises are
not yet aware of the opportunities represented by Design Thinking
in creating new businesses."
Siina Saksi, Head of Marketing and Customer Service, TrygVesta
"The role of Design Thinking is to detect similarities between things

that appear to have nothing to do with each other. Things that have
nothing to do with each other process or business-wise, but that
share some similarities and it is exactly through these similarities
that a sensible way of innovating, of combining things, can be found.
This must involve both Design Thinking and lateral thinking."
Mikko Ahlstrm, Design Manager,
Suunto
"One must avoid thinking that the new role of design will simply
replace the old. Instead, a new dimension in design is being created,
that will emerge in addition to the old one."
Marco Steinberg, Director, Strategic Design,
SITRA
29 / 52
"With the help of design, the current activities of an enterprise can be

positioned in relation to its competitors and consideration can be
given to its future positioning. These characteristics represent
genuine added value improving competitiveness. Design enables
consideration of the future and confers the ability to position
oneself, thus constituting a strategic tool a tool that facilitates
strategic differentiation from competitors."
Janne Viemer, Technology Director,
Tekes
30 / 52
6.1. Internationality
Many interviewees considered Finlands small domestic markets and lack of international contacts as
problematic. Both the educational sector and enterprises were considered to need people, including
leaders and ideas from abroad. At the same time, it was believed that active measures were needed to
render education and studying more international.
"Finland is a small country. There are not enough enterprises to

provide sufficient training opportunities for designers. Finland
should send its young students abroad to complete their studies. As
regards the future, international networking will be of paramount
importance."
"If a design policy is planned, it absolutely must be linked to
innovation policies at both national and EU level."
"Self-adjusting organisations are the future. Policies will no longer
be laid down by the authorities. Preparing a centralised design
policy in Finland would be an old-fashioned approach, because the
actors themselves will take control of the issue. A number of minor
initiatives and activities will emerge, which will combine to create
the required movement."
"The role of the public sector is only to facilitate this, to provide the
framework. Barriers between issues must be removed, funding
must be made more easily available and various application
processes must be made more transparent."
KONE
"The current situation in Finland is that you end up too quickly with
something you already know, based on which the target is
incrementally improved in a very narrow sector. This represents a
total block on the creation of new innovations."
"Design Thinking seems to correlate with the size and international

activity of an enterprise in such a way that it is more often applied
in the largest companies which are active in the international
operating environment than in companies that are active in the
domestic market only. Pressure to engage in design thinking and
the related activities comes from the international field."
31 / 52
6.1. Service design

In the role played by design, the interviewees considered service design to be a clear future prospect. The
user-oriented design of services was considered important; the challenge lay not in lack of demand but in
insufficient understanding of demand and in scarce supply. Service design was unfamiliar to the
interviewees. Service design, or service definition, was considered to represent an innovation opportunity
whose significance could be equal to, or even greater than, that of past product innovations. Some
interviewees felt that Finland already lagged behind in this.
"Design methods are highly suitable for developing service concepts

because they are genuinely based on what a person really needs
and wants to accomplish."
Anna Valtonen, Rector, Ume Institute of Design, Ume University
"The challenge lies in how we engage in increased dialogue with

customers, how better account is taken of them in service design
and development. Customer committees, where people express
their opinions on services, and customer panels through which the
customer's views and wishes are expressed through electronic
media, are examples of traditional co-operative models."
"All those who participate in service design and development should
share a common language that understands consumer behaviour.
What design opportunities exist in developing customer profiling,
design and foresight based on customer behaviour, using the
information already available and how might design affect
customer experiences?"
Hannele Humaloja-Virtanen
Director, Innovative Strategies, SOK Corporation
"In an organisation, service design should take priority over

channel-specific silos, in order to have an influence over services
and user experiences provided on a multichannel basis."
"The service design concept is often also a business concept, because
you have to consider how the value network is created and how
money will flow between stakeholder groups."
Mikko Koivisto, Service Designer,
Yatta
32 / 52
"Services are becoming network-based in all sectors and service

design, too, is associated with network activities. Customer
participation is facilitated by network systems located at the
customer interface. The objective is to find out what attracts and
interests customers in a service and how contact with customers
is maintained. In addition, an enterprise needs information on
what its customers really want."
Piia Savolainen, Chain Director, Suomen Varamiespalvelu
Oy
"From the marketing viewpoint, thinking and activities based on

