Design Outsourcing

by Megan Dorn
As Director of Design for Cincinnati-based product development firm Kaleidoscope, Demetrius Romanos leads a team of multidisciplinary specialists in design, strategy and research. Over the past seven years his team has worked with clients that include Motorola, Procter & Gamble, International Trucks, Staples, Evenflo and Ethicon Endo-surgery.
Demetrius recently answered some questions for us [...]

Outsourcing — the practice of using outside firms to handle work normally performed within a company — is a familiar concept to many entrepreneurs. Small companies routinely outsource their payroll processing, accounting, distribution, and many other important functions — often because they have no other choice. Many large companies turn to outsourcing to cut costs. [...]

Here’s an old article from Wired magazine about the rise of Crowdsourcing.
Crowdsourcing is a neologism for the act of taking tasks traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing them to a group (crowd) of people or community in the form of an open call. For example, the public may be invited to develop [...]

A good article about Design Outsourcing, from Parametric Technology Corporation (makers of Pro/ENGINEER CAD software. You can visit their website for the full pdf link.
During the past decade, there has been rapid growth of design outsourcing as a key
operational driver for companies to compete globally, increase productivity, and improve
profitability. Manufacturers are transforming their product [...]

Here’s a video about the next major outsourcing destination. The Philippines is known to have good quality education, a multi-cultural ethnic mix, and sensitivity and understanding of the Western culture, having been a Spanish colony for more than 300 years, and an American ally since the end of the 19th century:

By Spencer Nugent
I’ve met alot of designers in my limited experience that complain about the “sketchers”. Sometimes designers with an aptitude for sketching get labeled as being shallow or non-creative. However, I see sketching as a means to and end rather than the end all. When all is said and done, regardless of how flashy [...]

Another interesting video that gives you a snapshot of the effects of outsourcing on one country, particularly India.
Have a look and let me know what you think:

No one could argue the success of a man like Steve Jobs who has become one of the most successful entrepreneurs of our time. He started with nothing and went on to create Apple computers with Steve Wozniak. At one point Steve Jobs was the CEO of Pixar Animation Studios. I really enjoyed reading Steve [...]

Being a creative type, I long for the day when I will become my own boss, work less hours, and live by the beach.  I know a lot of people who share the same dream.  The problem is, we are tied to our day job, trying to survive each day, week, month.  We work hard [...]

Here’s another list of indispensable resources for the freelance professional (regardless of your field):
1.   Freelance Switch -  FreelanceSwitch is a community of expert freelancers from around the world.   They have a website chock-full of relevant resources to suit every freelancer’s needs.  There is a forum, and a job board and free listings/directory.   A must for [...]