Strategic design practices

Strategic design in organizations, the design industry, and design education

Team: Mauricio Mejía Yumeng Xie Ruchita A. Mandhre Wenqi Zheng Xueting Wu Stephanie Tomlin
Active project

For the lab members, strategic design is a cluster of current design disciplines such as interaction design, service design, design for behavior change, and systemic design. We are studying a range of aspects that include (a) how strategic design competencies and methods can be intellectual capital for organizations, (b) how service designers could use foresight to develop more sustainable practices, (c) how designers could learn strategic design skills in graduate studios, and more recently (d) how -design- professionals practice strategic design and intentional change.

Methods:

  • Case study research
  • Literature review
  • Podcast analysis
  • Job postings content analysis
  • Interviews

Outcomes:

  • Mejía, G. M. (2026). Assemblages of design activities: from trade to strategy. Diid, (88), 89–95. https://doi.org/10.30682/diid8826f
  • Mejía, G. M. (2026). Strategic design in business organizations: An approach for design management, business strategy, or design strategy. In Simeone, L. et al. (eds.). Design Research Society Conference DRS 2026, Edinburgh, UK. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1108
  • Mejía, G. M., Clemente, V., Guha, A., Liedtka, J., and D'Ippolito, B. (2026) Designing Strategic Change: Approaches, Methods, and Theories of Strategic Design in Business Organizations. In Simeone, L. et al. (eds.). Design Research Society Conference DRS 2026, Edinburgh, UK. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.148
  • Mejía, G. M., Xie, X., Simeone, L. & Tomlin, S. (2025). Teaching and learning strategic design skills: A case study of a graduate studio course with a live project. International Journal of Art and Design Education. https://doi.org/10.1111/jade.12525
  • Mandhre, R., Mejía, G.M., Jung, K., Zheng, W. & Wu, X. (2024). Visioning and managing change: analyzing strategic designers' approaches in salient podcast episodes. Design Research Society Conference DRS 2024, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2024.1106
  • Mejía, G. M. (2024). Strategic design futures: Designing for change in complex situations. Design Research Society Conference DRS 2024, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2024.675
  • Løgager, C., Simeone, L., & Mejía, G. M. (2021). A foresight-oriented service design approach to foster longer-term thinking and sustainable practices. EAD 2021. European Academy of Design Conference EAD 2021.
  • Gallego, C., Mejía, G. M., & Calderon, G. (2020). Strategic design: Origins and contributions to intellectual capital in organizations. Journal of Intellectual Capital, 21(6), 873–891. https://doi.org/10.1108/JIC-10-2019-0234