holistic service design are still lacking.
"The objective should be that people move from one end of service
design and development to the other, without any barriers to
expertise: the way of thinking is more important. Much remains to
be done before this objective is attained."
"Interesting ideas are associated with service design for instance

service paths and service moments which may bear relevance both
to developing new services and analysing existing ones."
A company
representative
"The business idea behind S groups retailing is mainly to respond to

the rational everyday service needs of customers, where the
rapidity and ease of accessing the service and product are
important alongside the effortlessness of the purchasing process.
Service design is able to meet challenges because customer service
touch-points are not staff-specific but dependent on the place and
situation created in the service situation. Service design takes
consideration of services and experiences related to everyday life.
With regard to shopping mall concepts, those will succeed who sell
at a sufficiently affordable price and whom customers still consider
as 'wonderful'. The Swedes are good at this. Shopping mall concepts
are similar but there are differences in the kinds of actors who
appear in shopping malls between different countries."
33 / 52
"There is huge demand for service design: more than 80 per cent of
GNP is generated by services."
Jussi
Sorsimo
Programme Director, Culminatum Innovation
Oy Ltd
"As the customer experience is designed and created, expertise must

accumulate inside a company. This is a core business activity that
cannot be outsourced to an external expert."
"The role of service design will surely continue to increase in the

future. You realise this when you look at what was being said about
it five years ago, and compare that with the current discussion of
the issue. However, we cannot yet talk about a holistic, strategic
breakthrough in service design on a larger scale. Nevertheless, the
importance of service design is increasing because it can positively
affect the images created in customers minds. The starting point
must be that service design can create added value, both in business
development and in the encounter between the service provider and
customer. This leads to a win-win situation. Since customer
experiences are a very important part of the overall image of the
service sector, design should have greater importance."
"My opinion is that service innovations will be as important to
Finland in the future as product innovations have been in the past."
34 / 52
6.2. Education and training

With respect to education in design, greater internationality, business expertise and a common language
between professions were called for. While interviewees had great expectations of Aalto University, they
also stated that the new university alone would not suffice. More general, user-oriented innovation
expertise and the use of innovative models should be universally taught in other educational institutions
too. Without its own place at the table, service design education has begun to falter.
Beyond the quotations given here, interviewees expressed the wish for active international
recruitment in education hoping for fresh reformers from outside Finland. They also
suggested a systematic, even obligatory stay abroad for students, in order to enable the more
efficient transmission of ideas.
"Education can prepare students for working life, for instance

through co-operation with companies. It is more important to
help students spread their own wings than to push them along a
predetermined path of someone elses choosing."
"What if multi-professional development of new business were

taught? How are new strategic value propositions made? This is not
taught anywhere at the moment. That would be quite something.
And then machinery would be constructed that would genuinely
make it easy to try out new things. You will never think outside the
box if you have never acted outside it. Since business is activity,
various forms of activity should be facilitated. Otherwise, this only
amounts to brainstorming and writing reports, not activity."
University
Young designers should receive more education on business activity

in the future similarly, engineers and businessmen should be
given basic design courses. In my opinion, these courses should be
taught to more students than at present. However, design
education should first and foremost remain arts-based, because this
is in keeping with the particular content involved."
Markku Salimki, Dr.Sc.(Econ),
M.Sc.(Eng)
Programme Director, IDBM
Programme, HSE
35 / 52
"Fundamentalists" are now represented at Aalto University.

Research on humanities and cognitive studies should be more
strongly represented."
The future role of design depends largely on how the next generation
is educated."
"The tasks carried out through co-operation between educational
institutes and enterprises give a false impression of the slowness
and (low) prices of processes."
A common language between design and other sectors is lacking.
There are no quality criteria for unconventional professions."
Lena Strmberg, Secretary General,
Ornamo
"Aalto University will not represent a solution to our problems for a

few generations to come. The innovation leap must be taken
elsewhere."
"We lack adequate education in design management and design
leadership. In these areas, there is an educational vacuum."
"Basic education on design must be organised to give students a
more international perspective than before. Finnish design
education is still not international enough.
KONE
"In the future, the focus will surely see a clear shift towards
experience and service related matters. Commercially speaking,
this represents a much greater opportunity than traditional
design."
"Education does not meet the demands of changing markets, or it
does not meet them fast enough; for instance, institutions should
have been teaching service design as a major at MA level for five
years now."
"Finland has almost completely failed to develop its expertise in
design management. All structures are based on managing the
current situation and rising to the top in a Finnish design reality
primarily set up to place individual designers in the limelight."
"Design management plays an important role in the promotion of
Finland's new competitiveness, through new age holistic expertise,
innovation leadership and experience leadership. This expertise
should be accumulated rapidly."
Vaisala
36 / 52
"Design Thinking should be distributed more widely among

