A FEW MINUTES: Thomas Lockwood|President and Founding Partner of Lockwood Resource, President of DMI, the Design Management Institute from 2006 to 2011.

“Designer shouldn’t set the business strategy, their job is to understand the designed goals, and use design to help organization achieve them.”

For people with even a slight interest in the field of design, the name Thomas Lockwood needs no introduction. He is, without doubt, one of the most accomplished individuals and recognized thought leaders in the arena of design and innovation. From his days at Sun Microsystems to founding of Lockwood Resource, an international recruiting firm specializing in design and innovation leadership, Thomas Lockwood has been an inspiring figure for professionals related to the field of design. He is one of the few individuals who have had a critical role in shaping the landscape of design industry, in recent years. He served as president of DMI (Design Management Institute) from January 2006 until May 2011 and currently is a member of DMI’s board of directors.

Recently, Thomas Lockwood spent a few minutes with China Bridge to share his views on the effect of cultural differences on design and the future of Chinese design industry. We believe his views are a source of guidance for the professionals all over the world and offer insights in to the industry to interested readers.

“The design firms like CBi China Bridge have the ability to lead the Chinese design industry towards more indigenous innovation in future.”

How would you introduce yourself to people who don’t know you?

I am a professional in the design and innovation industry. I feel passionate about the role of design in business and government, and have an enthusiasm for creative and personal skills of people.

For the people who don’t know DMI, How would you define its role in the design industry?

DMI is a research institute and a thought leader organization focused on bringing design methods to business and social improvement.

With respect to design industry in China, what role do you envision for DMI to play in shaping the future?

In the short term we are collaborating with different universities. In December, there will be a conference in Shenzen and I will be running a workshop there. The longer term vision for DMI revolves around educational development of design, and design thinking methods. First these efforts will be concentrated in the education sector and then on professionals in the industry.

Over the years you have had a lot of interactions with Chinese designers and companies. How would you compare the environment in West with that in China?

I think, in the west there is more opportunity to challenge the bigger issues or the bigger picture or the systems that products and services are involved with, it may even mean getting in to system design and service design. In Asia, usually, the focus is more on executing the individual task at hand.

It is often said that Chinese companies and designers are not very innovative and they usually rely on replicating designs from the west. What’s your take on this? From this aspect, how do you view the future of design industry in China?

I think it’s up to China to decide the future course of the industry. If the Chinese industry begins to embrace more innovation, the future of design would be more innovation. If they want to embrace production and cost efficiencies then design would be more of a tool for improving efficiencies. The future of design, therefore, depends on the strategic choices made by the industry in China (both business and government).

Here, I would also like to point out that design for innovation is one thing and design for efficiency is another. The latter may be equally important in certain businesses and situations. Design for efficiency could also be a good thing.

So it means that design for efficiency could also be seen as a form of innovation. Generally, we see that Chinese industry is trying to shift the focus more towards innovation than simply manufacturing? Do you think it’s a good strategy?

It depends more on the individual business’s strategy, if the business wants to compete on being more efficient then it should just design for the efficiency and effectiveness. If the business wants to compete on innovation or differentiation from its competitors then it should design to support those goals. I strongly believe that design should support the business strategy. The designer shouldn’t set the business strategy; they should understand the desired goals and then use design to most effectively support the strategy.

With reference to your experience, could you point out some of the most common mistakes that organizations make?

I think very often organization focus only on the charismatic attribute or on the ‘cool’ factor and forget to keep things functional. They tend to make things complicated by keep adding on features and fail to see the beauty of simplicity. Sometimes less is better, not more.

Talking specifically about China, designers are expected to create designs that are linked closely to Chinese culture and yet are modern. How you think they can deal with this challenge?

It’s part of looking at the context around the design. The design needs to be perfectly adapted to the local culture.

Do you think that design can be traditional and modern at the same time?

Yes, I do. You should think of how people use products and services in the context of their current environment and then use form factors and design language to add to their familiarities rather than trying to be different. Finding things that are familiar to people can be very helpful.

How do you see the role of design firms like CBi China Bridge in Chinese design industry. Do you think they have the ability to lead the industry towards more indigenous innovation in future?

Yes indeed, because they are a bit outside of the political structure within companies. I think that external firms like CBi can look at the problems more strategically and open mindedly. They can challenge the companies to consider the more important issues at hand.

So you mean they can have a profound effect on the workings of organizations also?

I do, though it also depends on whether the clients are the right people in the organization. If they are talking with business leaders who are open minded and looking to make the best organizations they can have, then they can have a very big impact. If they are being a service provider at a lower level to just help bring products or goods to market or to bring websites online, then maybe it’s more about the efficiency of the design process and effectiveness of the design. So, it depends a lot on what is the project and who is the owner of project.

What advice would you like to offer to young designers?

My advice would be to look for more experience doing ethnographic and contextual research. They should look at the broader systems that a product or service is used within and focus at the context around design more holistically and more broadly.