Leadership Workshop

What is the leadership responsibilities of the ‘company’ in your chosen context?

Orchid Consultancy’s leadership responsibilities are mainly concerned with Brand Management as we are advising and directing company/designers to successfully achieve brand awareness and appealing designs.

How will you communicate and act out your leadership responsibilities (as a design led business) to your client base?

Face to face meetings, international tele-conferencing via Skype, E-mails, phones. 

Within the business, what are your leadership roles and responsibilities?

(Servant leadership, Hierarchy, skill based)

Titles (Skill based) + Belbin Team Roles – flat hierarchy

Belbin's Team Roles is based on nine team roles, categorized into three groups: Action Oriented, People Oriented, and Thought Oriented. One can use the model within a team to help ensure that necessary team roles are covered, and that you address potential behavioral tensions or weaknesses among team members. This will help to create a more-balanced team. One can also use it to understand your role within a particular team, so that you can develop your strengths and manage your weaknesses as a team member.

How will you behave and act as a leader in the organisation that will be both true to other 

members and external context and client base?

Internally: Democratic – Servant leadership – know our roles –

External: Democratic – negotiable – include opinion and suggestions yet make the final call

Through your individual leadership and group (design/business) leadership how will you fulfill your design-led business proposition?

Brainstorming sessions (everyone gives and input, feasibility evaluation). All members contribute with their strengths and skills. Everyone responsible  for enhancing and educating themselves in order to meet the needs of the company. 

Design Leadership

Unlike business leadership, which is about leading organisations, the notion of design leadership is fuzzier. It is often used interchangeably with design management, but is also liberally applied to any big personality around the industry. Back in the days the designers or design managers were situated low down in the business hierarchy, and if they wanted to stress their opinions, they would have to talk to a marketing director, who would then talk to a higher member of staff, and then eventually the top management would get the idea. - If not the idea was lost along the way, or changes too much. Nowadays, the role of the design managers have totally changed, and their roles are vital to business success. 


There are many different design leaders, such as Josephine Green, Sir Terrence Conran, Tom Ford and Dyson. However, design leaders do tend to share three general qualities: they are good at envisioning the future, thinking strategically and leading others. They tend to have mastered their professional craft and understand their field well, but are driven by a restless feeling in their gut that 'it doesn't have to be this way'. They have the ability to hover above the detail, see the big picture and think abstractly to imagine a different direction.

TOM FORD

Leadership involves remembering past mistakes, and analysis of today’s achievements, and a well grounded imagination in visualising the problems of the future

 – Stanley C. Allyn

Comments & Questions on Project B

Comments:

1. Roles well defined
2. Wrong timing - Pacific disasters
3. Big natural threat
4. Good role division
5. Sustainable idea
6. Limited market
7. Research hotel before offering supply
8. Think about expansion, gallery
9. Have different people in different parts of the world to promote

Questions:

1. Why the Seychelles?
2. How will you make money?
3. How can local craftsmen pay for your assistance?
4. Whoa are the clients?
5. Which countries?
6. Is the product expensive or cheap?
7. Whoa are you representing, hotels or locals?
8. How can this prove profitable?
9. How measure fair trade?

STAR STORY

A star story will convey not only the duties you performed but what you achieved personally or for the company.

Situation: Provide Background on a situation that occurred
Task: Describe the task you were asked to perform
Action: Provide detail about the action you took
Result: Describe the result of learning outcome


Companies expect you to have transferable skills, soft skills that makes us performed within teams, and as a leader. Employers ask us for star stories, what we have achieved that we are proud of. It is very much based upon achievements. Instead of focusing on the team, focus on your personal contribution.  Employees want to learn about your competencies for the specific job. Most demanded competences in design sector are business skills, ability to network, communication skills, & time management.

• My Star Stories: 
• I went to a Boarding School in Hampshire for three months, where there were only english students and I was the only Norwegian person, and knew nobody. After two weeks I became the captain of our School Runners team, and every weekend we travelled to new places to play our matches. It improved my communications skills, and made me work better in groups and as a leader. 
• In 2010 I was on the Deans List at Regents Business College, an award for my high grades.
• In 2009 I held a speech for my dads 50th birthday, in front of 150 people. It improved my confidence in speaking in front of crowds. 
• I was an actor for my school play, in front of a crowd of minimum 100 people each day for two weeks. The preparations for the play lasted for four months, and it improved my teamwork skills, as well as networking skills. The year after I was the director of the school play, which improved my leadership and managerial skills. 
• I was the head of the student counsel for two years, which improved my teamwork skills, marketing skills and leadership skills. 

Applying for jobs within the Design Sector

About 60% of designers in London work as communication designers. This surprised me, as I though a bigger percent would be in retail design. In design, jobs are often not advertised. Many creative businesses accept spontaneous CV's, without any job being advertised. It is important to do thorough research of the business in which you are going to apply for. CV; Not all you have done, but your best pieces. Include a link to your portfolio. Have 2 CV’s, one which is professional and one which is creative. Have both in formats which are easily printed, and that will not corrupt if you send it to a different IT system. A PDF is usually the best way, as the format is the same for all IT systems.