businessmen and engineers: amongst a larger group than that
served by Aalto University alone."
37 / 52
6.1. Innovations
During the interviews, the discussion on designs new roles often turned to the changing role of
innovations and global competition. Many interviewees pointed to the insufficiency of product or
technology innovations and their hopes concerning the role of design in open and social
innovations. Nearly all of the interviewees believed that design has a role to play in useroriented innovations.
"Innovations are not created by processes or organisations, but by
individuals. These individuals must engage in leading major
projects."
"Social and open innovations herald a transition akin to

computerisation, which transformed the entire production chain by
enabling faster work at closer quarters. The various stages now
followed one another in a more logical way. Open innovation
provides a basis for a great deal of new, fresh and smart thinking.
Correspondingly, social innovation will arise of its own accord if
network solutions form part of the package. This is a self-evident
part of whats happening at the moment. The more surprising thing
is that this is not taken for granted by everybody."
"Only innovations that change the sector strategically can guarantee

our success."
Anssi Tuulenmki, Research manager, Aalto
University
38 / 52
"Design, innovations, product development all of this will move to

Asia."
"Enthusiasts, amateurs who act like professionals (ProAms) will
break the traditional expertise mould. Actual professionals will
become trainers, helping amateurs attain their goals. Professionals
will provide examples and ensure that products contain no overall
functional errors. New open platforms will primarily be developed,
with amateurs, professionals, lead users and enthusiasts being
engaged in the design process at a very early stage."
"Design absolutely must be linked to innovation. A successful model
is created when the innovation component is supplemented by
holistic design thinking, experimentalism, optimism and seeking
new opportunities."
KONE
"Design should act as an engine for open innovation. Open source

thinking does not form part of the traditional design mindset.
Traditionally, designers have been individualists unwilling to share
anything. Based on the new mindset, sharing is an opportunity:
everyone is a designer. This is the profound transition that has been
emerging for many years now."
Finland is an importer of new ideas. We should be concerned about
the fact that we are learning so-called innovation theories and
IDEO-type innovation development based on the blindingly
obvious. The fact is that structural and management paradigms do
not lend much support to this kind of activity. What is said in
ceremonial addresses is something else".
Vaisala
39 / 52
Social and open innovations should be identified and considered an

opportunity for enterprises to obtain information on customer
needs, which will influence market behaviour. They facilitate the
design of services and products no one has offered users before.
Activities are still being carried out according to the traditional
model of closed innovation and the opportunities provided by social
and open innovation are not being utilised extensively,
systematically and on a long-term basis. Good experiences of
workshops on future developments provide an example of open
innovation worth striving for."
"Social and open innovations can surely have an influence. Ambitious

growth targets require open-minded thinking, enabling a distinction
between service processes and business models. A radical
innovation model will help to think outside the box. New routes to
new opportunities can be found within the scope of legislation and in
a given geographic area. The way in which an innovation process is
implemented - and with whom can harbour opportunities for radical
innovation."
"Design 2.0 and Design 3.0 are already included when new business
activities are under development. I am sure that, in the future, new
generations will have different expectations and values.
Entrepreneurship is raising its profile, not as a form of employment
but as a contractual relationship. The younger generations are
more willing to express themselves. A labour force aware of its own
worth could overcome the competition by working as entrepreneurs
in projects guaranteeing the best conditions. These conditions will
not necessarily be monetary, but based on values."
Mika Pitkl
Director, Distribution Channels, Varma Mutual Pension
Insurance Company
Lots of companies are beginning to realise that sharing is the first

step towards gaining and evolving.
Fredrik Magnusson, Design Director, Iittala
Group
40 / 52
6.1. Public sector

