Masters of design

In design, innovation is often sparked by confronting the unfamiliar. VCUQatar’s graduates make design the core of a business’ differentiation strategy.

The power of design runs far deeper than aesthetics. Chris Bangle, BMW's design chief, once said that the "definition semanticists use for ‘design' is meaning. Where there is meaning, there is design."

Put another way, behind every design is a process - a thought process. And that process transcends design itself. If you are mapping out a sales strategy, streamlining a manufacturing operation, or crafting a new system for innovating - if you work in the world of business - you are engaged in the practice of design.

For design, like business, is all about solving problems. Every design process confronts a time problem, a material problem, and a function problem.

And there are problems that spill over into the wider world of sales and marketing: What's the first point of customer contact? Where is the product sold? And what does the design do for the brand? The implications are clear: Design matters - to all of us. And that is why it is critical to any business' strategic direction.

In today's conservative economic environment, where most entrepreneurs are hunkering down and playing it safe, the constant round of new challenges is to design a new system or product that keeps everybody fresh.

Businesses have to make sure what customers discover on the shelves is different - more stylish, more current, and better-designed - than what they were finding in the marketplace.

Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar provides the platform for fresh heroes and heroines to design new ways of working, competing, learning, leading and innovating.

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