March 9, 2017
Newsletter

Let’s Talk About:

Start with Strategy

Are you building a skyscraper without a solid foundation? If you skip over the strategy phase, you just might be. Too many people want to move straight into solutions – wireframes, designs, code – without first digging into assumptions and objectives. This might seem like a shortcut, but it can result in competing visions, missed opportunities, or a great solution to the wrong problem.

A well-defined strategy is built on research, business goals, and user needs. It helps everyone agree on the who and why before deciding on how. It serves as a guidepost throughout the lifecycle of a project and beyond, helping to focus decision-making. It gives the work purpose and meaning.

Addressing strategy isn’t just for those with endless timelines and infinite budgets. Strategy can be tackled from many different angles and on many different scales. The right approach varies from project to project. The important thing is to address it early and revisit it often.

Do I Need a Strategy?

Community Thoughts on Start with Strategy...

  1. 1. Mental Models: Aligning Design Strategy with Human Behavior by Indi Young via Rosenfeld Mental models give you a deep understanding of people’s motivations and thought-processes, along with the emotional and philosophical landscape in which they are operating.
  2. 2. Strategy vs. Design Thinking by Kingshuk Das via Medium Organizations looking to grow often find themselves caught between conventional and newer approaches to innovation. While traditional strategy calls for rigorous analysis and critical thinking, design thinking espouses ‘thinking by doing’. The key is to find the sweet spot between the two approaches.
  3. 3. Strategy by Design by Tim Brown via Fast Company People need to have a visceral understanding—an image in their minds—of why you’ve chosen a certain strategy and what you’re attempting to create with it. Design is ideally suited to this endeavor. It can’t help but create tangible, real outcomes.
  4. 4. What is strategy? by Mike Arauz via Medium The practice of figuring out the best way to get from here to there.

Headed to SXSW Interactive this year? Join the Viget SXSW 2017 Happy Hour on Sunday, March 12, 2017 from 3pm-5pm CT @ Craft Pride!


And be sure to check out our recommendations: SXSW 2017 Sessions You Shouldn’t Miss

We are designers, engineers, and strategists.

We believe the best work happens when talented people trust each other enough to be real and take risks. We’re looking to grow our team and are especially interested in finding the right people for the following roles:

Have an unsolvable problem or audacious idea? We’d love to hear about it.

We work with clients around the globe to solve their biggest challenges with a vision to create an elegantly connected, digitally enhanced, well-communicated world.

Contact Us

Washington, DC Metro
105 West Broad Street
4th Floor
Falls Church, VA 22046

Durham, NC
309 E. Chapel Hill Street
4th Floor
Durham, NC 27701

Boulder, CO
1002 Walnut St.
3rd Floor
Boulder, CO 80302

Chattanooga, TN
1404 Cowart St.
Chattanooga, TN 37408

Viget