The public sector was considered a facilitator in the changing field of design. Some interviewees wished to
de-construct funding schemes they considered inflexible and replace them with various experimental
schemes. Only the public sector was considered capable of creating sufficiently extensive platforms for
experimentation or communities.
The interviewees also expressed the wish that, in the future, the public sector should become
an initiator of social innovation and an active user of service design: user-oriented service
development was considered an opportunity to set such an example. Improving services while
lowering costs will provide opportunities for value innovation.
The distribution of information on new opportunities and the promotion of user-oriented design
innovation were considered to be the responsibility of the public sector. Concrete ways of
distributing information on new opportunities were called for e.g. through case studies and the
creation of indicators.
"Public sector activities must be linked to the innovations ecosystem,
lend support to innovation policy and should absolutely be tied into
the EU's innovation strategy."
"The public sector must facilitate various open communities for
encounters and their creation. At best, these should act as
innovation labs where designers, end users, research communities,
enterprises and students can meet. The operating model should be
like that of Twitter, where you can roam around freely. It should
not involve being fed information or having to search for material
somewhere. just plug in.
"The Design Start service is just a kind of effortless dry run, it does
not genuinely benefit enterprise or design."
"The public sector must act proactively regarding innovation,
particularly by deconstructing inflexible systems and facilitating
flexible, easy and self-regulating systems."
KONE
"Smallness could be a competitive asset for Finland, at least with

respect to social innovations. Here, we can develop and try out "Big
challenge" solutions because our small size gives us flexibility.
Finland could become a laboratory for this kind of social
innovation."
41 / 52
"Projects supported by the public sector should be as nonbureaucratic as possible, since in the beginning it is not always
clear what should be done. It would also be good if the result was
not fixed before the project even began, but was genuinely being
sought."
"Projects need not necessarily be implemented in Finland, it would
be enough for the enterprise to be from Finland. In principle, the
experts could be located in Palo Alto, for instance. One of the drivers
or even conditions could be international networking right from the
start. Internationalism should be a prerequisite for funding,
nothing should be designed for the Finnish market only."
"Finnish design involves too much politics, which is paralysingly
enough based on protecting organisational and vested interests.
Finnish design policy has been like a kind of employment and social
policy in disguise, when it should primarily be an innovation and
trade policy."
Vaisala
42 / 52
"Being able to positively surprise the customer is also important to

public organisations."
"The role of design, or at least the role of service design, is changing.
Its task is to combine various fields of expertise, solutions and ideas
to form a clear service concept in a way that is meaningful to the
customer."
"In my opinion, the public sector has a role to play in setting an
example. By directing its procurements towards service design, the
public sector could simultaneously develop both the quality of its
own service provision and Finnish expertise in service design, while
creating good cases that can be applied to other sectors."
"At the moment, the public sector is unaware of the opportunities
provided by service design. And even if it is, legislation on
procurement is regarded as an obstacle to the procurement of
design services."
"At the moment, public sector R&D appropriations are fragmented
between various agencies and institutions and are not useroriented. What share of the public sectors annual budget should be
used on research and product development? In Nokia Ltd, almost 12
per cent of net sales are invested in research and product
development."
"Applying service design in the public sector is an interesting subject
how much time is spent on managing things because they have
not been properly planned. And what improvements in social wellbeing and the national economy could be achieved with the time
spent?"
Finland, or even better Europe, should have a Design Council that
shows the way and lowers the threshold for experimenting with
service design, particularly within SMEs and the public sector."
Jussi
Sorsimo
Programme Director, Culminatum Innovation
Oy Ltd
"Design should play a role in supporting the public sector...

Rather than vice versa."
43 / 52
"Can the public sector play any role in the promotion of innovations
other than keeping the issue visible? Enterprises are willing to
invest in good projects that develop their activities and the services
they provide. On the other hand, the public sector could develop its
own services and customer interfaces with the help of design, and
thus set an example."
"The public sector may play a role, but implementation should be

carried out in the spirit of entrepreneurship. Use of design services
could be activated in enterprises through service concepts of high
quality, even when measured against international standards.
Funding tools could act as an incentive for the use and wider
understanding of design among SMEs. Demand for design often
requires an awakening: why it matters to an enterprise."
"Decision-makers in companies are up to date with the current

challenges, but economic resources for supporting the new
approach are scarce. The public sector faces a huge amount of work
in turning thinking and philosophy into an accessible concept and
activity. Not all enterprises and industries are ready to implement
Design Thinking."
Mika Pitkl
Insurance Company
44 / 52
6.1. Relationship to economic success and enterprises target status

