Raising the profile of your in-house design team (HOW Design Conference)

Jeni Herberger, principle of business consulting firm DesignMatters, spoke at the HOW Design Conference on the topic of “Raising the profile of your in-house team”. She focused on the many hurdles that in-house design team’s face – especially when attempting to be recognized.

With each word Jeni spoke – she more and more had the audiences’ attention. She highlighted all of her points beautifully and really struck a cord with the group on how well, from a broad perspective, she could identify all of our in-house design issues and concerns. Jeni started the presentation with a perfectly stated introduction:

Now more than ever, companies expect their in-house teams to act more like business. Through they may not have to hit revenue targets, they often must prove their value t the larger organization by meeting tighter deadlines and budgets while competing with outside firms for high-profile projects. They are also being asked to prove their ability to provide business-focused design solutions on-demand.

Companies are concerned most often with one thing: Return on investment. Understanding the priorities of the finance guy will give you insight into how you position your department for greater respect and profitability.

Designers of in-house departments battle to legitimize their abilities and their worth. Slowly the misconceptions that these designers face are being dispelled. In-house designers are fabulous designers willing to give up the hectic world of agency work to live out the passion of one brand in a less intense environment.

The beauty of being an in-house designer is living the one brand. You get to grow with the brand and change with the brand. Your day is not driven by the ability of the account executives to pitch clients nor is you job typically dependent upon the ever-fluctuating volume of projects.

Jeni declared that many of the issues and concerns that in-house teams face can be partially over-come by “systematically reviewing the company’s brand, their goals and breaking it down into its individual elements.” Jeni highlighted four elements that everyone should focus on to overcome these issues of under-appreciation and under-utilization.

1. Where are you?
   Brand guidelines – do they exist? How strong are they? Can they be improved? How much control does the creative department have over them?
   Partners – can you identify your resource partners? What are their primary responsibilities?
   Competitors – who do you, compete with for high-profile projects? Why do the projects go out to them?
2. The Department.
   Organization – how is your department organized? Describe your workflow. How does the group correspond with other departments?
   Support System- who are your advocates? How is your group perceived by internal clients, the marketing team, and the executive team?
   Culture - what do you like about your department? What do you not like about your department? What is the physical environment?
   Create a mission statement!
3. The Job.
   Your position – what is the primary purpose of your position? What more can you offer your company?
   Path for growth – how do you see your position changing to benefit the group? How would you like your position to change to benefit you? What is your next step within the company?
4. The Work.
   Projects – what type of work do you do? What types of projects do you want to do? Identify what you work on now and ask “why”. Then

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