With nearly 150 design and business leaders in attendance, Thomas Lockwood PhD, President of the Design Management Institute (DMI) unveiled the organization's new identity at the 2009 DMI Re-Thinking... Design conference, in San Francisco in June. Reflecting the DMI's vision of community, connections, inspiration and global reach, the new identity reinforces DMI's commitment to creating and sharing knowledge about design management and the role of design in business success.
DMI, in collaboration with design consultancies Lucid Brands, Continuum and LPK, and the IIT Institute of Design, has spent the last twenty four months redefining their business strategy, positioning, and branding. Research with DMI members, key thought leaders in business and design, in the form of individual and group interviews, were conducted in the U.S. and abroad including in Copenhagen, Chicago, and Shenzhen, China. The feedback signaled the need for increased and optimized resources for design management in business practices and the need to communicate and share ideas with industry leaders.
"The idea of "connections" emerged throughout the collaborations, research, workshops, SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis and interviews," noted Thomas Lockwood. "DMI has a solid, international history and has made significant contributions to the field through thought leadership strategies like conferences, seminars, publications and case studies. DMI established a three-year vision and roadmap to optimally deliver these design management resources to an international community, and further develop the 34-year old organization," he continued.