Design boundaries in Brazilian SMEs : A case study in the furniture sector

Fonseca Braga, Mariana; Souza Manhago, Marcelo; Ingaramo, Matteo

Abstract

Most design approaches have their foundations in the United States and European western countries (e.g. Design Thinking; Design Culture, Strategic Design). When dealing with different contextual frameworks we face diverse constraints and problems as we explore the design potential in enterprises. In this paper, we clarify some design constraints in a Brazilian enterprise through a case study, aiming to provide an initial framework for further discussion about design in this context.

We suppose that different conditions for design development in a firm, such as the lack of product strategy, portfolio development and management, commercial skills, the difficulty to reproduce design into production, and the informal way of framing its business, lead to the need of situated design practices that require design know-how.

The implementation of the new design into production and market does not rely only on “good” design practice by itself. It requires considerable effort from other areas of the company on diverse levels.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (published)
• Conference Name: UD15: Periphery and Promise 4th PhD in Design Forum
• Start Date: Oct 19, 2015
• End Date: Oct 20, 2015
• Publication Date: Oct 20, 2015
• Deposit Date: Mar 26, 2025
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• ISBN: 9789899828438
• Publisher URL: https://endlessend.up.pt/ud15/ud15proceedings.pdf