The interviewees viewed design as having a role to play in the development of new business models. At
the same time, the change in ways of thinking brought about by the economic recession could be detected
in the fact that some interviewees did not think that the next upswing would see "new Nokias," but
networking enterprises of various types.
Many also discussed the future challenges lying in the concept of work stable, conventional
employment was considered an outgoing phenomenon. It was estimated that varied,
unconventional forms of employment would become the norm in all sectors in the future. In
creative industries including the design sector such employment relationships are already
standard. A few quotations from the related discussions are presented below.
In order to benefit an enterprise, the Design Thinking approach
requires a higher level of interpretation and understanding than
now. Huge changes are required in mindsets. Growth expectations
must be very modest and one must understand the story and the
meaning of its contents. Quarterly thinking and expectations of
rapid growth are not compatible with this approach, instead longterm efforts are required. Repayment may be different. In some
cases, it may be exponential, but this will probably be quite rare. As
a non-economist, I think that interesting phenomena do not
originate in efforts to maximise economic profits. Profit is either
generated or it isnt but nothing interesting can come from a
situation where the starting point is profit maximisation."
"A great deal of information is available in Finland, but putting it

into practice has often failed due to an inflexible bureaucracy.
Wood processing is a good example of this. Its challenges have been
discussed for around 30 years but nothing has been done why?
Another example is the application procedure for grants for
internationalisation from the Ministry of Employment and the
Economy, which is extremely complex. These processes should be
made as easy as possible, in order to create the required seed
companies."
Ornamo
"In the future, the competitiveness of enterprises will not be assessed

based on the end product or service only in fact, these aspects will
be secondary. The most important thing will be the enterprises
ability to innovate and how interesting it is as an innovation
partner."
KONE
45 / 52
"Competition between enterprises will move to higher levels, that is,

from the production level to that of IP portals. Enterprises own
ideas that others may want sometime in the future. In the future,
this could be a big problem for Finland, where only a few
enterprises are large enough to afford this. New ideas may be
created but somebody else already owns them. In particular, this is
likely to happen with respect to incremental innovations."
"Can new business

even be developed nowadays without
a human-oriented approach? New business may be developed so
that
design-related
issues
are
handled
unconsciously.
Unconsciously or consciously, nothing can be done without design."
""Design 2.0 and Design 3.0 are already included when new
business activities are under development. I am sure that, in the
future, new generations will have different expectations and values.
Entrepreneurship is raising its profile, not as a form of employment
but as a contractual relationship. The younger generations are
more willing to express themselves. A labour force aware of its own
worth could overcome the competition by working as entrepreneurs
in projects guaranteeing the best conditions. These conditions will
not necessarily be monetary, but based on values."
Mika Pitkl
Insurance Company
46 / 52
6.1. Perception of time and time window of future visions

The interviewees believed that the role played by design was changing. The majority felt that
there is an ongoing international transition which has been accelerated by the recession as
occurred in the 1990s when the role of design changed from D1.0 to D2.0 in international
companies.
Some interviewees were highly critical on the subject of the time window. There is a lot of talk about
change but little action. They believed there to be a real risk that the new roles would not be put into
practice fast enough.
"The role of design is definitely changing, but in my opinion, nothing

concrete has happened yet only a need exists at the moment. The
gap between talk and action is very wide right now. If anything
other than hype is to come out of this, we must start projects based
on which we can gather experiences."
"In view of the changing role of design, the slowness of reform in the
academic world also poses a challenge. The academic world is
proceeding at the same pace as 200 years ago, whereas the world is
continually changing. We need new talent from the pipeline but we
can't afford to wait change is needed now."
"Reports of whatever kind are unlikely to provide the answer to
what the possible benefits of design will be. In my opinion,
enterprises should simply go for it. To succeed, this kind of decision
must be taken by at managerial level."
"The majority of Finnish enterprises have yet to adapt to the current
role of design, that of a concept of functional, aesthetic creation.
This means that design in Finnish enterprises no longer provides an
international competitive advantage. This means that 'We use
design' is no longer a competitive asset."
"During an economic recession, both the world of design and

industry need to ponder their new role in times of change. They will
either survive or fail. Design plays a changing, living role, as it will
in the future."
Design is a way of thinking. It is a holistic and human-oriented way
of solving problems. This description includes both the traditional
concept of design and the new, more extended version."
"Once again, we find ourselves in the midst of turmoil: as regards
Finnish industry, we must either transform and succeed or bemoan
our fate and compete on the same basis as the Chinese workforce."
Anna Valtonen, Rector Ume Institute of Design, Ume University
47 47 /
52
"The pace of change is actually very rapid nowadays. The only

