Applications are now closed.
Register your interest or rewatch previous our Information Sessions.
2024 Professional Diploma in Design Leadership and Management (formerly DMPD)
As design becomes an increasingly important business function, designers and those who lead design teams require a broader range of skills to translate strategy into practice, managing people and budgets while supporting a culture of creativity and dealing with multiple stakeholders.
The Professional Diploma in Design Leadership and Management has been developed to empower designers and design managers with the tools, processes and methodologies to successfully manage design as a key business resource and deliver return on investment in their business.
Programme 2024
Applications now open. Cost from €5995 to €10495 (see application process at the end of the page).
Apply for the Professional Diploma in Design Leadership and Management
Register your interest or please get in touch via info@designskillnet.ie.
What are the next programme dates?
The 2024/25 programme starts on October 1st, 2024 to May 28th, 2025
Programme Duration
- 10 classroom days (mix of face-to-face and online) over 8 months
- 10 x one-to-one coaching sessions (30mins per session)
Plus – New for the October 2024 programme:
- 2 x one-to-one coaching sessions (60mins per session) to take place in the 12 months after the course is completed (i.e by May 2026)!
- Access to online resources for 12 months after the course ends
Workshop dates*:
1st & 2nd October 2024 – in person
26th & 27th November 2024 – online
12th & 13th February 2025 – in person
25th & 26th March 2025 – online
27th & 28th May 2025 – in-person final presentations
*Scroll down for the full module details.
Who is it for?
The Professional Diploma in Design Leadership and Management has been developed for busy working professional designers and design function managers (not all design managers are designers) to empower them to take their business and careers to the next level.
The programme is for those working in design management roles, or aspiring to – Agency Owners, Design Directors and Senior Designers, Design or Account Managers, Studio Managers and Team Leads. You don’t have to be a ‘design manager’ to manage design (people and processes) but you have the responsibility for delivering great results. With the Professional Diploma in Design Leadership and Management, you get the skills and tools to do so.
Industry-tailored for Future global Design leaders
Developed by PARK a world-leading consultancy in design management and design leadership, and the founders of the LEGO Academy, the Design Leadership and Management programme is a blended learning approach of experiential, in-person, online and 1:1 coaching, delivered by expert trainers who work on a daily basis with design leaders to respond to the opportunities generated at the emerging intersection of design and business.
The programme is endorsed by design councils across the world, and alumni include among others, Fjord, GSK, LEGO, Mars, Novartis, Sony, Bosch, Unilever, Johnson Controls, Publicis, RichardsDee and Design Partners.
Professional Diploma in Design Leadership and Management Design Skillnet on Vimeo.
Course Director
James Hall, an industrial design graduate, began his design career at LEGO designing new toy-based play experiences and progressed from design manager to design director, leading and managing small and large teams. In 2010, James moved to Hasbro as Sr Design Director, and in his consultancy role now works on design leadership across many different industry segments including Bosch, Grundfos, Unilever, Bang & Olufsen and LEGO, with a specific focus on design strategy, design organisation, processes and tools.
Structure & Format:
This 8-month blended learning programme is a mix of live in-person and online classroom modules and 1:1 coaching. It is thoughtfully designed to meet the needs and work environments of practicing multidisciplinary design professionals and teams while equipping them with the essential tools to lead change in their businesses and industries.
The programme is modular with 3 foundation modules, 4 core modules and 3 specialism modules. The delivery is structured to accommodate the working lives and time constraints of participants, requiring only 10 days away from the workplace.
- 6 face-to-face days and 4 online days
- 1:1 online coaching sessions for every module
- Remote learning platform
- Individual and group assignments
- Final presentations, face to face, in May 2025
Workload & Assignments
To attain the Design Management Professional Diploma, participants are assessed on each module via a variety of practical assignments. The programme emphasises the practical application of knowledge to benefit participants and their organisations. Assessment workload is set across the programme to allow participants to successfully combine learning with work and life demands.
Programme Content
- Foundation Modules:
Design Leadership, Design Management, Design Strategy
The foundational modules distinguish between when to manage and when to lead across all modules. Regarding content, people, processes and organisation. These fundamentals are the key to empowering and creating holistic design strategies that bring value to you, your organisation, customers and humanity.
- Core Modules:
Design Process, Design Quality, Design Language, Design Briefing
The core modules are the classic enablers behind great design management and leadership activities. Each core module builds upon the foundational modules to elevate your competencies and capabilities.
