If you’ve read more than one or two of these blogs then I imagine you're familiar with the story of TinyOffice. TinyOffice was our ‘pandemic pivot’ and a way for Matt to reposition and repackage his prefabricated building system into a more commercially digestible form.

I love TinyOffice because it has given me an opportunity to be useful. I’m able to use my skills as a graphic designer to work on our branding, social media accounts and design some kick-ass business cards. Before TinyOffice, I really struggled to help Matt with his business. While I’m more than proficient with the forklift, I felt my contributions were reserved for times when Matt couldn’t physically do something alone or when he was so busy it was my job to just look after the kids for days on end so he could work.

For years we’d worked this way. Matt working alone and me helping out where I could in between client work. TinyOffice was finally a cause we could both rally around. When we first launched it was so exciting but like most things in life it wasn’t the massive influx of jobs we’d hoped for right away so I had to continue working for my design clients to bring in an income.

I normally do 2 hours of design work on TinyOffice a week. Just enough to quickly get some social media out so people don’t completely forget about us. On top of that we also spend about 5 to 10 hours a week discussing HUCX (our prefab building company) and TinyOffice (a product using HUCX panels). Matt and I share everything but I’ve still felt like it was his business and I’m just a noisy sounding board, helping him clarify what is going on; basically what a designer does with clients!

My job title of ‘graphic designer’ has limited what I feel my contributions to HUCX and its success can be. Despite my understanding of design thinking and its importance in all aspects of business, I’ve wrongly equated my value with what I can do in Adobe Creative Suite. I'd decided that doing social media accounts is probably the best I can offer right now because I’m a graphic designer… Boy, was I wrong!

Last week I announced that I am the recipient of the Jack Rogers Mentorship Scholarship and this week Matt and myself had our first meeting with Carol Mackay and Greg Branson from Design Business Council (DBC) to discuss what this actually means. 

Over the next 12 months we will be working on the Design Maturity of TinyOffice as a business. There are some amazing resources on the DBC website but in nutshell:

“Design Maturity describes the design practices and processes of a business and how they add to the bottom line performance.”

DBC has developed a model based off Micheal E Porter’s Value Chain that looks at all areas of a business including inbound logistics, infrastructure, operations, R&D, outbound logistics, human resources, marketing and sales, technology, service and procurement. This is scored using the Design Ladder - a five step ladder developed by the Danish Design Centre in 2001 showing the varying use of design in business - Step 1 ‘being meets expectations’ to Step 5 being ‘integrates design into the whole company’.

Next week we are going to assess what the TinyOffices Design Maturity Index is. It’s going to be a deep dive into every single nook and cranny of our business. Having a quick read through of the 100 questions I’ll be going through with Greg and Carol, I’m already overwhelmed at how much we are missing. How much I don’t know and how much we need to address. But I’m also excited. Excited by how many opportunities we have sitting right in front of us. 

On the first page it asked if you have a CDO (Chief Design Officer) appointed. Right this very second I would like to announce that I have gratefully accepted this new position. After years of feeling like a super enthusiastic cheerleader/shareholder/extra set of hands in HUCX I have finally been given a clear and precise role in our company. With the help of DBC we’ll develop this position over the next 12 months. The most amazing thing about this program is that I’m getting taught how to use the Design Maturity Index so I can apply it to other businesses in the future.

This is something that I’m particularly excited about. You see, I don’t think I’m alone in thinking that a graphic designer just makes things look good. Deep down I know I do more than that for my clients but when it comes to my career path I am limiting myself by what I’ve really done. Design thinking and human centred design are default modes for designers of all disciplines but it shouldn’t be limited to the traditional field of ‘design’. 

At its very core design is problem-solving. I’m hoping that by bringing you all along on this journey I might inspire other designers to take their creative minds and think beyond the Adobe Creative Suite and help make all sorts of business more successful.