Design Management for American Apparel
Design Management Project American Apparel:
Introduction
There are five major design elements, performance, quality, durability, appearance and cost. The purpose of design is to optimise customer satisfaction and the profitability of a company by creatively coordinating these five elements in coherence with the company 's products, environments, information, and corporate identity, thus, connecting the company with the consumer by creating products and services which appeal to the consumers needs. Design is not solely the shape, dimensions, or purpose of the product; it is the decision-making process that deals with the culmination of the appearance of objects, taking into consideration the economy, technical function, and making sure it meets consumer demand.
There are six different areas of design within an organisation; design in products and services, marketing, team, business operations, strategy, and finance;
• Design in products and services involve trying to differentiate companies ' products from their competitors with the use of style, innovation and performance.
• Design in marketing involves obtaining information on sales growth, competitors and future trends to allow the company to decipher any potential threats to the business which could make their products or development of any new product, obsolete.
• The design management team needs to work out if they have the relevant resources within the company to design, or whether they need to outsource design skills.
• Design in business operations involves using external resources to limit costs, risk, and improve quality.
• Design processes and resources available to the business must be considered as this can play a vital role in the business strategy.
• Design needs to be considered by any finance department; unfortunately design has to be a cost before the business can see any possible profit from the end product. Therefore the design service used would need the projected financial
Introduction
There are five major design elements, performance, quality, durability, appearance and cost. The purpose of design is to optimise customer satisfaction and the profitability of a company by creatively coordinating these five elements in coherence with the company 's products, environments, information, and corporate identity, thus, connecting the company with the consumer by creating products and services which appeal to the consumers needs. Design is not solely the shape, dimensions, or purpose of the product; it is the decision-making process that deals with the culmination of the appearance of objects, taking into consideration the economy, technical function, and making sure it meets consumer demand.
There are six different areas of design within an organisation; design in products and services, marketing, team, business operations, strategy, and finance;
• Design in products and services involve trying to differentiate companies ' products from their competitors with the use of style, innovation and performance.
• Design in marketing involves obtaining information on sales growth, competitors and future trends to allow the company to decipher any potential threats to the business which could make their products or development of any new product, obsolete.
• The design management team needs to work out if they have the relevant resources within the company to design, or whether they need to outsource design skills.
• Design in business operations involves using external resources to limit costs, risk, and improve quality.
• Design processes and resources available to the business must be considered as this can play a vital role in the business strategy.
• Design needs to be considered by any finance department; unfortunately design has to be a cost before the business can see any possible profit from the end product. Therefore the design service used would need the projected financial
References: • J. Straub (2006)-American Apparel Exposed- Who 's Your Daddy? - Clamour Magazine. • D • Howard Price - (1996)The anthropology of the supply chain Fiefs, clans, witch-doctors and professors • http://www.answers.com/topic/american-apparel [Date accessed November 5th] • J.montana, F. Gurzman, I.Moll (2002)-Branding and design management: A brand design management model. • Okpara (2007) -The value of Creativity and Innovation in Entrepreneurship- Journal of Asia Entrepreneurship and Sustainability • R. Chiva and J. Alegre (2009)- Investment in Design and Firm Performance: The Mediating Role of Design Management - Journal of Product Innovation Management- p5 • R • S. Ahire, P. Dreyfus (2000) - The impact of design management and process management on quality: an empirical investigation- Journal of Operations Management • S • T Peters (2001), Re-imagine! Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age-Dorling Kindersley • Warr, E