Establishing the design management consultant as an innovation intermediary: Michael Farr (Design Integration) as an early outlier in networked organization

This paper investigates the emergence of design management as a professional practice through historical analysis of Michael Farr (Design Integration), founded in 1961 as Europe’s first independent design management consultancy. Drawing on materials from the V&A Archive of Art & Design, supported by secondary sources, it examines how MFDI occupied a jurisdictional gap between design practice and business management in post-war Britain. Using Abbott’s theory of professional jurisdiction, the study shows how Farr sought to define and legitimise this new professional role. A key influence was Bruce Archer and the emerging Design Methods movement, whose systematic approaches shaped MFDI’s organizational model and operational philosophy. Archer’s frameworks guided the coordination of remote freelance designers and the structuring of design processes. By analysing these early experiments, the paper sheds light on the challenges of professionalising design management, establishing legitimacy, and coordinating knowledge-intensive work – issues that still resonate in contemporary design practice and consultancy.