Strategic design planners are interested in the big picture. They help clients create innovation throughout an industry rather than in one individually designed object or communication. First, the strategic design planners develop a point of view about what the client needs to do. Then they orchestrate the use of a wide variety of design specialties. The end result integrates these specialties into an entire vision for the client and the customer. This approach unites business goals, such as customer satisfaction of increasing market share, with specific design performance.

The scope of strategic design planning is illustrated by one Doblin Group project. Customer satisfaction was the goal of the Amoco Customer-Driven Facility. Larry Keeley, a strategic design planner at the Doblin Group, relates that “the idea was to reconceive the nature of the gas station. And like many design programs, this one began with a rough sketch that suggested how gas stations might function very differently.” The design team needed to go beyond giving Amoco a different “look.” They needed to consider customer behavior, the quality of the job for employees, the kinds of fuel the car of the future might use, and thousands of other details. Everything was to be built around the convenience and comfort of customers.

Keeley and his team collaborated with other design and engineering firms to analyze, prototype, and pilot-test the design. The specific outcomes of the project include developments that are not often associated with graphic design. For example, the project developed new construction materials as well as station-operation methods that are better for the environment and the customer. A gas nozzle that integrated the display of dispensed gas with a fume-containment system was also developed. This system was designed to be particularly user-friendly to handicapped or elderly customers. For Amoco itself, software-planning tools were developed to help the company decide where to put gas stations so that they become good neighbors. These new kinds of gas stations are now in operation and are a success.