Designers in digital product-led organisations are increasingly expected to shape what gets built, not just execute what's already decided. In practice, most struggle to get there: work arrives already framed as a feature rather than a problem, and once senior leadership sets targets, teams tackle backlogs against the metrics tied to those targets- metrics that rarely connect to the customer outcomes that design is best positioned to influence.

This research asks how a design function can move from executing decisions to shaping them, within an organisation still structured for top-down delivery. It was conducted by embedding within a Design department at a large-scale financial organisation (referred to as ABC finance), combining a case study, interviews across product, customer-journey, and design roles, internal strategy documents, and literature on product operating models, large-scale agile transformations, design process compression and customer-centric transformation.

The findings show that design's exclusion from strategic decisions is a structural problem, not a capability gap: there is no mechanism translating organisational strategy into design objectives, or connecting design activity back to the indicators the business already tracks. In response, this thesis proposes a Design Operating System- tools for opportunity framing, prioritisation, goal setting, impact assessment, and quality governance, built to plug into existing product development processes rather than run alongside them. It gives designers a way to surface the why earlier in planning, translate customer context into terms that already carry weight, and report impact in metrics the organisation already uses.

The contribution is both practical and theoretical: a working mechanism for embedding design earlier in product discovery, and a broader argument that design's strategic relevance depends on whether such mechanisms exist to connect its work to organisational decision-making, not on design capability alone. ... Read more

The rapid embedding of Generative AI into creative production has outpaced the organisational structures needed to govern it, particularly within small, AI-native design studios operating between internal experimentation and client-facing delivery. This thesis investigates that gap through a field-first, literature-iterative study conducted at a 21-person AI-native design studio (pseudonymised as Studio Nova) operating across production and R&D projects. It asks: what are the opportunities and challenges of embedding Generative AI in a small AI-native design studio, and how can these inform a strategy for structuring feedback, curation and communication between studio and client? This overarching question is broken down into three sub-questions addressing, respectively, the studio's internal coordination structures, the breakdowns occurring at the studio–client boundary, and the criteria against which a design intervention should be evaluated.

The approach combined a targeted literature review across seven bodies of work, including Sociotechnical Systems theory, boundary spanning and joint optimisation, with two-phase field research inside the studio. Phase 1 combined exploratory interviews and an organisational mapping exercise; Phase 2 extended this through structured interviews across the main creative studio roles and naturalistic observation. Together, these phases surfaced six patterns that led to the design of five strategic pillars, later used as the evaluative criteria for the design intervention.

The key insight was that the studio had a well-functioning internal iteration loop, but no equivalent structure at the studio–client boundary. Feedback broke down there through misaligned expectations, low visibility into the studio's process, inconsistent terminology, and unpredictable timing. The Project Manager was left to bridge this gap informally, without a shared structure either side could rely on. Closing this gap required formalising the Project Manager's role as a Boundary Spanner, giving them a structure to raise and resolve governance questions before production begins.

To address this, REFRAME was developed: a three-layer governance process centred on the Project Manager as Boundary Spanner. The first layer, a Theoretical Framework, maps four governance domains: Client x Social, Studio x Social, Studio x Technical and Client x Technical, intended to identify gaps before a production project starts. The second layer, an interactive Governance Tool, translates this map into a facilitation canvas for the governance conversations themselves. The third layer, a Project Governance document, was proposed as a future direction: a record of what was agreed that could be referenced throughout production. REFRAME was validated with Studio Nova's intended primary users against the five strategic pillars established during field research.

This thesis contributes REFRAME, a validated three-layer governance process for AI-native creative studios, and demonstrates how Sociotechnical Systems theory and boundary-spanning roles can be operationalised into a practical tool, extending governance literature beyond technical system boundaries into the organisational and creative dimensions of AI adoption. ... Read more

Essense — a creative agency of approximately 50 employees operating within the Eidra consultancy collective — holds a high standard for employee experience, and the experience of personal development within the company was not meeting it. This thesis investigates why, and designs a response. Through a literature review, document analysis, and eight in-depth employee interviews analysed against the COM-B model, the Theoretical Domains Framework, and Dual Process Theory, the research arrives at a single diagnostic conclusion: personal development at Essense does not fail for lack of motivation or skill. Employees hold a strong, consistent growth mindset. It fails for lack of environmental architecture.

Three structural conditions, each coined and defined in this thesis, describe the failure: the Temporal Gap — the period between yearly check-in moments during which development is entirely crowded out by client work; the Blank Page Problem — the cognitive paralysis that occurs when employees face development without structure, examples, or scaffolding; and To-Do Fatigue — the experience of personal development as yet another administrative burden on an already overloaded task list. Together, these conditions ensure that even motivated employees default to compliance rather than growth. The diagnostic conclusion shifts the design problem from a question of motivation to one of architecture: because PD tasks — reflection, goal-setting, planning — are effortful System 2 activities, a system that reduces their cognitive cost to the point of habit is not a convenience but a structural necessity.

