Design awareness of non-designer professionals

This paper elaborates on design in business. It particularly focuses on design awareness of non-designer executives. The paper is constructed in two parts: Initially, existing design and design management literature is reviewed to reveal various definitions of design and descriptions on design awareness and design sensitivity. Secondly, this paper aims to address the research question whether non-designer managers are aware of what design in business entails. Therefore, as part of an on-going research, an exploratory study has been carried out: 18 managers from 12 different industries in Turkey have been interviewed. A content analysis has been carried out to evaluate the answers given by the non-designer executives. Empirical findings suggest that non-designers do not have a broad perspective on what design in business entails. Consequently, their companies are likely to be missing major opportunities, since effective and efficient deployment of design is important in gaining competitive advantage and to achieve it many design related disciplines are to confront, communicate and collaborate in harmony.