Design et Industrie is an association whose purpose is to make design a standard practice in industry — not as the art of appearances, but as a way of thinking that shapes strategy and a method that makes it real.
We usually treat profit and morality as opposites. We hold the reverse: in an age of saturated markets, of work in search of meaning and of widespread public mistrust, an industrial company can — and now has every reason to — combine the two. This is precisely what design makes possible, by turning good intentions into action.
Helping people grow, not just consume
Design et Industrie is an association whose purpose is to make design a standard practice in industry — not as the art of appearances, but as a way of thinking that shapes strategy and a method that makes it real.
We usually treat profit and morality as opposites. We hold the reverse: in an age of saturated markets, of work in search of meaning and of widespread public mistrust, an industrial company can — and now has every reason to — combine the two. This is precisely what design makes possible, by turning good intentions into action.
The added value of design is particularly evident in fast-changing markets, where new societal, ethical, environmental or regulatory constraints are forcing existing players to completely rethink their value propositions – and often their entire business model.
This is where it’s necessary to build new experiences with a differentiated vision of usage, taking into account the company’s ability to respond coherently to the constraints and needs of all the stakeholders concerned: this is the exercise of choice for design.
There are few – if any – performance levers today as simple and effective as design, provided :
- Positioning design in its rightful place: combining strategic vision and operational know-how
- Not to regard design as a miracle recipe, especially as an idea is worthless without the operational expertise to turn it into reality under the best possible conditions
- Ensure that the design approach and tools integrate harmoniously with the company’s various businesses and processes: since design is essentially collaborative, it proves to be a highly effective de-siloing tool
The strategic advantages of design
Design proves especially valuable in fast-changing markets, where social, ethical, environmental or regulatory pressures force established players to rethink their value propositions — and often their entire business model.
The task is then to build new experiences, with a distinctive vision of usage, responding coherently to the constraints and needs of all the stakeholders involved: design’s exercise par excellence.
Few performance levers today are as simple and effective as design — on three conditions:
- Put it in its rightful place: the combination of strategic vision and operational know-how, not a cosmetic veneer.
- Don’t expect a miracle cure: an idea is worth nothing without the operational mastery that turns it into reality under the best conditions.
- Integrate it smoothly into the company’s functions and processes: collaborative by nature, design is also one of the most powerful tools for breaking down silos.
Design in France
Unlike many countries — Northern European, Anglo-Saxon and Asian in particular — France, the world’s seventh-largest economy, has so far pulled off the feat of remaining fairly indifferent to the benefits of design, apart from a few global groups and a few hundred companies where it is a well-assimilated given.
At a time when major questions are being raised about the country’s future, this failure to embrace design (or its overly partial embrace) is surprising to say the least — even if a number of welcome initiatives and increasingly frequent public statements deserve recognition.
It must be said, without caricature, that French companies still too often use design by reducing it to just one of its dimensions:
- Treating it as a fine art, a purely aesthetic exercise, and so allotting it minimal time and resources, on the grounds that nothing is less open to debate than personal taste.
- Retaining only one of its tools, for a purely collaborative purpose.
- Favouring only its commercial side, as a sales accelerator — which it also is — to stand out through a professional use of shapes, colours, typography or space.
- Confining it to its ethical component, narrowed down to eco-design or the sustainable economy.
- Playing solely on its societal dimension, as a communication vehicle meant to demonstrate an organisation’s « human » value.
Yet design delivers its full measure only when embraced in its entirety: strategy and execution, performance and purpose alike.
Join the association
Design et Industrie speaks to everyone in the industrial world who is convinced that it is possible — and increasingly necessary — to build business models that are both profitable and virtuous: companies that thrive by sharing wealth rather than capturing it, mindful of human, social and environmental values.
By joining the association, you support its work, you contribute to its thinking, and you also benefit from its output — methods, tools and professional insight — across the entire design value chain.