factor creating a genuine competitive edge is the ability to do so,
that is to be agile and go back to basics. Even these fundamental
issues are changing very rapidly, let alone the superficial ones."
"The silo model gives us no advantages in terms of cost or expertise.
Our only chance is to do things in an interdisciplinary way."
University
"We're not very good at utilising social innovations and open

innovations. A lot of resources are required, as well as acceptance
of failure and readiness to experiment. Broader utilisation usually
takes time, since the opportunities created by technology are
developing very fast and enterprises are lagging behind, learning
how to utilise these new opportunities."
"With respect to basic business activities, the role of design in
developing new business activities remains more distant: the model
applied in enterprises when planning their overall business,
strategic decision-making and development of innovations, is still
based on looking from the inside out. However, a number of signals
are coming from the business environment implying that this
approach is about to change."
"The economic recession, globalisation and the departure of certain

enterprises from Finland has created demand for rapid change. In
my opinion, this has finally stimulated discussion on the role of
design and its insufficient integration in other industries. Even
education has yet to provide any help in this."
Ornamo
48 / 52
7. CONCLUSIONS
7.1. Change
Design is changing. Its role has changed rapidly over the last few years and this process is not yet
over. Education and innovation systems have not kept up-to-date with respect to this more profound
transformation. While there are opportunities related to this, in the opinion of many interviewees the
time window for exploiting such potential is rather narrow.
The new roles of design comprise both horizontal (for instance, introducing service design) and
vertical dimensions (the new role of strategic design as an expertise or methodological
approach, extending beyond products and services).
As before, the new roles will not replace the old, but all roles will co-exist and the application of
roles will be layered. The most marked differences lie between concrete roles aimed at form
creation and intangible developmental roles.
On an international scale, the role of strategic design has been extended to encompass the
creation of an enterprise's strategy: the role it plays in business development is not limited to a
brand, user-oriented product, interface or even service innovation, as was the case only a few
years ago.
In Finland, strategic development is often seen as putting an enterprise's (already existing) strategy into
practice and as co-ordinating its product development. Over the last few years, there have been
occasions where the role of design has not concentrated on putting a strategy into practice, but on its
innovative, user- or customer-oriented development. Part of the new role of design is directed away from
product or service design, towards design planning or enabling innovation. In the area of open innovation,
design is expected to act as a facilitator of communications and a creator of syntheses.
7.2. Challenges
The number of top experts remains very small. Most enterprises remain unable to benefit from
even the D2.0 design role that of multi-professional product and service development.
At the same time, the entire innovation concept is in turmoil. In the future, value will not be
generated by enterprises or experts, but by users and communities in connection with use. This
entails a need for new design expertise.
Connotations associated with the terminology impede communication. As a concept, design is
associated with the creation of form: a number of interviewees did not consider service design,
customer insight, innovation or business development as design at all. However, case studies
provided new perspectives.
Education and the design business lack genuine internationality. In grouping the interviewees, the
clearest difference between groups was not dependent on the interviewee's background
organisation. Interviewees most open to change had the common characteristic of having to engage
in more work-related travel outside Finland than other interviewees. A few interviewees proposed
half-seriously that educational institutions and enterprises should impose an obligatory stay abroad
so that more international perspectives can be imported to Finland. A new role for design cannot be
created from a local or even a national viewpoint or as a development project implemented in a
single sector. It must be closely linked to the development of the entire innovation system. In fact,
design education and enterprises providing and applying design have a global location.
This change is rapid. Finland is on the point of trailing behind international development. Strategic design
has not been developed and put into practice outside the larger enterprises. The use of design thinking for
purposes other than products and services, as an innovatory approach, is rare in Finland.
There is insufficient education in service design and it lacks sufficiently large markets: the need
is great, but both supply and demand are small. Aalto University alone cannot rectify the
situation.
Design cannot be developed separately from other competences. In addition to belonging to the creative
industries, it must be integrated more generally into Finlands innovation strategy. Technology-led
innovation will not be enough in the 2010s we need
49 / 52
the perspectives of individual users on innovation. These perspectives are needed on a more
general basis than merely when products and services are being designed.
Uniform statistics are not sufficiently available for the promotion and evaluation of design.
Neither are publicised Finnish success stories.
7.3. Proposals: Promotion of the Sector

