Charlie Sutton

Design as a strategic capability What does it mean to use Design as a strategic capability? This is a question I've been chipping away at for the better part of nine months in my role at the Australian Design Council. On the one hand, there's an implied question here about what we mean by a Design capability, with hints of what 'good' looks like thrown into the mix. And on the other, what would make that capability a strategic one within the organisation. Typically, we think of a strategic capability as one that helps an organisation deliver on its ambitions. That applies equally to private enterprises, government entities, and not-for-profit organisations. It's a capability that helps do something that would otherwise not be possible, and would leave the organisation short of achieving its goals. For Design to sit in that category, it typically means some combination of the following is occurring: - design methods and processes are utilised at a high level of quality - the outputs of those methods and processes are themselves of a high quality - the areas within the organisation's overall decision-making apparatus in which design can be found are sweeping. Obviously, the phrase 'high quality' is doing a lot of heavy lifting in this description, and it's something we've spent a lot of time grappling with. Where we've landed (currently) is somewhere that feels like a description of contemporary design practice that brings with it the traditional elements of craft, aesthetic, and function; and embeds them within ideas of circularity, de-colonisation, and co-design. In practice that means Design within the organisation is an integrated part of decision-making from the executive to the shop floor, retail store and contact centre. There is a free flowing cycle of information from product/service design through distribution/sales, to customers/users, driving insight and innovation. And there's an awareness of, and explicit designing for a circular economy and long-term preservation of material value in the system. It means the things being put out into the world have been shaped by the people who will use them, particularly in the services realm, but also more broadly in the built environment and physical objects. And it means a focus on value creation rather than rent-seeking or value extraction. Of the 2.6m-odd businesses in Australia, we know that Design is an under-utilised capability. It's clear from the drop-off in the innovation pipeline that occurs as R&D efforts run into actual customers; and in the many businesses stalled in the almost-medium-sized enterprise space. There is so much additional value that can be created through this application of Design. We just need to keep pushing for it. #strategicdesign #designcapability #design

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Will I ever stop talking about the business value of design? NEVER. Designers are under selling themselves if they don't know how to connect the dots. It only took me first half of my career working directly with founders to build business through different stages, plus 7 years to build my own side hustle from nearly drain out my life savings to turning over multi six figures to figured out:👇 Designers absolutely need to know more than design to succeed in the business eco system. so where do you even start? All will be revealed in this session. Warning: this talk will be filled with relationship analogies. come for a laugh 😂 ✌️🌈🚀 #businessdesign #designcareer #productdesign #uxdesign

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Next week. I'm talking about disconnection of business and design Atlassian Sydney. Looking forward to share few nuggets about getting these two to talk to each other. Thank you for the crew behind the scene Kevin Wilkins, Lydia Bradshaw, Sylvia Luk, Ashlee King, Sarah Stokes, Tim Dixon, PhD, Timothy Parker for organising. Reminder for everyone, I also run a half day in bootcamp on 21st JUNE in Sydney on - Mastering Business Acumen for Designers. Link in comment. 💬🔗 #businessdesigner #productdesigner #productstrategy

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Check out Allison Ravenhall's insightful talk from A11y Camp on Customer Informed Accessibility in the CommBank app. This session highlights how usability testing with low vision users revealed an issue in our App 5.0 redesign. Some of you might remember Jacob Torres Agudo and Liam Corry's presentation at The Research Society Human Insights conference, where they discussed the research journey behind the new CommBank app home screen (I might of mentioned it a couple of times, did you hear they won an award?). Allison's talk goes deeper into how our testing with low vision users uncovered an unexpected design flaw. Usability testing often gets a bad rap for being boring and low value, but for me, it's some of the most crucial work we do. A lot of the time designs pass with flying colours, but it's those moments when we uncover a usability issue that are truly invaluable. This is especially true when we're addressing the needs of users with accessibility requirements. Enjoy this super informative talk and learn more about the importance of usability testing in creating accessible designs: https://lnkd.in/gKrQTexE #commbanklife #accessibility #a11y #research #humaninsightsconference

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Highlighting my article on some of the Lessons I've learnt from working in Product Design across a variety of industries. https://lnkd.in/gSxD6nCe #design #designthinking #designbuild #designstrategy #product #producctdesign #productmanagement #productstrategy #designprinciples #innovation #designers #digitaltransformation #ux #uxdesign #uiux #uidesign #designinnovation #application #software #softwaredesign #usability #userresearch #research #usercentereddesign #productleadership #uxwriting #designsystems #empathy #interfacedesign #usabilitytesting #userexperience #productdesign #accessibility #ui