- Specialism Modules:
The cohort as a group will select either Route 1 or Route 2 below
Route 1: Advancing Design Leadership (Design in CX, Design Teams, Design Value)
Route 2: Mastering Design Orchestration (Design Storytelling, Design for Humanity, Design Value)
The specilism routes group and combine very purposeful specialist areas in design management and leadership. The different specialism modules are developed to complement each other and provide depth and help navigate their respective design leadership complexities for a better future.
Each Module’s content is detailed in our modules section. Scroll down.
Programme Features
Blended learning; 1:1 coaching; unique faculty of industry practitioners; action learning; peer learning; and international alumni network.
Course Dates – Programme Schedule 2024/25
- October 1st & 2nd 2024 – Face-to-face in Dublin– Modules 1-4
- November 26th & 27th 2024 – Online – Presentation of Assignments from Modules 1 to 4 + Education of Modules 5 and 6
- February 12th & 13th 2025 – Presentation of Assignments from Modules 5 and 6
March 25th & 26th 2024 – Online – Presentation of Assignments from Modules 7 & 8 and Education of Modules 9 & 10
- May 27th & 28th 2024 – Face-to-face final presentations and evaluation of all modules in Dublin
Q&A with programme director and past participants!
To find out more about the programme, read our Q&A series with the Course Director James Hall and past participants David Wall, Lydia Ward, Agnieszka Matula, Karla Devenney and John Duggan.
Application Process & Dates
Applications closed at 1pm Tuesday, September 17th 2024
Want to find out more before applying?
Please get in touch via info@designskillnet.ie or Register your interest.
Our final Information Session was on September 4th 1-2pm.
We also are delighted to have some online Workshop Design Leadership sessions with James Hall from Park, which are complimentary to members of IDI, IAPI, ICAD and 100 Archive and €10 per session for non-members.
- Fri July 5th: 12pm to 1pm: Foundations of Design Leadership
- Fri July 26th: 12noon to 1pm: Mastering Design Orchestration
- Thurs Aug 15th: 10am to 11am: Foundations of Design Leadership (Repeat – if you missed the July session!)
- Thurs Aug 15th: 12noon to 1pm: Advancing Design Leadership
Fees
Design Skillnet subsidised government-funded rate*: €5995 (early bird, apply by Sept 11th)
Members** rate: €6,495 (early bird, apply by September 11th)
Standard Fee: For applications received after Sept 11th:
Member** Subsidised Rate: €6,495
Full rate: €10495
Please note the cost of travel to Dublin or accommodation for the face-to-face modules are not included in the programme fee.
Download the Professional Diploma in Design Leadership and Management Business Pack.
**Subsidised rates via Design Skillnet, (called Member rates), apply to members of IDI, ICAD, IAPI, 100 Archive who are working in the private sector or in commercial semi-state organisations and are based in the Republic of Ireland.
Find out how to become a member to avail the subsidies.
Installment plans can be discussed for payment of the programme fee.
Please contact us directly at info@designskillnet.ie to discuss your interest and membership options.
Content
Design Management – Deploy design resources to help you reach your business objectives.
A design manager is responsible for delivering impactful design results by connecting the dots between business and design at a strategic, tactical and operational level. To achieve this, a design manager can be accountable in areas such as design strategy, design process, design briefing and many more.
Design Leadership – Align everyone around an inspiring design vision.
Design Leaders display competencies beyond those of a traditional leader – they are more intuitive, more human-centered, and more visual.
Whereas design management deals with ‘how, when and with whom’, design leadership is focused on the ‘why and what’, and the very best design managers and leaders know when and how to switch between leading or managing content, people or processes.
Design Strategy – Define how design will deliver against organisation and user objectives.
A design strategy is a high-level plan to achieve design objectives and goals within a certain business context. It helps to achieve overarching organisational objectives, to align peer strategies and to make the right choices in terms of design resources and capabilities.
The Design Strategy Compass is a tool that links the corporate mission and vision with your design strategy and enablers.
Design Process – Create design processes that drive better efficiency and effectiveness.
Combining characteristics of artistic and production processes, a design process is a structured, repeatable approach to delivering design solutions in alignment to the objectives and constraints of your organisation. Due to the wide scope and organisation context of design it has many formats.
A design manager builds and adjusts design processes, aligns them to the rest of the internal and external organisation and runs them effectively and efficiently.
Design Quality – Set and manage quality objectives for more objective design decisions.
Discussing design quality is not easy: when is design good design and when is design good enough? A design manager sets design objectives, and manages creation and execution in such a way that the set objectives are met, not more nor less – the challenge is to not over or under deliver as this can harm performance of your organisation.