Project B: Tetrahedral Model

Objectified

When you se an object you make so many assumptions; How it looks, how it works, what it does, who made it and what it should cost. You have connections to products, and it makes you feel a certain way. Back in the days people made products themselves, such as arrows for war. When a fellow soldier died in battle, the other soldiers could not use his arrows for they own bow, because it simply did not fit. That was when standardizing of products began. Many products thereafter where standardized in order to fit all people. It is said that all products are designed, even if we do not think about it. Products from scissor handles to toothpicks are all designed to fit a need.

Good design is:

• Innovative
• Useful
• Aestetic
• Honest
• Unobtrusive 
• Long Lived
• Consistent in every detail
• AS LITTLE DESIGN AS POSSIBLE

Great design makes our everyday gadgets function better, really without people even thinking about it. Your doorknob, your toothbrush, and your water boiler - are all designed to fit a purpose. Most products are redesigned, often, in order to fit a new trend or even to create a trend. The redesign may simply be because of an idea of a better solution. So when the markets spit out new and improved products, even though we are perfectly satisfied with  or old ones, we go ahead and buy an upgraded edition. May it be a new phone, a new toilet brush or a new vacuum cleaner. It provides a promise of a better and easier way of living. But is this true? Nobody have died of holding on the the same phone for over a year! 

People show off through clothes, bags, interiors and cars. Cars are frozen in time, so the car designers have to undergo a massive process when designing the cars. The front of cars have always had a "face" - with front lights, a grill and a license plate. The back of the cars have now also evolved a "face", which means double opportunity for design. All designers must now take sustainability into consideration when designing products. This means redesigning every single object in a product, making every component of the product sustainable. So designers have to take into consideration the life of the product after we are done with it. 

"Every product tells a story, if you know how to read it" - Henry Ford

Japan

Project A:Creativity or Salesmanship

This project gave me the opportunity to be both a design manager and a client. My group consisted of me, Andrea Banovic and Maria Aaslund. I was Andrea’s design manager, and Maria’s client. Andrea is from Croatia, and Maria is from Norway. Being a design manager was a bit challenging, in the sense that it was tricky at times to get enough information. It was also not easy to imagine what results my client wanted, and as Andrea is from Croatia, we have very distinct backgrounds. It was difficult to understand the social and cultural context she is used to, as well as the business environment in her home country. Luckily enough I have been to Split, so I had some sort of feel of what the business world looks like, and how people behave. It is very different from Norway. It seems more relaxed, and not so rigid. I found it difficult to try and plant Andrea’s USP’s, personality and strategy into one simple business card. In order to get an idea of what my client represents we met up and the underneath questions where asked:

• What are the key components your teammate represents/offers? Her key components are management skills, leadership skills and marketing skills. She is also hard working and social.

• What is their current strategy? Her current strategy is to graduate from RBS this summer, then have one gap year where she is going to work back in Croatia. Then she is planning on taking a master’s degree in management, and then finally start working for her family business ANDA. ANDA is chain of eyeglass stores located in Croatia. The chain is the market leader, and has the most eyeglass stores in Split.

• Where would this graduate sit within the local and global market? She will sit in the local market of Split, Croatia. This is firstly because this is where she wants to live, and secondly because this is where ANDA is located.

• What other visual identities your teammate competing against? She is competing against other managers in the family business. She is lucky enough to have a guaranteed position in the business, when she graduates, but she must obtain and protect her position. There is also tough competition between the eyeglass chains, so Andrea must protect their market leader position again competitors.

• What are the USP’s and how can they be made visible to employers after graduation? Her USP’s are international experience and education, with management and leadership skills. As well as marketing skills, and social networks. (See Mindmap:USP)

The transfer to a market economy has increased competition in Split, so the competition among businesses is very tough. Split is the largest coastal city in Croatia, with 470 000 residents. In comparison to other European countries, Croatia is not a wealthy country, but Split is well off compared to the other Croatian cities. This builds a respectable market for businesses, and for employees wanting to work there. Andrea will be situated in this market, which is highly competitive, so it is vital to communicate her USP’s. ( See Mindmap:Split)


Andrea’s main USP’s are listed in the mindmap further down on this page. Since she is going back to her local market after graduating, her international experience and education will give her an advantage when entering the business world. She has also got leadership and management skills, which will benefit her when entering her family business. She has had previous experience as a seller in the ANDA stores, but as her goal is to climb higher in the business, and eventually become a manager and owner, she will benefit from these skills. Her marketing skills are highly applicable in all of the stores, and the social networks that she has gained through living abroad will enlarge her connections in different aspects of business across the world. Meaning that she has valuable connections to individuals in management, finance, marketing and design professions.     