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🚨 SERVICE DESIGNERS 🚨 Before the 2nd of September, complete this survey! Your responses will help ensure that Strategic Design, Service Design, and related disciplines are properly recognised in the updated ANZSCO classification #servicedesign #design #strategicdesign #strategy #systemsdesign

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Design is not limited to a screen. Culture, services, even relationships (sad as it sounds) have much to gain from design thinking. I’m hosting a panel next Wednesday in Melbourne called “Design Beyond Boxes” where I’ll be interviewing three people who have taken their UX design skills into new domains. The problem is, I’ve had a late drop-out that I need to replace. If you know a Melbourne-based black-belt professional who has gone from UX into legal design, org design, spatial design, designing AI products or things you can touch, please introduce me. Bonus points for interesting journeys or diverse perspectives

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Research is key to good product design. So including people with disablities in your research makes sound business sense - after all, they make up 20% of the population. Not sure where to begin? OzeWAI's Inclusive Research foundational workshop will give you the confidence and competence to start your inclusive research practices. https://lnkd.in/gi9dxR3C

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💥 Dropping this visual essay which is based on my talk at UX+ Conference Manila last year. It's a good way to catch up on the talk - but in written format. It covers a bunch of stories and practical lessons explaining what UX principles are and how to write them. 💪🏽 Do have a look and DM me any feedback or comments I would love to know what you think thanks so much!! #design #ux #writing #uxprinciples

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Excellent article by Beekey Cheung

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On #BraveUX this week, Greg Petroff discusses the practicalities of executive design leadership 👨‍🔧, why he believes in ‘make to think’ 🏗️, and the ins-and-outs of working with product and engineering 🔀. Highlights include: ⭐ How much advocacy for design is too much? ⭐ Why do you prefer project-based teams over product-based teams? ⭐ How do you align the engineering, product and design organisations? ⭐ How have your recent experiences in the labour market changed you? ⭐ What does effective compromise look like in enterprise software design? Plus much more! - - - - - 📺 Want to watch or listen 🎧 to the episode? 👉 Find the links in the comments, or search for Brave UX with Brendan Jarvis 🇺🇦 on YouTube or on your favourite podcast platform. - - - - - Who is Greg Petroff? A 25 year veteran of the design field, for the past 10 years Greg has led significant design organisations at some of the world’s largest and most recognisable companies 👀. Until recently, he was the vice president and chief design officer of Cisco Secure, where he led the design innovation and transformation of one of the world’s largest cybersecurity solutions providers 🔒. His highlight reel also includes being the chief experience officer at GE Digital, managing director of Google Cloud ☁️, vice president and global head of design at ServiceNow, and senior vice president of design at Compass. One of the early members of our emerging field, Greg is a founding board member of the Interaction Design Association 🔷, where he also contributed as the treasurer and as an early conference chair. A generous contributor to the field, Greg has shared his insights on stages across the world, including at TedX, the Interaction conference, UX Australia, Enterprise UX, and on the most-excellent Finding Our Way podcast 🎙️. - - - - - Don’t forget to check out the show notes on YouTube for quick-access to interview chapters, as well as where to find Greg. #DesignLeadership #UX #UXDesign #ProductDesign #CDO #CPO #ProductLeadership

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Those of you who knows both me and the author here, Angga, can probably attest to me subscribing to many of the same values. But you can probably also attest to the fact that where I move cautiously, Angga moves aggressively and 100% committed. And that’s to me why Angga and his team has succeeded in building perhaps the strongest product culture in Indonesia. And in a government setting of all places! What has been achieved in Govtech Edu, to me personally serves as as a constant benchmark for what ‘good’ looks like, and I think it should be a case study for any leader aspiring to building high-performing cultures here in Indonesia (or anywhere actually).

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We work in tech, but we design for people. Going beyond pixels and developing your soft skills are key. They're not fluffy extras – they're a great key to a thriving career. A strong portfolio and design chops are important, but they are not enough to cut through the noise. Many companies still struggle to understand what design truly is or, designers aren't capable of demonstrating their core strengths and how they can help, leading to: ❌ Stagnation ❌ Job insecurity ❌ Mismatched expectations The "hard skills" trap. Mastering software is valuable, but it's a moving target. Trends change, tools evolve, and rigid methodologies rarely fit every project. Here are 5 soft skills that will help you shine: 1. Presentation prowess: It's not enough to just create. Explain your design choices with confidence. 2. Justifying your designs: Everyone will have opinions. Learn to effectively showcase your work, explaining the "why" behind your decisions. Don't just say "it looks good." Explain how it solves the problem. 3. Business acumen: Great design starts with understanding the business problem. Talk business with confidence. Learn about revenue, profit, and how design impacts the bottom line. Be the designer who focuses on outcomes, not just outputs. 4. Collaboration is king: Design isn't a solo act. Share your ideas, gather feedback, and build empathy with users and colleagues. Hone your collaboration skills to build better solutions. 5. Visual design fundamentals: Understanding the basics of visual design (alignment, hierarchy, contrast) is crucial. This will help you create compelling presentations, documentation, and deliverables that communicate your ideas clearly. In today's crowded design landscape, soft skills can help you make a difference. They show you can go beyond the technical and explain the "why." Design your life. What are your thoughts on soft skills in design? Share your experiences in the comments! #designer #pixels #designcareer #softskills #designgrwoth

