What does a Design Manager do and how can you become one?

Overview

What does a Design Manager do?

A design manager is responsible for coordinating the design work and gels the team involved in the entire construction process, right from the work of design thinking team, architects and the planning phase, to the studio work and the final construction.

Design management is a business discipline that uses project management, design, strategy, and supply chain techniques to control a creative process, support a culture of creativity, and build a structure and organization for design – Wikipedia

Design management is a large and complex field with many sub-types of management involved. Many UX designers will want to pursue design management either directly or indirectly within the scope of their careers. By introducing yourself to the concept of design management you can begin to understand what aspects appeal to you as an individual most and then begin to steer your career in the appropriate direction.

Last updated: December 17, 2017

Basic Details

Career Industries Animation Business Design Management
Compatible Personalities Clever Confident Enthusiastic Intelligent Leader Organized Skillful Witty

Workplace

Design management is a complex field; it doesn’t relate to a single design discipline and the exact responsibilities attached to a design manager will depend on the organization they work for, the size of that organization (and the tier in the hierarchy at which the manager operates), the industry they work in, the current market position and to a large extent the perceived importance of design to the business.

That means that defining “design management” becomes a near impossible task. However, it is fair to say that design management in general works to support design within a business, the business and its objectives and the business’s interface with the market it operates in. This leads to three general roles that design managers will fulfill:

Ensuring that design strategy and activities are in keeping with the larger business strategy
Ensuring the quality of the outcomes of design activities within their remit
Ensuring that user experience is prioritized and ensuring that it is user needs that create new products and differentiation from the competition

Potential Employers

Design Consultancy

Requirements

Education

B.Des. Business Services and System Design

Skills

Leadership
Multitasking
Team Player
Problem Solving
Communication
Getting Things Done
Decision Making
Attention to Detail
Creativity
Computer Literate

What should I know?

Areas of Design Management

As we said at the start of this piece; design falls into a large number of disciplines and thus so too does design management. Some of the more common areas in which design management can be found include:

Product design. The manager here will be looking at managing all functions related to product development and release and securing relationships with other business units to facilitate this. A user-centered (or UX centered) approach is commonly the guiding force for this work.
Brand design. Responsibilities here are for brand experience, developing touch points, and creating reliable, trustworthy perspectives that are strongly recognizable to clients.
Service design. The flip side to product design and something that is becoming increasingly importance with the rise of the product-service hybrid. Service design takes a customer experience (CV) or customer-centered approach.
Business design. Business design is an emerging concept – it’s the understanding that businesses can be designed from within to operate more efficiently and at higher levels of effectiveness. Typically, a business design manager will need to be very effective at persuading others of the utility of their designs.
Engineering design. Engineering design is more concerned with technological outputs than other disciplines of design – be it a technological process (such as manufacturing) or technological artifacts (such as a system).

Is this career suitable for me?

Design Management Program syllabus

Pros & Cons

There will be pros and cons for all jobs. A pro to you may be a con to your friend. So choose your career wisely according to your point of view.

Pros	Cons
You will get to work with a lot of creative people	You will be multitasking a lot
You can be right in the middle of creativity and business	Cashflow management can be a tedious task

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Additional Notes

Design management is both necessary and complex. Designers who want to enter design management will need to think about their objectives and where they want to direct their career long-term. It is not always easy to move from one type of management to another (whether sideways or up the ladder) and it’s better to position yourself early to be where you want to be. However, that doesn’t mean that a manager stuck in a role that they no longer enjoy should not pursue a change even if there are obstacles to achieving that change.

Reference

Design Management (An Introduction) – Taking Charge of Processes and People

What is Design Management?

Masters Design Management Program Details

Design Manager

Overview