The design response, developed through co-creation with employees and a Harris profile evaluation, is an AI-mediated personal development system — the Invisible Agent — that operates inside the tools employees already use. Tracking is automatic. Reflection offers structure rather than a blank field. Time is protected within the existing calendar. The employee faces not a blank page but a ready-to-go system that carries the administrative weight itself, freeing their existing motivation to go into development rather than into sustaining the structure around it. The system was prototyped as a fully functional environment across Notion and Google Calendar, tested with four Essense employees, and validated with both Essense and Eidra. Every feature is traceable to a specific behavioural barrier; every design decision is grounded in the empirical evidence of what structurally prevents personal development from taking root.
https://canva.link/2so010sdpk34o44
video of the usage of the system - as if it were to be used by an employee that the system is intended to be used by ... Read more

Generational succession represents the most critical transition in the lifecycle of a family firm (Calabrò, 2021; Poccia, 2015). In Italy, 92% of family SMEs will face one in the coming years, yet only 18% have a structured plan(Lozzi, 2025). Despite an extensive body of academic literature on the topic, this knowledge remains fragmented, inaccessible, and rarely translated into tools that firm owners can practically use (Baltazar et al., 2025; Romano & D’Allura, 2025). At the same time, strategic design, a discipline developed to support organisations in navigating complex, systemic, and human-centred challenges, has been designed almost exclusively for large organisations with substantial resources, dedicated research functions, and established design cultures (Micheli et al., 2018). Family SMEs operate in a fundamentally different condition, characterised by limited resources, no prior design culture, and deep resistance to external intervention (Millers & Gaile-Sarkane, 2021; Wrigley et al., 2020; Zhang et al., 2021).
This thesis investigates whether and how strategic design can be introduced into family SMEs, and whether it can concretely support these firms during the process of generational succession. The research is structured around two extensive literature reviews, one on strategic design and one on family business and succession, followed by three rounds of semi-structured interviews, including professors, succession experts, consultants, and family firm owners in the Piedmont region. A co-creation process conducted over more than a month with a manufacturing micro-firm approaching its third-generation succession produced a realistic, field-tested representation of how succession actually unfolds in practice, and shaped the translation of strategic design principles into a management system grounded simultaneously in academic literature and organisational reality.
The result is a digital platform that translates this research into a structured support system for family firms navigating generational transition. The platform combines a five-phase succession process grounded in both strategic design and family business literature, a library of strategic design tools adapted for a non-design audience, a diagnostic system, and an interactive process canvas. The project sets out to demonstrate that strategic design can be meaningfully introduced into contexts distant from design culture, that it can be translated, adapted, and co-developed with its intended users to become a concrete and accessible instrument for family firms navigating one of the most complex moments in their lifecycle.

https://starlit-swan-213f7e.netlify.app/ ... Read more

Data privacy has become increasingly complex and critically urgent in today’s digital society. As individuals engage with various online services, vast amounts of personal data are continuously collected and analyzed through different digital platforms and services. Even with the protection of GDPR in the EU, privacy risks persist in everyday life, which could become more subtle and complex due to the rapid development of the socio-technological context. 

While privacy goes beyond mere compliance, it’s about empowerment. Privacy threats are deeply embedded in everyday digital experiences, often invisible, making it difficult for individuals to recognize them. Besides, privacy is inherently subjective, meaning its significance and interpretation vary widely among individuals. Traditional privacy research, often grounded in legal or technical compliance, tends to overlook these personal, situated experiences. This project argues that it is crucial to help people become aware of and reflect on privacy, as it is essential to developing more nuanced understandings of the concept.

Additionally, speculative design and future studies played a key role in this project, which were used to challenge conventional thinking and propose a range of alternative futures. Future design and speculative design are used to open up new possibilities for the transformation and innovation of services. In doing so, the work contributes to an evolving body of research that views design as a tool for critique and change, inspiring various future possibilities. The project advocates for future design practices rooted in individual empowerment and reflective experience.

Based on these, the study focuses on two interrelated and progressive objectives: 
Raise awareness and gather collective insights
Envision the alternative future intervention of online privacy in users experience

To achieve these goals in the research, the research unfolds in three primary phases:

Grounding privacy risks in context: Understanding the risks within the current socio-technical context of online privacy. The findings include privacy threats towards individuals developed from the theories, case study grounding in real-world risks, and individual concerns, as well as insights from an auto-ethnography study. 

Raise awareness: we expand the research by exploring “preposterous futures” in the collection, processing, and storage stages of data practice. Set in  “preposterous futures”, three speculative design artifacts were developed based on the collection, processing, and storage stages of data practice, with follow-up participatory workshops to raise awareness. The findings reveal collective concerns about individual future privacy, which helped us build a deeper understanding of online privacy.

