STRICTLY BALLROOM OR DANCING IN THE MOMENT?
METHODS FOR ENHANCING THE PARTNERSHIP OF DESIGN AND BUSINESS

The relationship between design and business has been the subject of considerable research in the field of design management (Moore 2004, Lockwood, 2002, Ashton (2003) Gornick, 2002). The success of this relationship, in particular between business clients and design consultants, determines the effectiveness of design projects in meeting business objectives. With both in-house designers and consultants championing design as a core strategic business competency, this relationship becomes more dynamic and crucial to competitiveness. The issue is particularly acute in terms of the client-consultant relationship, where the consultants have to quickly and fully understand a highly specific business context in order to inform and contextualise their design. Without a ‘meeting of minds’ from the outset, projects can become fraught with difficulties.

It is in the design briefing process that these issues are brought most fully into focus. This seeks to formalise mutual and coherent understanding of the project in terms of a written agreement of objectives, drivers and requirements for sign-off. A study of the process by one of the authors, suggests that this can be problematic in several respects – most notably the reluctance of designers to raise questions concerning business, which reflects their lack of confidence in using business-related language. Whilst previous studies have proposed detailed guidelines on the issues that should be covered in design briefing (Philips, 2004), these can be too prescriptive and focus exclusively on the content of the brief rather than the process.

It is the contention of the authors that the briefing process provides a vital opportunity for sharing the tacit knowledge of both business and design, which is a key determinant of project success. The dynamic interaction of the client and designer during the briefing process, striving to achieve shared goals in the project context, is described by the authors as "dancing in the moment", and is contrasted to the “strictly ballroom” approach of conventional briefing guidelines.

Tomes and Armstrong (1997) have described briefing in terms of a process of “verbal-visual translation” whereby business objectives are expressed visually by designers in an iterative process that progressively moves the partners towards a point of agreement. Based on primary research conducted on the briefing process in one major UK design consultancy, we propose an approach that builds on this ‘translation’ perspective, providing a framework that seeks explicitly to share tacit knowledge through an approach that uses storytelling, visual exchanges and metaphor.

The paper summarises the underlying research, sets out the case for this approach, and discusses its implications in terms of business and design education and professional development.