Design Language – Define, manage and grow brand design equity.
Design languages are used to build brand recognition by applying design assets coherently and consistently. This is not only relevant for consumer-driven organisations but also for business-to-business organisations.
Born out of a brand strategy, a design manager applies, maintains and refreshes design languages. When doing so, they build brand equity for the business but also efficiencies in development time and costs.
Design Briefing – Connect design, business and people with impactful briefing.
As a design manager you need to know how to develop and communicate a design brief. Then you have to manage or lead your designers to deliver on the design brief. This module explains why and how to do that.
Design in Customer Experience – Design for a more holistic customer experience.
Companies can no longer stand out through manufacturing strength, distribution power or information mastery. Offering a great customer experience is crucial in achieving a competitive edge.
In order to build a great experience, every contributing function needs to be meticulously aligned. It’s the role of design and the design manager to deploy their unique capabilities whilst knowing when to lead or support other functions.
Design Teams – Find a shared purpose and boost design team potential.
A design team is a team of professionals that execute design tasks to achieve specific business objectives and goals. Doing this effectively and efficiently is a challenge. A good design manager knows how to build, maintain and adapt their design team depending on the challenges ahead. To do this proficiently, he or she must truly understand the competencies and capabilities of the people in their team.
Design Value – Justify your design investments through a holistic business lens.
Design brings value to people through great products, experiences and services, and with that economical value to organisations , society and the planet.
To deliver this value, continuous investments in design is needed. The justification of these investments through efficient and effective implementation is a critical aspect of the Design Managers role.
Design Storytelling – Excite, entertain and engage stakeholders & peers.
Storytelling is a communication strategy that aims to engage and bring your audience into an ‘imaginative situation’ that delivers information and solutions through stories and facts.
Specific to design, communicating and ‘selling’ design management topics requires a balance between content, creative storytelling and managerial structure.
Design for Humanity – Champion design for a better, brighter future.
As sustainable design becomes a critical aspect of every organisation, design leaders and managers must move their strategic focus from problem solving to problem definition and problem owning.
Design Value – Justify your design investments through a holistic business lens.
Design brings value to people through great products, experiences and services, and with that economical value to organisations , society and the planet.
To deliver this value, continuous investments in design is needed. The justification of these investments through efficient and effective implementation is a critical aspect of the Design Managers role.
Face-to-face in Dublin with live project presentation in front of senior member of the organisation.
Read about the:
"I highly recommend it. I'm passing on everything I've learned, upskilling the rest of the team, and looking at who do we next put on to the course."
"I would definitely recommend the programme to others, it's really worth if you want to take your career, or the design function in your business, to the next level"
The course exceeded my expectations. I learned more, was more challenged and brought more back to my day-to-day work than I had anticipated. It was great. Thank you.
I really enjoyed the Design Management course. James is an amazing, engaging teacher and I learned so much from my classmates. I felt very lucky to be around such talented individuals and build great connections. We dived into interesting topics such as Design Strategy and Service Design, and the assignments and presentations really helped me to understand the different areas of design that a Design Manager might oversee.
The course really set me up for success in my new Leadership role! I still refer to the worksheets and the toolkit and it was an incredible investment into my career.
“The programme provided us with mentorship, a toolkit, and time to focus on how to position design as a strategic capability within our business.”
“I’ll miss everyone I worked with on the Design Management Professional Diploma, they offered so much support. I found the distinguishment between leadership and management very helpful and the content we covered on the programme was really insightful and helpful in terms of my professional development”
"The Design Management Professional Diploma was ideal - I wanted to be able to develop my understanding of management and leadership in a design context, and this programme really delivered on that”
"I would absolutely recommend this course. The Professional Diploma in Design Leadership and Management has been transformative.
Not only did it enhanced my role and broadened my skill set in management and strategic thinking, helping me become a more versatile professional but it deepened my understanding of our organisation’s business and marketing dynamics, provided me with a more structured understanding of design’s strategic role within the business and grew my confidence in communicating its impact with stakeholders and marketing departments."
"James Hall was a fantastic tutor and Niamh O’Shaughnessy offered great support throughout the 10 months."
“It helped me hone my presentation and pitching skills and effectively collaborate with other creatives within my team. The chief benefit of the course was how applicable to my day-to-day role the modules were and we implemented a new Design Process as a result."
"Recommended to anyone curious about becoming a design leader or manager. I loved the open discussions about the challenges we faced as design leaders and the one-to-one mentoring sessions with James were invaluable – I would have done the course for that aspect alone!"
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