Towards a meaningful future intervention: Leveraging collective insights, we explore plausible future possibilities, where insights collected from individuals are translated into concrete future service and design concepts. In this phase, the alternative future intervention “Echoes of Privacy” is developed. Set in a near-future world, this intervention envisions a new paradigm of sustainable privacy that, with the proper structure, could empower individuals. The alternative service can be accessed by participants with a tangible prototype and a future narrative.  ... Read more

This master thesis studies the bottom-up strategy development process of a large multinational in the building and infrastructure industry. Due to a recent organizational transformation, the company transitioned from a global to a regional structure with a matrix model to better respond to local market needs. Through extensive research, including participatory experience, literature review, stakeholder interviews and AI-driven creativity sessions, an optimized and refined bottom-up strategy development process is proposed. Focusing on improved strategic dialogue between the three key departments of the strategy development process: Market Segments, Business Units and Multi Plant Units.

Key findings reveal that the organization moved from strategic planning and strategic management approaches towards a more open strategy approach, by including more regional stakeholders in the strategy development process. The enhanced transparency and inclusiveness in the strategy development process makes the organization more resilient and competitive. The matrix structure also increases the complexity to effectively collaborate with interdepartmental integration.
Participatory experience and stakeholder interviews revealed that poor communication and collaboration caused misalignment between regional and global initiatives. To address these challenges a solution is proposed that actively involves the key stakeholders in strategy re-alignment sessions to collective decide on future competitive positioning.

The proposed solution has three key elements. First, setting the stage ensures all stakeholders are aligned on strategic priorities before discussions begin, with leadership guidelines preventing misalignment. Second, organizing stakeholders brings market segments, regional business units, and multi-plant units together in structured, focused discussions. Over two days, market segments rotate between different units every two hours, enabling deep collaboration and efficient knowledge-sharing. Finally, the strategy re-alignment session establishes a customer-centric competitive positioning, ensuring all stakeholders define a shared strategic focus before formal strategy development starts.

This structured solution enhances collaboration, strategic alignment and customer-centricity while reducing inefficiencies caused by fragmented decision-making. Implementation follows a phased five-year approach, allowing the organization to gradually refine discussions, integrate customer insights and embed strategy re-alignment into its 3-yearly strategy cycle. By strengthening interdepartmental collaboration and reinforcing open strategy principles, this approach enables the company to balance global strategic direction with regional flexibility, ultimately improving execution speed, decision-making effectiveness and long-term competitiveness.
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Designers engage with sustainability in their professional practices in a variety of ways. They resort to Design for Sustainability (DfS) approaches, even though they tend to rely on intuition rather than theoretical works. They possess the ability to lead users to individual behaviour change through interventions. They have certain methods and capabilities to transform sustainability challenges into actionable and potentially sustainable futures, and certain shortcomings in skills and education as well as the challenges they face such as workplace conditions and policies which results in them prioritising other factors over sustainability. Given that, there exists a gap in the literature where the point of view on sustainability of professional designers is not adequately taken into account. Through a series of interviews based on a conceptual framework, this thesis aims to qualitatively study and understand the subjective perspective of professional designers on how they conceptualise and assess sustainability in order to detect opportunities to develop new and improved tools, methods, and approaches. Based on the interviews, designers are found to be not the decision makers around sustainability issues and they need to speak the business language to contribute to decision making. They could furthermore advocate by asking the right questions to the right people at the right time. Having said that, it is important to highlight that not everyone is passionate for sustainability and designers may be alone in their battle. Their challenge is to design solutions where user-centricity comes first and are still profitable for them to be effective. One skill of designers is that they could bring awareness via tangible ways, which is especially important for an issue as abstract as sustainability. Implications for designers is that they could look at examples for inspiration, but need to go beyond and nudging the customer is not enough, the product needs to have inherent sustainable qualities. Ultimately, sustainability is a complex, systemic issue yet design interventions are not yet holistic or integral. Through a co-creation session, the problem statement was defined based on the findings from the literature review and interviews. Stemming from a deeper need for guidance and direction, designers need inspiration to imagine new paths of navigating sustainability issues. They face challenges with advocacy for sustainability and the fight against green- washing in their organisations. They need ways of justifying their actions to managers by proving their actions with credible references and need to align and empower stakeholders with different backgrounds on sustainability issues by engaging them through compelling and accessible ways and effectively communicating with them through a common language. In response to this statement, the design intervention Tactical Sustainability Cards was developed. This tool helps the designer at hand by giving them tactics when trying to balance innovation and sustainability in the design process. They furthermore show examples from the industry to benchmark and get inspired. Additionally, they provide relevant academic sources for designers to strengthen their design work. These cards were validated through interview participant feedback and a validation session, and a final iteration is presented. ... Read more