When discussing the outcome of this design process, I had to make clear what she expected of me, and what she wanted to portray through her logo and business card. This process was challenging for me, as I have never used Photoshop, and have never been asked to design a business card before. First I had a look at competitor’s logos in order to get an overview what this business sector’s design appeared like. I started sketching on paper, and then I used Word for my first drafts, and finally used Photoshop on the final product. It took me quite some time to understand Photoshop, as it was completely new to me. Initially I made some sketches for her business card, and then we met again to discuss the alternatives. She was not too exited with the outcomes, as they did not properly reflect her as a businessperson. I understood that I needed to do some changes and started thinking in another direction. We focused the design of her business card on her future business position as a manager in ANDA, so that it would become clear what her profession was with one glance at her business card. She also wanted the business card to be simple, not too colourful, and not too feminine. The outcome was a simple layout, the front covered with a picture of a pair of glasses, with her initials inside the glass. The back of the card consisted of her address, phone numbers and e-mail address. My client was pleased with the result, and so was I. 

Business Card #2

Here is the business card that I designed for Andrea. It is simple, yet different and descriptive.

FRONT:

BACK:

Business cards #1

These are some of the examples of the first drafts I did on Andrea's business card. They where not the one we went for, due to the fact that they were simply a bit boring, and my client was not satisfied.

HELVETICA

We get different responses to different typefaces, and the western world has been united behind the so-called ultimate typeface for several decades; The Helvetica font. The Helvetica font was developed by Swiss typeface designer Max Miedinger in 1957, then called 'Neue Haas Grotesk'. 'Grotesk' was not an acceptable name, as it did not work internationally, so that is the reason behind the name change some years later. Helvetica is a part of a font family called scalable fonts. A scalable font is a font that can be resized, either smaller or larger, without being distorted. Miedinger accomplished this task by making each element of the font a mathematical formula. This made it easy for people to make their font bold, italicize, resize or even change color of the font without having to refer to another character on the computer. In 1960 the typeface's name was changed to Helvetica (the Latin name for Swiss)

The Helvetica font is the most popular font, because it is considered fresh, clean and neutral. The design of Helvetica is all about the space between and in the characters. The space between the characters are tight and holds the characters together. A Helvetica font on either a logo or a slogan represents a transparent, accountable and acceptable image. Which is what many businesses strive for. Some people are even saying that Helvetica is the badge of the modern society. It has got the perfect balance of push and pull, which indicates that everything will work out. Even though so many people are mega fans of this font, there are some people who argue that the font is creating standardization and pushing globalization. You see Helvetica everywhere, all the time. Businesses, people, organizations and governments are all pushing their information out in the world with help from Helvetica. What a global monster! Designers say Helvetica is simply unfixable - How can you fix something that is perfect?

“I’m obviously a typomaniac - which is an incurable if not mortal disease.” 

-Erik Spiekermann

Well-known brands that have used Helvetica as their font.

MindMap:Croatia

MindMap:USP

Andrea New CV

Kastelanova 15, 21000 split, Croatia

( 0038521540581

( 00385995839989

* andrea.banovic@hotmail.com

A creative, positive and hardworking person, with the ability to work well as an individual or within a team. Wishes to acquire new knowledge and experience, while proving own capabilities.

............

Project A Process: Andrea Banovic Current CV

PERSONAL INFO

Andrea Banovic

09.01.1990

Kastelanova 15, 21000 split, Croatia

0038521540581      00385995839989

Andrea.banovic@hotmail.com

Croatian

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

2007-2010  Summers: Family business, eyeglasses stores, salesman

Training: 2005-2006, Switzerland, Laussane, English school ITC

EDUCATION

2008-2011

Qualification acquired: BA hons in business management

Main subjects: marketing, management, business, accounting, design

Organisation: regents college, London

Level in national and intenational classification: academic studies

2004-2008

Main subjects: languages

School: 1.language grammar school Split

Level in national and intenational classification: 4 grades, secondary school

PERSONAL SKILLS AND COMPETENCES:

Mother tounge: Croatian

Other: Serbian excellent

            English excellent

            Spanish very good

            Italian good

Organisational & Social Skills: Creative and responsible. Wishes to acquire new knowledge and experience, to prove own capabilities.

Computer Literacy: Windows; MS Office Programs (Word,Excel,Power Point); Internet everyday user.

Sports: Tennis (trained for 6 years, gained awards), Volleyball, Swimming, Handball.

Drvier’s Licence: Yes

Business Figure:LEGO

The staff at Lego have some quite unusual and brilliant business cards. Their details are printed on a toy figure which looks like them. The minature figures have the employee's name printed on the front..

...while their phone number and email address is written on the back. 

GENIUS!

Business Cards

These days business cards are getting more spectacular, colorful and special than ever. From simply being a way to communicate your name, number, and in the later years your e-mail address, it has turned into a way of marketing yourself. Show yourself from different and new sides, and it has even become a competitive advantage to have a stunning business card. My dad has a plain thin white business card which states his name, his occupation, address and telephone number - in plain dark blue letters. How depressing! Here are some examples of creative business cards: