The interface between Product Design and Marketing NPD Process: a creative crossfaculty approach'

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The interface between Product Design and
Marketing (NPD Process) a creative
cross-faculty approach.

• Jane Griffiths, Stella Pulaj Andi Armitage

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Interaction squabbles in the firm

• Our own experience in the companies
• The experiences of our KTP (Knowledge Transfer
  Partnership) Graduate Associates
• Discipline perspectives and functional overlap
• Dialogues, roles, and conflict resolution

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How to explain the challenge of
marketer-designer interaction to students?

• Designer Experiences

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Dual Module New Product Development (NPD)Process
Simulation

• The module Marketing the Designer has 2 codes
  MK/DD
• The 2 cohorts of students share workspace and
  time and tutors
• Real companies assigned to dual-discipline teams
• Level 2 simulation not live project
• The cohorts interact, split to work on specialist
  tasks and interact again on several cycles e.g.

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Product designers research express the company
design ethos

• Kenwood - About - History - (United Kingdom)

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AppleThink different

• Apple is a symbol of counter-culture, rebellion
  and free-thinking creativity.
• The company recognises that style is very
  important to their target market, and so aims for
  its logos to be unique and distinctive.
• The Think-different tagline represents the
  ultimate objective Apple continually strives for
  unique products that are technologically and
  stylistically advanced.

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Marketers research and define/profile the target
user and express their needs
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The product designers produce concept drawings
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The marketers design initial market concept test
with appropriate target buyer-users

• 2. Survey Population
• Urban areas and Cities will be the main survey
  population. This will be aimed towards consumers
  with a high disposable income and initially
  targeted towards London and the South East.
• Both primary and secondary target segments will
  be surveyed, they consist of
• Primary
• AGE 25-34
• GENDER Males and Females
• LIFE CYCLE Young couples
• SOCIAL CLASS ABC1
• Secondary
• AGE 28-54
• GENDER Males and Females
• LIFE CYCLE Young families

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Tutors research - student experience

• Questionnairesbefore and after impressions of
• their own function and roles in NPD as marketers
  and designers
• the roles and function of their counterparts
• What they learnt from each other
• And in their critical reflection submission
• What they thought of the NPD process they had
  chosen and attempted to apply
• The longitudinal study shows changing impressions
  and a shift to focus on need for commercial
  research, time, team and project management

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Students impressions/experience? Their skills
development

• Love-hate (each-other, the module, the process,
  the tutors) patchy
• Negative module evaluations, intense discomfort
• Excellent final work (but like pulling teeth!)
• Lots of self-criticism on their own transferable
  skills especially time management and leadership
  and a lack of timely research on the company
• Intense excitement and motivation desire to
  contact the company and show the work
• Desire to show the following years cohort how
  to

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Employability?

• The output project document, presentations,
  videos, drawings etc evidence not promise
• For some this is a leadership opportunity
• Team members demand real commercial awareness of
  each other to complete
• Motivation
• Reflective (no holds barred)
• but not for all, yet, a work-in-progress

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Thank you

• Any Questions?