TEACHING OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN: THE DESIGN MANAGEMENT AND THE SYSTEMATIC DESIGN PROCESS DEVELOPMENT APPLIED TO A COLLABORATIVE WORK WITH COMPANIES

In the company, the design should be integrated through proper management as well as executing systemic process where the role of design management is strategic, since linking the company culture with project culture, integrating design innovation with the company strategy to create compelling products and services to market.
In Chile, the integration of design in the companies as well as recognition as a necessary value to increase competitiveness, are current subjects driven by different Schools of Industrial Design and government institutions, which is allowing to go forward in a process that will increase value within this globalized world.
Teaching undergraduate Industrial Design should provide the necessary tools for recognition of company values and the design internalization level, as well as the adequate methodological view suitable to establish the design process embedded in a business reality.
In the national context, the design has used to be a poorly integrated factor in the business management, as it is a resource that usually comes without a global analysis of impact. Companies establish strategies to compete, emphasizing variables such as market, production, technology, human resources or financial resources, but rarely integrating the design process.
Development of collaborative projects with companies should include variables and valuations that allow students to recognize specific aspects of their future professional environment. Teaching a systematic method to know about this reality is an important factor in the design process, since it allows these experiences can be extrapolated and maintain a development a line over time.
The methodological model used in the School of Industrial Design at the Universidad del Bío-Bío, includes both diagnostic and assessment tools that provide a complete and objective view of companies and, the integration level as well as the design management. This School makes use of tools to collect perceptual data from user targets, becoming guiding element for the process to determine product proposals. Special value is the business men participation in the Design Workshop, while the tangible result is the creation of prototypes built in the facilities of the Universidad del Bío-Bío and the participating companies.

The design management is consistent with its commercial view and, the overall experience of teaching represent benefit both to the company and students due to the mutual recognition of contributions to the future performances.