In the historically resilient and change-resistant banking industry, the unprecedented era of Digital Transformation (DT) asks for a re-evaluation of traditional business models, processes, and customer interactions. This graduation project, conducted in collaboration with Innovation Boosters (IB), addressed these challenges by developing a strategic design tool to support traditional financial institutions in their DT.
The research, grounded in the Dynamic Capability (DC) theory for DT and the design thinking creative problem-solving method, investigates the interplay between DT, dynamic capabilities, and design thinking (Magistretti et al., 2021; Teece, 2007; Warner & Wäger, 2019). It posits that leveraging a design thinking approach can enhance the effectiveness of DT initiatives within an organization, as evidenced by relationships in the literature (Cankurtaran & Beverland, 2020). The research methodology employed included a literature review and semi-structured interviews with 14 participants. Seven IB consultants and seven DT professionals from the Dutch financial sector were involved, aiming to empirically investigate the effectiveness of design thinking in strengthening DT processes. Findings from the research highlighted the multidimensional nature of DT, emphasizing the alignment of strategy with organizational culture and operations. The importance of design thinking in executing DT strategies, managing uncertainties, and fostering user-centric innovation was also underscored.
Based on these insights, the subsequent design process aimed at defining the design problem, setting the design direction, design goals, and a list of ten design criteria. Afterwards, a co-creation workshop with students was organized to develop personas for the change manager role, the identified figure for DT's successful implementation. The ten design criteria were later categorized based on the two key dimensions derived from the research: innovation leadership and transformation management. The design output is a Change Management Process (CMP) tailored for managers dealing with DT in their organizations. It aims to bridge top-down strategies with bottom-up insights, guiding managers from minimal DT impact to advanced integration and sustained transformation. The three steps related to innovation leadership focus on fostering a collaborative environment, learning from failures to fuel growth, and cultivating a strong sense of ownership among team members. The three steps related to transformation management emphasize building capabilities, enhancing operational excellence, and empowering team autonomy to effectively implement DT. The CMP is supported by two canvases, each featuring four questions that encourage DT managers to critically reflect on their role, thereby enhancing their engagement with the CMP and improving their impact on DT initiatives.
This process was subsequently tested and evaluated by IB consultants, identifying four areas for further reflection, and an action checklist was developed to support the consultants in their work. IB also conducted an assessment confirming the feasibility, viability, and desirability of the developed CMP. The CMP serves as an actionable tool that IB can further test and implement with their clients, facilitating meaningful dialogues and identifying key areas for organizational transformation.
The project underscored the importance of investigating the intersection of strategic management, design, and DT, advocating for further cross-disciplinary research to explore how design thinking can support DT and enhance organizational innovation capability. ... Read more

Following the increasing appreciation for Design Thinking’s methodologies and its positive impact on businesses’ success and competitiveness over the past decades, many organizations have attempted to establish a design capability of their own. This surge in interest is rooted in the recognition that Design Thinking offers a systematic approach to solving complex problems and fostering innovation, ultimately enhancing the value delivered to customers and stakeholders. It emphasizes empathy with users, a collaborative cross-disciplinary process, and a culture of prototyping and testing, making it an attractive proposition for businesses seeking to differentiate themselves in crowded markets.

However, the journey to successfully integrate Design Thinking into organisations is filled with challenges. Many firms encounter obstacles in translating Design Thinking’s principles into actionable strategies that align with their business models and operational workflows. One of the critical hurdles is the need for a cultural shift within the organization to embrace failure as a learning opportunity, encourage creative risk-taking, and foster an environment where multidisciplinary teams can thrive. Additionally, organizations often grapple with integrating design thinking with existing processes without causing disruption to the workflow or diluting the methodology's essence.

Moreover, building a sustainable design capability requires not just an initial enthusiasm but a long-term commitment to training, mentorship, and the development of infrastructure that supports design practices. This includes the creation of dedicated spaces for collaboration and ideation, access to tools and resources for prototyping, and establishing metrics to measure the impact of design initiatives.
In the context of these challenges, this thesis report examines ktc’s efforts to integrate design thinking methodologies into its digital marketing operations. In the context of an evolving marketing landscape, ktc aims to innovate and adapt by incorporating design thinking methods into its operations.

To start building a design foundation, a series of workshops based on the phases of the Double Diamond model: Discover, Define, Develop, and Deliver, were designed to equip the ktc team with knowledge of design thinking processes and to encourage the application of these methods to marketing challenges. However, the transition from theory to practice highlighted uncertainties among team members about integrating design thinking seamlessly into their daily tasks.
In response, a pilot design project was launched to apply design thinking methods within ktc's marketing strategies actively. This project sought to showcase the concrete benefits of design thinking while identifying and overcoming obstacles to its application.

The findings from creating this design initiative at ktc shed light on the challenges and successes of implementing design thinking in organizations not traditionally focused on design. It discusses how design thinking can revolutionize ktc’s marketing practices by adopting a more innovative, user-centered approach. Additionally, the report and its deliverables offers guidance for similar organizations, underlining the need for ongoing learning, adaptability, and strategic integration of design thinking with business objectives.
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Be it for providing a positive customer experience, a holistic brand identity, or a way to combat stress and exertion, background music has been used by businesses for profit since the invention of the phonograph. (Thompson, 1995) Modern technology enables this to happen fast, and tailors it to the needs of the business. Kollekt.fm is an Amsterdam based B2B music consultancy focussed on doing just that: providing brand-tailored music to businesses. Though this appears to be a single service, it has multiple facets: commercial music licensing, music consultancy, creation of music libraries, and music management and playback. Kollekt's primary proposition is a culmination of all four of these, making it a high-end service accessible only to a particular market segment. However, the team at Kollekt believes that their expertise and assets have the potential to go beyond this current segment, and this project explores possible opportunities for new value propositions in this domain.

