Keep Control

Keep Control is a fundamental design principle and methodology focused on maintaining consistent authority and oversight throughout the design process, from conception to final implementation. This comprehensive approach encompasses various aspects of design management, including quality assurance, creative direction, and project governance, ensuring that the original vision and intended outcomes are preserved while allowing for necessary adaptations and improvements. The concept emerged from the increasing complexity of design projects and the need to maintain coherence across multiple touchpoints, particularly in large-scale design initiatives. In industrial and product design, Keep Control manifests through rigorous prototyping, testing, and validation procedures that ensure design integrity throughout the manufacturing process. In digital design, it involves maintaining consistent user experiences across different platforms and devices while adhering to established design systems and guidelines. The principle extends to brand design, where maintaining control over visual identity elements, messaging, and brand expression across various media and applications is crucial for building and preserving brand equity. Design professionals often implement Keep Control through structured workflows, documentation, and review processes, utilizing various tools and methodologies to track changes, manage versions, and ensure compliance with design specifications. This systematic approach has become increasingly important in contemporary design practice, where projects often involve multiple stakeholders, distributed teams, and complex technical requirements. The principle's significance is recognized in professional design competitions, including the A' Design Award, where control over design execution and consistency in implementation are key evaluation criteria. Keep Control also encompasses the management of design assets, intellectual property protection, and the maintenance of design standards across different markets and cultural contexts, making it an essential aspect of global design operations.

Author: Lucas Reed

Keywords: design management, quality control, creative direction, brand consistency, design governance, project oversight, workflow management, design standards, design integrity

Help us improve the Design+Encyclopedia, contribute your alternative definition for Keep Control today!

About the Design+Encyclopedia
The Design+Encyclopedia is a crowd-sourced reference of information on design. Unlike other crowd-sourced publications on design, the Design Encyclopedia is edited and actively monitored and publishing is only possible after review of submitted texts. Furthermore, editors of the Design Encyclopedia are mostly consisting of award winning designers who have proven their expertise in their design respective fields. Information posted at design encyclopedia is copyrighted, you are not granted a right to use the text for any commercial reasons, attribution is required. If you wish to contribute to the design encyclopedia, please first register or login to A' Design Award and then start a new design encyclopedia entry.