Design Stewardship Advisory
STRATEGIC REFRAMING OF DESIGN IN ORGANISATIONAL CONTEXTS
From strategic design practice to design stewardship advisory
ADVOCATING DESIGN STEWARDSHIP
GUIDING PRINCIPLES
Design advisory set on a bedrock of trust, strategic design and stewardship.
ORGANISATIONS DESIGN MORE THAN THEY REALISE
KANDURE’S DESIGN STEWARDSHIP FRAMEWORK IS ADAPTABLE TO ANY MODEL OF DESIGN OPERATIONS AND FOR ALL LEVELS OF DESIGN MATURITY
IMPLEMENT DESIGN STEWARDSHIP AS PART OF YOUR NEXT TRANSFORMATION
Shaped through experience
About Kandure
Since 1999, Kandure has helped complex organisations, primarily local governent councils and peak bodies, address their design capability gaps. Kandure has also supplied multidimensional design services to not-for-profits, small-medium enterprises and large firms across various sectors including professional practices (financial, legal, property and construction), people care (health, disability, therapy, wellness and deathcare), creative productions and promotional pursuits (music, art, public relations, marketing, sponsorship and fundraising).
In 2024, Kandure’s Principal, Nadine Uremovic – reflecting on shifts across the design sector in Australia and overseas – dived into addressing why, in the majority of organisations, ‘Design’ is not formally positioned as a strategic function (like Compliance or Finance) and how might an organisation’s design potencies be maximised for better futures. Nadine realised:
With a focus on design-driven research, engagement, facilitation and communication, my experience has highlighted that organisations who intentionally activate design in and across all levels navigate the currents more easily, make more informed decisions and have greater impact.
While designers tend to naturally act as stewards, design outcomes can often be dispersed. As a strategic designer, my clearest purpose is to collaborate with organisations wanting to formally embed and proactively steward design to maximise its potential as a strategic function and capability.
Nadine is a member of the Design Institute of Australia and The Design Research Society. See LinkedIn profile.
About the Framework
The Design Stewardship Framework is a response to the organic propagation of design thinking, human-centric design and co-design activities, as well as to the fragmentation of design specialisms and the pervasiveness of artificial intelligence (AI). Design Stewardship is an emerging practice, meaning open participation and support is key.
GUIDING PRINCIPLES
People-centric
Participatory
Participatory design practices where shared agency and conditions inform choices, shape direction.
Values-led
Principled
Strategic design to discern, develop and deliver outcomes which propagate principles and values.
Purpose-based
Purposeful
Design activities that align with an entity’s raison d’être, modus operandi and ongoing priorities.
Cause-oriented
Proceptual
Design that connects concepts and processes, differentiates constraints, calibrates impact.
Opportunity-focused
Progressive
Collaborative activities geared to strategic, adaptive, sustainable ESG-positive solutions or outcomes.
Design-driven
Pragmatic
Embedding design stewardship into organisational cultures to maximise capabilities and potencies.