An extensive market analysis for services comparable to Kollekt (and their vision for the new proposition) reveals a dense competition space with several well-established players with a global presence, indicating that providing a comparable service and competing on standard business metrics (like cost) may prove to be futile. (Kim & Mauborgne, 2005). On exploring Kollekt's client stories, an enticing new opportunity is revealed: employee involvement and well-being. Employees in businesses are a key stakeholder in its music ecosystem, yet all the services explored in the market research give sole control (of music curation, scheduling, and playback) to the business owners or managers, effectively sidelining the staff in the journey causing unhappiness and possible conflict between stakeholders. Contextual Inquiry done in small businesses in the Netherlands also reveals interesting insights. Small business employees have power, autonomy, and often are in-charge of the music (often with restrictions placed by the managers). However, there are no services that enable them to do so well, and they find themselves relying on personal use streaming services like Spotify. This is not ideal as these services are illegal to use in businesses, and not designed for commercial use.

TRUNE, an end-to-end SaaS background music services for businesses, aims to fill this gap and create a more inclusive business music ecosystem by recognising staff as a key stakeholder. It also aims to make background music accessible to more businesses by expanding Kollekt's roster of value propositions. The essence of the concept lies in leveraging businesses' human capital (instead of expert curators in Kollekt's current service) to create a unique background music identity. This empowers the employees and creates a better working environment for them, which in turn positively impacts the customer experience and business performance. Different aspects of the solution are also tested and validated, resulting in directions for further iterations.

The thesis ends with discussing the relevance of this concept within the context of Kollekt and its strategic fit with the company, and gives recommendations for its implementation. In conclusion, employee involvement in the background music (via the solution offered or other directions) has high potential in furthering the commercial background music industry and can simultaneously provide Kollekt with a blue ocean to grow to new heights. Scope for further research and development is also discussed, both within the company and externally.
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This thesis set out to investigate how small to midsize industrial design practices address strategic challenges. For this a literature review was conducted, as well as complementary desk research and an interview study with design practitioners. Later on three small case studies helped set the direction of the project. The findings and insights were translated with the ViP method into a playbook containing interventions industrial design practices can use to connect their work closer to strategic design.

The playbook contains a framework that aims at proposing a new way of working together with clients that enables reciprocal strategy formulation and strategy execution by reenvisioning the consultancy model and utilizing collaboration within a creative ecosystem.
Furthermore, the playbook contains concepts, approaches, and tools that support Industrial Design practices to activate the strategic potential of the projects they work on.

Reciprocal Strategy Formulation and Strategy Execution

A central part of this concept is the reciprocal nature of strategy formulation and strategy execution. Combining the two and letting them interact with each other creates better outcomes for the process. Since the knowledge from the execution part informs the formulation in the first place, it makes a successful implementation more likely. Similarly, understanding (or better yet, being part of) the formulation stage guides the implementation better because the reasoning, goals, and objectives are already part of the process.

Reenvisioned Consultancy Model

The interaction and collaboration with the client get strengthened through closer exchange and teamwork. By being part of both strategy formulation as well as strategy execution, the design practice is no longer only involved in short parts of a project but can provide consistency throughout the project. At the same time the design practice has now more “skin in the game” than before, therefore they also feel more ownership over the whole process.

Creative Ecosystem Collaboration

Essential for this concept is harnessing the creative power that can be found in collaboration.
Especially combining a diverse range of participants enables the creation of innovative design outcomes. This concept also enables the design practice to remain relatively small and agile. It is through the network and the collaboration of different actors within the network that a potential absence of specialized skills and capabilities is balanced out.
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This master thesis explores the integration process between Accenture's Industry X and VanBerlo, following the industry trend of big consultancies acquiring creative design agencies to enable transformative work and comprehensive solutions for clients. The research objective of this project is to design a Synergy Creation Approach (SCA) that enhances synergy between Industry X and VanBerlo, leveraging their capabilities to offer end-to-end solutions in joint propositions.

Using the double diamond method in close collaboration with Industry X and VanBerlo employees, the thesis examines the opportunities and challenges for synergy creation. The key findings highlight that a lack of understanding of each other's capabilities hinders synergy creation during business development. The research emphasises the importance of clear understanding and shared vision, preserving design thinking approaches, and incorporating all responsible parties in the process.

To foster synergy through business development, an understanding of client needs and each other’s capabilities is essential. This understanding allows for the identification of opportunities,enabling the proposal of synergy offerings to clients. By building upon each other's work, this collaborative approach delivers greater value to clients.

