Özlem Er

Nature of Design Consultancy Work for Newly Industrialized Country Clients

This paper presents selected findings of a recent study into the use of external design expertise by client bodies from a group of countries defined as Newly Industrialized Countries (NICs). The study examined the subject with reference to the relations between British design consultancies and NIC clients. The paper provides a comparative analysis of design consultant-client relationships in the European and NICs contexts. The nature of the relationship between design consultancies of a mature industrial country and NIC client bodies has distinctive properties due to the particular conditions of the latter. The findings indicate that design consultancies have a role as agents of organizational learning. This role occurs as a by-product of the process of cooperation between design consultancies and the commissioning NIC clients, and involves technology and skills transfer. Decisions on the use of foreign design consultancy expertise by NIC clients appear to be taken as part of conscious policy options both...

Problems or Opportunities?: Overcoming the Mental Barrier for Socially Responsible Design in Turkey

ABSTRACT Although industrial designers located in newly industrialized countries share similar, if not heavier, social, economic and environmental problems with their counterparts in advanced countries, not all of them have been forthcoming with original ideas or solutions to deal with them. This has been the case in Turkey, and this article seeks to reveal possible reasons for the shortage. The article argues that the process of late-comer industrialization, and the particular nature of design education as part of the modernization of the country, created a mental barrier for the Turkish design community which prevented it from developing genuine concepts and approaches in dealing with the most prominent problems. However, due to changing internal and external dynamics – such as the opening up of Turkish industry and society to global influences, and the level of technological development achieved by Turkish industry, there are signs that the Turkish design community has started to overcome this mental barrier. This article will review some of the initiations that support this observation, and how these dynamics have been influential in their occurrence. The article concludes that the dual abilities of designers to both understand the local context and operate in it efficiently, and also build links within the global context, would create alternative ways of existence provided that they can overcome the mental barrier that is a symptom of a late-comer industrialization and modernization process.

Design Management Capability Framework in Global Value Chains: Integrating the Functional Upgrading Theory from OEM to ODM and OBM

Abstract Design management (DM) capability development is significant in securing a competitive position in the global commercial market. However, companies integrate DM into their businesses at different levels. Many frameworks and audit tools have been developed to assess the level of design capability and DM, and to facilitate the integration of design into business strategy. Latecomer firms (LCFs) operating in the emerging economies, tend to follow a gradual upgrading trajectory and develop their DM capability. Participating in the geographically fragmented activities of global value chains (GVCs) has provided LCFs with an opportunity to develop their manufacturing, DM, and brand building capabilities. In following an upgrading trajectory in GVCs, LCFs have pursued three particular business strategies utilizing certain levels of DM capabilities. To point out the linkage between business strategies commonly followed in GVCs and DM capability levels of companies, we propose a new assessment approach: ‘Design Management Capability Framework in GVCs’.

Behind the Shower Curtain: Seven Poems on Aging and Body Cleaning

Bathroom is one of the first places that older adults face with challenge and fear. Difficulty or dependence in body-cleaning affect older adults’ daily lives dramatically. Despite the consequences associated with disability in body-cleaning, little is known about older adults’ experiences on it. One reason for this lack of knowledge may be that body-cleaning is a private activity and a difficult task to explore. This article will present seven poems that are results of a research study where older women were asked to narrate of their own body-cleaning experience to a tape recorder while they were performing the task.

The Future of Design Support: What Can We Learn From Design Support Experience in the UK, Estonia and Turkey?

Abstract This article provides a comparison of design support landscape of three countries: the UK, Estonia and Turkey. The economic and political development patterns and experience of design support within these countries lead to different models of design support. The differences are visible in the levels of support, aims of innovation, available resources and opportunities but also priorities. The way in which these projects/programmes are initiated, operate and sustain themselves vary as well. The article aims to understand the future of design support through looking at the versatile programmes in these countries. It provides a historical background of design support by building on specific programmes in these countries. Based on the knowledge drawn from comparison of histories of support, the paper not only makes suggestions for the development of future of design support models.

Discussing a New Direction for Design Management through a New Design Management Audit Framework

Abstract Design management has evolved from the simple view as the management of design projects and processes, to include more upstream responsibilities and skills, at the intersection of design and strategic management. Recent literature highlights the role of design in leading and shaping company strategy, conceiving new business models, and in driving organizational change and renewal. Yet existing tools and frameworks for assessing design management capabilities fall short in catching up with the transition that has been undergoing in the ways design is utilized and managed inside organizations. This paper presents a new Design Management Audit Framework that aims to fill the gaps in existing tools by incorporating new capabilities that are increasingly emphasized by the emerging design, design management and strategic management literature. The tool also seeks to provide an answer to the question: “What are the new capabilities to be integrated into design management practices of our future economies?”

Interrogating Futures in Industrial Design Education

Abstract Analyzing today’s needs and demands became insufficient to be abreast with the time. Hence, to keep up with the change or to achieve the desired change, futures studies is undertaken in areas such as economics, sociology and politics. The change rate upon time and designers’ need to keep up with it highlight the importance of futures studies at design studies. This paper aims to contribute future vision to undergraduate industrial design students, by forming a methodology based on futures studies literature, to be used in long-range future-oriented design (LFD) projects in undergraduate industrial design education. The study was based on action research scheme and designed in two cycles. In the paper, the results of these two cycles will be shared and the developed methodology will be introduced with its tools.

Gelecek Odaklı Tasarım Projelerine Öğrenci Yaklaşımlarının Değerlendirilmesi

Surekli degisen bir dunyada gelir gecer degil kalici urunler tasarlayabilmek, degisimin hizina ayak uydurabilmek ve onu yonlendirebilmek adina tasarimcilar “Gelecek Vizyonuna” sahip olmalidirlar. Gelecek vizyonu edinebilmek adina psikoloji, sosyoloji, politika gibi bircok alan gelecekler calismalarindan faydalanmaktadirlar. Endustri Urunleri Tasarimi lisans programlarinda da gelecek odakli tasarim proje konulari verilmektedir. Bu noktadan yola cikarak bu makalenin ana konusu endustri urunleri tasarimi lisans egitiminde, ogrencilerin gelecek vizyonu edinebilecekleri, gelecek odakli tasarim projelerinde ogrenci yaklasimlarinin degerlendirilmesi ve gelecekler calismalari alanindan metot kullaniminin surece yaptigi katkinin incelenmesidir.