Finland requires a designated authority corresponding to the British Design Council, whose
tasks include promoting the application of the new roles played by design (in the UK, this is
defined more widely as the promotion of new roles played by the creative economy). This
authority could be one that already exists, or one established for the purpose.
Providing statistics on the sector and rationalising the available indicators are a prerequisite for the
targeting and verification of development. Without suitable indicators, the benefits cannot be
communicated to users of design. In the compilation of statistics, the sectors net sales and the impacts of
activities should be presented separately. The ability to demonstrate the impacts on efficiency, innovation
or business activities would facilitate the promotion of the sector.
Statistics on the design sector itself and on its impacts on business activities should be
harmonised in different countries, so that the situation and developments in these countries can
be compared. Finland could assume an active role in this.
The authoritys task would include collecting and publishing success stories or case studies.
With their help, various ways of creating benefits could be indicated.
The other tasks of this authority could be selected from those of the Design Council and applied
to the Finnish environment:http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/Design-Council/1/What-we-do/.
7.4. Proposals: Education and training
Education and training on service design must be adequately organised in educational
institutions - also outside Aalto University.
To enhance user orientation, user insight must be integrated more closely with education on
technology, economics and design.
Education and training related to the new roles played by design must also be organised outside Aalto
University. User-oriented innovation and strategic design application could be taught to students from
various sectors at universities and polytechnics throughout Finland. Teaching need not be limited to
students of economics and technology user orientation should be a self-evident approach, at least in all
teaching related to services.
In the future, all competition will be global in nature, which is why the regional approach must not be
decisive in education and design training. Meeting each regions current needs through education will not
develop the region. A good example of the opposite approach can be found in the design training
organised in Ume, which attracts top international talent, both students and researchers, to the town. In
Ume, satisfying regional demand is not the sole objective.
International aspects should be highlighted as one of the most important objectives in all education. Can
research, education and training be directed through funding so that international activities do not solely mean
researcher or student exchange, but increasingly refer to participation in joint international projects?
7.5. Proposals: Public sector

As regards user-oriented service design, the role of the public sector lies in setting an example
in developing its own services and openly reporting on its experiences.
Applying for support in the purchase of innovation services must be rendered easier and less complex.
One of the first projects might be the development of application services related to funding for enterprises
this would fulfil another wish expressed by the interviewees: an easier application process would be
open to enterprises which currently cannot, or do not wish to, apply for support e.g. for innovation projects.
Because design is closely linked to user-oriented innovation, which, in turn, accounts for much of the new
potential represented by innovation, markedly greater investment than before should be made in the
promotion of new design roles. Otherwise, Finland may begin lagging behind as the recession gives way
to an economic upswing.
50 / 52
7.6. Proposals: Enterprises

The key element is increased awareness at business management level. Companies will not begin
applying the new design roles on a bottom-up basis, this first requires management approval. The
role of an innovation champion presented earlier plays a crucial role in this. Presenting the benefits
in measurable form and disseminating good practices through success stories is more effective than
general awareness-raising campaigns. Can management teams be encouraged to heighten their
awareness rather than adopting a passive, recipient-based role?
In funding decisions, projects aimed at developing an enterprise's innovation systems, open
innovation and user-centred systems could be prioritised ahead of product development projects.
Service providers need information on service design as a user-oriented option for service
definition. Some enterprises of this type view service design as mainly comprising graphic
design and branding.
The innovation activities of product-oriented enterprises can be enriched through the
opportunities provided by service design, but only if the initiative comes from managerial level.
Thus, with respect to enterprises, the above-described role of a champion networking directly
with enterprise management is emphasised. This explains why such a champion must not be
profiled as a promoter of traditional design, since the right message would not then get through
to the enterprise's management.
7.7. Discussion
Is new design required as just another silo? Or, particularly in its new roles, is it a competence that
should be integrated into all activities in which something new is being developed or customer
insight being created?
In the light of the new design roles, will separate design units be needed in enterprises in the future?
As a separate function, designs role is confined to applications at the most operational level. But
with regards to the new role of design, what if the related methods and approach (Design Thinking)
were applied to research and education at a more general level, with the aim of creating new
products and services and user-oriented innovations? What if they were taught universally?
51 / 52
8. Interviewees
The interviewees represented organisations (4 interviewees), educational institutions (4