Based on the Outside-in Framework of Takhtehkar and Rademakers (2020), a Synergy Creation Approach is proposed. This approach guides Industry X’s and VanBerlo's domain leads in creating, validating, and selling synergy offerings. By increasing awareness of each other's capabilities and possible synergy offerings, the tools used during the SCA, such as the Joint Value Proposition workshop, the Synergy Canvas and the Synergy Offering Deck, help identify opportunities for synergy that align with the client's specific needs.

This thesis provides valuable insights through the Synergy Creation Approach, it addresses cases where organisations aspire to achieve synergy but face challenges in leveraging each other's capabilities, as seen in the case of Accenture's Industry X and VanBerlo. The SCA serves as a guiding framework that enhances collaboration between consultancies and design bureaus, enabling them to drive transformative and value-driven solutions for clients.
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Design has evolved significantly in the past decades and the corporate designer is on the rise. In recent years, several studies were conducted to link design to business value, resulting in promising outcomes. Even though this data very promising, many companies misunderstand design and underestimate the process of introducing design in their existing organization (Rousseau, 2015). However, the full commercial benefit of design will only be felt by the company if design is well implemented throughout the organization and design excellence is reached (Sheppard et al., 2018; Quint et al., 2022). Therefore, the research to successful design practices in existing corporates is becoming more relevant. This report will discuss a case study of promoting design within a multinational service providing corporate.

Through a design process following a double diamond approach, the problem is further researched, and a design goal was stated. The goal of this project is to create clear and relevant proposals, which takes the design process into account, so the client can be served in the best possible way.

Using creative sessions, many ideas to solve the earlier defined problem were suggested. It was concluded that the problem could only be solved using more than one idea. Based on literature and the earlier research findings, the found ideas were structured into a Campaign planning, consisting of 3 phases: Know, Show and Grow. These phases were filled with activities that should be executed by the client. To further elaborate on the execution of the campaign, the campaign book was designed. This book is designed to give the client all necessary information, guidelines, and tools to execute the campaign.

The campaign planning and campaign book were validated with several employees and partners. From the validation sessions resulted that the campaign is desired, viable and feasible, and the campaign book is understandable and gives the right guidelines to start the campaign. After the validations, iterations took place, resulting in the final design.

By designing an internal campaign, the understanding of the value of design should be increased among employees of other consulting competencies, resulting in more and valuable collaborations.
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In this graduation project, the aim is to develop a decision guide that will assist Strategiemakers, a strategy consultancy and organisational transformation firm, in addressing the challenge of creating sustainable business strategies for organisations. The current tools and models used in the industry are inadequate and do. not provide the necessary insights into an organisation’s strategic direction. To address this issue, the research project focuses on creating a holistic model that provides a comprehensive approach to the creation of flourishing organisation strategies.

The research project employs a research-by-design approach to develop the concept. This involved exploratory interviews with Strategiemakers employees, interviews with other strategy consultants, strategists within companies, and educational experts. The aim was to define the components necessary for a flourishing organisation, the requirements for a successful flourishing strategy and to examine the tools that can help to create a flourishing strategy.

As a result of the research and ideation, the concept produced four interrelated components: the Bee Flourishing Model, the Tool Inspiration Guide, the Sustainable Tool Storage, and the Back-end Spreadsheet.

The Bee flourishing model is an organisational model starting in the organisation’s core with its purpose and offers a holistic view of the interconnectedness between the impact of an organisation’s business on sustainability and its internal impact within the organisation. The Tool inspiration guide provides Strategiemakers with advice on the selection of tools that are best suited to support their clients’ journey towards a flourishing organisation. This guide adds value to Strategiemakers by better suiting the client’s needs and not forcibly converting the tools they always use. A structured approach to selecting tools for building sessions can help ensure that the strategy for achieving a flourishing organisation is well-thought-out and effective.

The reorderable matrix approach, when applied in a novel way for the back-end spreadsheet, provides a fresh perspective for strategic designers. It enables the visualisation and analysis of interactions between elements, i.e. tools for developing a flourishing strategy and facilitates how tools can be combined to complement each other to fulfil the specific needs or requirements of an organisation.

In conclusion, Strategiemakers can position themselves with this concept as thought leaders in the field of sustainable transformation by conducting research and making their findings open source. The Bee flourishing model can be used by organisations seeking to transform into sustainable entities, and the Tool inspiration guide should be expanded to better align with the requirements for a successful flourishing strategy. To improve usability, it is recommended to establish a hierarchy among the tools and to bring the style of the guide even more in line with Strategiemakers’ style. To stay relevant and up-to-date, Strategiemakers should keep actively researching new tools and expanding the guide, making it a comprehensive resource for the company.
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The application of multidisciplinary collaboration has become a trend to prevent knowledge isolation obstructing business development (Schaubroeck, Tarczewski, & Theunissen, 2016), particularly in the IT industry as it pursue problem-solving innovation.

