In this issue:
Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter (1883–1950) saw the role of the entrepreneur in the economy as “creative destruction” by launching innovations that destroy old industries while ushering in new industries and approaches. For Schumpeter, the “dynamic disequilibrium brought on by the innovating entrepreneur” was the tell-tell sign of a healthy economy. By this assessment, and with his affinity for innovation as an agent of change, one might hypothesize that Schumpeter would have gotten along well with the designers of his generation or indeed many design practitioners today. Design as discipline and designers as creative disrupters have both been proven to be value-added ingredients within the business realm. So it is natural that entrepreneurial skills are becoming an essential tool in a designer’s proverbial toolkit.
The entrepreneurial spirit (or “unternehmergeist,” a term coined by Schumpeter) is certainly alive and thriving within our community of industrial designers. Hundreds of successful design consultancies currently operate across the United States, all founded by designers. These range from one- or two-person independent studios to large-scale multinational operations with hundreds of designers, strategists, futurists, and all the other “ists” working collaboratively to solve their clients’ biggest challenges.
In this issue, we explore design entrepreneurship, highlighting designers who have created their own products and built companies from the ground up. We also investigate the latest strategies for intellectual property protection with patents and licensing agreements. For some, design entrepreneurship can be a method of fully engaging with an idea and being in control of the entire process of bringing it to market without having to worry about others stepping in the way. Rather than sitting around waiting for the client to bring them a problem, the design entrepreneurs of today are defining the problem themselves and developing it into a viable business venture.
Guest Contributors:
- Lessons from a Design Entrepreneur by Frans Joziasse
- Seven Pillars for Starting, Managing, and Growing a Design Firm by Jonathan Dalton, IDSA
- Detach Yourself from the Perfect Design by Jiani Zeng, IDSA
- Minimum Viable Design Entrepreneur by Joey Zeledón, IDSA
- No Regrets: One Designer’s Journey to Start a Design Consultancy by Josh Haldeman, IDSA
- A Step Ahead: Building a Successful Footwear Business from the Ground Up by Brittney Perry
- Tips on the Road to Creating Your Own Path by Ryan Diener
- An Intellectual Property Survival Guide for Startups by Charles L. Mauro, CHFP
- Licensed to Win by Flann Lippincott, MSJ, JD
- Book Review – Henry Dreyfuss, Designing for People by Jason Belaire, IDSA
- DESIGNwith: A Social Innovation Lab in the In-between by Renee Lee, IDSA
- When the Lights Go Out – Remembering the 2003 IDSA Conference in New York City
In Every Issue:
- From HQ by Jerry Layne, CAE
- Beautility by Tucker Viemeister, FIDSA
- Women on Design by Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman, IDSA
- ID Essay by Allen Samuels, IDSA
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