interviewees), product-oriented companies (12 interviewees), the public sector (4 interviewees)
and companies in the service industry (11 interviewees).
The quotations in Chapter 6 were presented by courtesy of the following interviewees:
Anna Valtonen, Rector, Ume Institute of Design, Ume
University Anne Stenros, Vice President, Design, KONE
Anssi Tuulenmki, Research Manager, Aalto-yliopisto
Fredrik Magnusson, Design Director, Iittala Group
Hannele Humaloja-Virtanen, Director, Innovative Strategies, SOK

Corporation Janne Viemer, Technology Director, Tekes
Juha Vaurio, Design Manager, Vaisala
Jussi Sorsimo, Programme Director, Culminatum Innovation Oy Ltd
Kalevi Ekman, Vice Rector, Professor, HUT / Director, Design Factory,
Aalto University Lena Strmberg, Secretary General, Ornamo
Markku Salimki, Dr.Sc.(Econ), M.Sc.(Eng), Programme Director,
IDBM programme, HSE Mika Pitkl, Director, Distribution Channels,
Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company Mikko Ahlstrm, Design
Manager, Suunto
Mikko Koivisto, Service Designer, Yatta
Petteri Kolinen, Design Director, Martela
Piia Savolainen, Chain Director, Suomen Varamiespalvelu Oy
Toni Kauppila, Architect, SAFA (DipArch, The Bartlett, UK), Architect bureau ND/ UIAH/ Theatre
Academy Helsinki/ TSE
52 / 52

1 The Changed Role of Design

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

1 The Changed Role of Design

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

THE

Provoke Design Oy/Ltd.

This report was commissioned by the Ministry of Employment and the

Create Meaningful Experiences.

TERMS AND CONCEPTS

5.1. A system for innovations in medical care Kaiser Permanente (HMO)

Experienced roles and change of design

Create Meaningful Experiences.

Create Meaningful Experiences.

2. TERMS AND CONCEPTS

2.1. Open Innovation

1 CHESBROUGH, H (2006), Open Innovation: Researching a New Paradigm

Create Meaningful Experiences.

2.2. Design Thinking

Business schools tend to focus on inductive thinking (based on

Create Meaningful Experiences.

The term 'design thinking' has gained in popularity because it

Create Meaningful Experiences.

6 HOWE, J, (2006), The Rise of Crowdsourcing. Wired magazine, June 2006

Create Meaningful Experiences.

The co-creation matrix, Promise Corporation & LSE Enterprise.

Create Meaningful Experiences.

2.5. Social Innovation

capacity, in both the public and private sectors.

2.6. Service Design

http://www.palvelumuotoilu.fi/sanasto_ja_metodit/, retrieved on 10 November 2009

Create Meaningful Experiences.

Create Meaningful Experiences.

17 Ontario College of Art & Design

Create Meaningful Experiences.

Non-technological, organisational and social innovation are

Create Meaningful Experiences.

Can the design approach be applied in the creation of new businesses?

4.2. Case studies

Create Meaningful Experiences.

4.4. Analysis and grouping of results

4.4.1. Background organisation

4.4.2. NextDesign Leadership Institute: Design 1.0 ... Design 4.0

GK VanPatter, NextDesign Leadership Institute:

Create Meaningful Experiences.

4.4.3. Anna Valtonen: Changes in the Design Practice in Finland

A comparison of classification models

Create Meaningful Experiences.

Valtonen: The various roles of the designer and representative statements on

Create Meaningful Experiences.

5.1. A system for innovations in medical care: Kaiser

5.1.2. An example of service innovations

, retrieved on 10 November 2009

http://xnet.kp.org/newscenter/aboutkp/fastfacts.html , retrieved on 10 November 2009

R Garfield Health Care Innovation Center

Create Meaningful Experiences.

Picture from IDEO's website: www.ideo.com.

Create Meaningful Experien

Create Meaningful Experiences.

5.2. Development of business idea: Sermo

Picture from the web page:

Transformation design is a growing industry, combining business consulting and

, retrieved on 10 November 2009

Create Meaningful Experiences.

5.3. Event permit procedure, Helsinki: the user-oriented design of public

"User-oriented development activities do not concern only the

New, designed services.

The current situation: citizen-oriented