An IT service company is currently striving to transform into an IT innovation consultancy. Despite having a full-functional workforce and the Project Journey model, it is challenging for them to sell and conduct problem-solving projects to their clients. Not every employee from various disciplines is ready for multidisciplinary collaboration.

The project went through a variant Double Diamond process. The initial assignment was to mitigate the potential misunderstanding between different disciplines. After the generative design research to investigate the context and identify problems, the researcher concluded with a reframed problem as an essential need to have a continuous and concrete guideline for the company’s multidisciplinary way of working (WoW).

The conceptualization process commenced with two co-creation workshops involving frontline workers. Subsequently, the solution is refined based on the insights from previous research and feedback during the sessions. The researcher also drew inspiration from established literature, such as the classic RACI model for multidisciplinary project management and the organizational change management model Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA). The final solution comprises three components.

Firstly, as a multidisciplinary WoW framework, Project Journey Blueprint was outlined under seven factors in the service blueprint format. It is more concise, intuitive, and actionable than the classic RACI matrix, with an emphasis on value-based illustration. It reduces misunderstandings between different disciplines and fosters a more efficient and effective multidisciplinary collaboration.

Secondly, a co-creation toolkit called Project Journey Embassy was developed to facilitate the Project Journey guideline development with the aim of evoking ownership and mutual understanding. It includes a generative workshop within each discipline and an alignment workshop across all the disciplines, resulting in a consensus on the multidisciplinary WoW guideline. The guideline includes the ideal team configuration and a Minimum Viable Team (MVT) for future projects.

Last but not least, a three-stage implementation approach was introduced to bridge the guideline into practice. The process begins with the bottom-up co-creation, followed by a circular organizational-level PDCA, where the Project Journey Blueprint is executed and updated quarterly. The third stage employs project-level PDCA where insights will be reported to discipline ambassadors and discussed in organizational 'Check' moments. The ongoing cycle ensures a resilient continuity of the multidisciplinary WoW.

The three-fold solution provides a clear path to foster the transformation towards problem-solving innovation by enhancing multidisciplinary collaboration. It can apply to a broader scope, as there is a common structure and similar project flow across the entire IT industry. ... Read more

Innovation-centered entrepreneurship drives economic development. It is also a method for addressing the environmental and social issues that result from and impair economic growth. The rapid and continued economic progress in Rwanda and Kenya in the last decade has shown the power of entrepreneurship ecosystems- interconnected people and things supporting startups. However, amid this growth and potential, how can an impact be made on environmental and social concerns also?

This project sought to design a solution to help innovation hubs in Rwanda and Kenya increase their positive impact to sustainability. Innovation hubs include incubators, accelerators, and other programs that support entrepreneurs in creating and growing their businesses. They are the first stop for many new entrepreneurs as they begin their ventures. As a result, hubs can significantly influence startups and the larger entrepreneurship ecosystem.

This project had two aims:
Understand the current entrepreneurship ecosystems in Rwanda and Kenya
Design a solution to help hubs increase their impact on people, the planet, and prosperity (three Ps)

Literature and field research was conducted to create a picture of the ecosystems in which hubs operate. The ecosystem was explored by interviewing representatives of the most common stakeholder groups. This investigation identified stakeholders' opportunities and challenges in supporting entrepreneurship and sustainability.
Then, hubs were interviewed to understand their current practices and needs. Finally, a model was developed to assess the impact of hub program activities based on behavior change theory. This model allowed hubs to understand their potential influence directly instead of estimating it based on startups' performance.
This model was used within the design of a toolkit. The toolkit guides hubs to reflect on their activities and policies through a thee Ps sustainability lens. This process guides hubs to upgrade their current program and generate ideas for new activities to meet their sustainability goals. The toolkit also includes a pilot template to help hubs identify resources to test their impact ideas. For example, in testing, the use of the tool led to an upgraded environmental sustainability workshop for one hub. The new workshop will allow them to reach 3X more entrepreneurs annually.
Hubs often struggle to find sufficient funding and resources for their current programs. The toolkit helps them to optimize their existing resources. Facilitated sessions also lead hubs to identify the new people and financial resources they may need to implement their new ideas. Using a sustainability lens helps ensure hubs make the impact they seek and entrepreneurs get the support they need, now and in the future. ... Read more

The purpose of the workplace has changed. Employees proved that they could be productive while working remotely, and they do not want to lose the flexibility they gained (Dahik et al., 2021). In addition, many companies are struggling to bring back employees to the office, and a lot of empty office space is becoming available (Gujral et al., 2021). In consequence, a new concept of the workplace is required. However, to design a future-proof workplace, it is necessary to understand what employees will need in the future and how they will work, have a clear vision of the company, and envision futures without the present's constraints. Unfortunately, the traditional research tools used in workplace studies fall short in this task, and some companies find these types of studies time-consuming. Therefore, this thesis aims to design a time-efficient tool to trigger users and clients to think and speak about the future workplace.