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If you are any kind of design leader, consider starting offering a new service called the Strategic User-Driven Project Assessment (SUPA). This will move you from being seen as an implementor to a strategic lead. #DesignLeadership #SUPA https://lnkd.in/gY3wFAKR

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It’s impossible to write a meaningful book about transformative change through a design process without citing Dan Hill and Justin W. Cook a billion times. I have been applying much of their appraoch and thinking through my own practice. Deploying design as a conversation across some of the most challenging circumstances where design is often absent. After two decades of experience, it is clearly apparent that the most precious resources for any kind of social change is time. The time to become a part of a community, to stick around, to learn, to listen, to nurture and to foster the agency for the community to create. Society Driven Design explores a new way to sustain long form conversations beyond the time bound restrictions of project deadlines and political terms of office. The Social License. As Oliver Balch beautifully summarises, “The Social License is not only the vehicle for change but, the actual change we want (and need) to see.” The Social License is a safe and enabling collaborative approach, with no agendas, or briefs to work to . . . the Social License, legitimising our conversations. More here: Society Driven Design: Co-Creating Brighter Futures https://amzn.eu/d/4ArURLw

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🕸️ “How do you style the spaces in between?“ As our team assembles components into patterns and layouts, we lack shared mental models for how we talk about spacing and layout. We're trying to figure out how we can be more intentional about creating rhythm and structure at the same time. → Grid systems have been around forever as an ideal, but in the real world things get complicated when nesting components and moving between breakpoints → New layout systems like flexbox and CSS grid let engineers do amazing things, but how can our designers start playing with these concepts → While utilizing the same components across different use cases like admin dashboards and public marketing sites, we have different needs for white space around our content and components 📐 Designing Grids by Mark Boulton was one of the early talks that really blew my mind when it came to thinking about grid design and the web. Highly recommend the history lessons including the reminder of the essential link between your typography sizing and your layout system.  https://lnkd.in/gjqyg_2a 🧮 Why UI designers should understand Flexbox and CSS Grid by Christine Vallaure 🟦 🟠 🔺 provides a stellar overview of the principles of emerging layout systems. Concepts critical for designers include fractional units, one and two dimensional layouts as well as rethinking our use of breakpoints.  https://lnkd.in/gEY64ruu 📜 Density in Material Design is a great example of how a system can support designers to think about the space between content as a variable within components and layouts. Depending on your application your users may benefit from either tighter proximity of elements or more white space. https://lnkd.in/g_V6w-T7 💎 Laying things out is hard. When working with patterns there are a couple of things my team tries to keep in mind, based on these amazing resources. Hope these reminders can be helpful to your team: → When assembling multiple components consider the relationship between your type scale and your layout spacing → Collaborate with engineers and experiment with CSS grid and flexbox to develop a common language so folks know what to use and when → Consider multiple density modes when styling page margins, grid gaps and vertical rhythm to compliment your context and use case #space #ui #design #designsystems #grid #density #figma

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Thanks Steve. It's a noble quest, for sure. An effective answer should be one that will unlock someone's understanding of design, and cause them to act differently as a result. I think you are close. To me, a definition using design as a strategic capability should include the things you've mentioned. I feel it should also include bringing the ambitions to life (eg a future state experience vision of sorts). As you know, strategy is also as much about what you say no to as what you say yes to, and being very clear about the path you take to get there. Those decisions could be made with any number of customer insights or lack thereof, and therefore I would include the fact that design can play a part in prioritising, defining horizons and also de-risking the big bets.

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Couldn’t agree more with this take on PIP’s. They are an outdated tool that do more damage than good, and usually a crutch for a poor manager/leader who hasn’t taken the time to really understand their people and help them apply their specific strengths and talents to their role. Especially in modern performance cultures where ‘performance’ is often more ‘performative’ - less about driving solid outcomes and delivering great work and more about being seen to be ‘engaged’ in meetings, constantly getting into cross-functional dick swinging competitions or spending hours each day peacocking on slack. #performance #culture #strengthsbasedcoaching #peacocking

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