This project starts by understanding the evolution of the workplace and its trends and condensing this information into a development map divided into five workplace dimensions (Work model, location, space, services, and technology) and organized in three timelines (past, present, and future). Then, it develops a tool using future studies and co-design methods and incorporating the investigated workplace development map to trigger clients and users to think and speak about the future workplace. Finally, the tool was prototyped, tested with users, and iterated two times. The test results were positive, proving that incorporating futures studies and co-design is a potent combination that incites future thinking and provokes conversations about the future workspace.

The main contribution of this thesis can be condensed into five principles offering possible new applications of the tool to other domains where triggering people to think and speak about the future is required. The five principles are: Start with a multiperspective trend analysis on the specific topic, organize the information into timelines and dimensions, include random future predictions, enable open conversations in a workshop setting, and keep the outcome strategic and tangible. Moreover, this thesis also explores the potential combination of futures studies and co-design methods, enabling further research opportunities.

This project was done in collaboration with Drees & Sommer, a real estate consulting firm with headquarters in Germany and offices in the Netherlands.
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There is a need for environmental sustainability also beyond the atmosphere: Human activities are causing a tragedy of the commons in outer space, and most of the world population does not know anything about it. Outer space has become a non-cooperative game for a few players with infinite resources, in an environment with limited resources. The threat of space debris is real and governments will spend hundreds of millions in the following years trying to solve it, by using the money of unaware taxpayers. This is the legacy for the future generations of space citizens.

With this graduation project I aim at raising awareness about the space debris issue and at enabling people to give a small individual contribution, which can be worth much as a collective action. I designed a cultural metaverse to educate the new generations of space citizens through the use of advanced immersive technologies. People can get access to its services by purchasing a NFT connected to a specific piece of debris in orbit. Once the piece is actually removed the NFT becomes part of the Museum of Space Resilience, a virtual environment paying a tribute to the NFT owner, to the company who made the removal mission possible and to the government that allowed it. The initiative is intended as non for profit, since all the income generated will be spent to fund other removal missions, in a circular business model. A cosmopolitan approach to help humanity make space truly democratic, by turning space situational awareness into a civilian service.

My research is based on the most recent theories about systemic transitions (Geels, 2017) and governance of the commons "beyond markets and states" (Ostrom, 2010). As a designer, I have applied speculative processes and co-generative methods to envision alternative futures for space. In this way, I have demonstrated how the so-called "cryptocommons" can represent a novel strategic use of blockchain technologies to rebalance economies towards higher human values, like culture and sustainability. This result has been possible by developing in six months a wide and diversified network of experts throughout Europe.
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The BMW Group is one of the world’s leading premium manufacturers of automobiles and motorcycles. However, mobility, together with an increased world population, causes problems like traffic congestions, emissions, and an increased energy and raw material consumption that impacts our climate. This, digital developments like the Internet of Things, and the pressure from emerging car brands like Tesla or new mobility providers, have disrupted the automotive industry. Complexity has therefore increased, creating wicked problems for BMW that has to adapt itself to these dynamic times. It however also creates opportunities opportunities for whole new driving and mobility experiences.
To create these experiences, BMW has to rethink its current ways of working that are still largely engineering and product driven. Instead, a more experience driven mindset could be the answer to increasing customer demands and market pressure. This research therefore focuses on developing a strategy on how industries could adapt to dynamic times by changing a company‘s internal mindset, from a product-oriented focus to a more experience driven one. Starting from the experience, means taking a user-centred approach that focusses on human needs instead of merely product- and feature-evolvement. This would not only benefit the customer, but also the company‘s success by generating competitive advantages, profitability and sustaining long-term customer loyalty.
Following from the research, it was found that UX and CX can be taken to a next level, which not only optimises customer touchpoints around products and services but solves for human needs around a clear purpose. This is called a Business of Experience (BOX) and the newly framed goal is to create a strategy that transforms the BMW Group into a BOX that is fully human- and experience driven. In line with the 4M framework, the need for four strategies was derived, called CO: strategies, to reach this final goal. On the individual level, a strategy is needed that enhances the engagement of every employee, a.k.a. Individual Contributor (IC), which is translated into CO:NTRIBUTION. On the second level, collaboration and knowledge flow between teams and departments must be enhanced, resulting in a strategy involving CO:LLABORATION. Next to this, there is a need for supporting organisational structures, cultures, and leaders, thus CO:ORDINATION. Lastly, stakeholders that form the community around organisations should be involved in the development process to learn about needs and innovations, and a strategy to enhance CO:-CREATION should be implemented.
A roadmap with three horizons and a final vision for the BMW Group was created, that should lead the BMW Group towards becoming a Business of Experience. A good starting point is the creation of a Centre of Excellence (COE). A COE is a centralised and independent, physical and/or virtual facility within an organisation, that leverages the resources that are already there and provides the rest of the organisation with coordination, research, knowledge, support, trainings, and enablers in a specific area. It supports change initiatives, like that of mindset shifts, in corporate environments and constantly explores new tools and practices, which it then transfers across all functions of an organisation.
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