saying 'design is our north star' while utterly gutting OB sends the opposite signal to both our teams & guests... this can work a bit, but eventually this will cost us big time. i do not want to rant about this too much as today is a very difficult day for many but i am just saying that this will sink us even deeper and it will trigger even more layoffs.
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@OP everything went downhill when they messed with the pyramids and moved design and tech design into different areas. Aligning with sourcing makes no sense at all. When I was a TD at Target I had to sit through all team meetings that only talked about things related to sourcing which I knew nothing about. It was such a waste. Everything made way more sense when design and technical were under the same umbrella and had meetings together that were applicable to everyone there. I really hope they relook at pyramid alignment and realize some things were better before they messed with it.
@aa Watch this thread disappear soon; especially because we are calling out Design Leadership; people they KNOW we are specifically talking about. Quick. Someone take screenshots!
And the reason why they ask for these to be taken down is because they are threatened by us airing our dirty laundry; and shattering this public perception (and my own compared to when I first started) that TGT is all about Caring, Growing and Winning; when it isn't anymore.
I will most certainly not lie if a young designer reaches out to me on Linkedin and asks me if I recommend the Design Dept. at TGT. I will say no; not in its current state. Not until they clean house.
Regardless of how this plays out. I hope more attention in OB is placed on competition. I was with Target for decades and spent time in OB. I cannot believe how overpriced products are compared to the real places people shop today. Design is not just about the style or the form. It's the whole experience. Who thinks Champion or Woolrich are trend forward? Boomers? (I know that is not owned brand)
@ak And a creative team & studio in Los Angeles.
@af Whats interesting is Walmart has a huge campus in Bentonville but chose to build their design team in NYC. That was strategic to attract the best talent in Design. Im surprised we havent followed suit considering we follow everything they do. But Im surprised leadership hasnt proposed the idea yet.
Style and design could still be a priority for leadership AND a we see a reduction in owned brands. Owned brands do not have a monopoly on design. I personally wouls hate to see this, but the ‘style’ could come from national or vendor owned brands vs Target owned brands.
@ad I speculate that the layoffs were allowed because leaders thought vendors could do more work. However, the internal design team often has to curate the vendor’s work and this takes considerable time. Vendors often peddle their designs to various retailers so expect a decrease in originality. If you look at team size in relation to dollars, credibility and strategy, many team structures make little sense. Design leadership is myopic and thoughtless about success of the total org. They equate size of their team to their personal success. The focus for design is no longer on guests, which was our North Star for ages. it’s now how many pids can you create and get out the door before you have to start your next delivery.
@a8 they can’t say design is priority when they keep cutting headcount from that department and giving the work to the vendors. This is what Walmart did 13-14 years ago, and their quality and reputation tanked. Now they’ve reopened design offices for in NYC and are building up their support for in-house owned brand design and their sales have taken off. Nothing in OB will change until the top two leaders in sourcing are shown the door.
@aa I would like this 1000 times if I could. Sourcing and design leadership from VP and above all need to go or nothing will never change.
I have worked in OB for 15+ years and let me tell you: the pocket layoffs the last year or so have been absolutely brutal for design. It is so evident that C-Suite is talking out of both sides of their mouths… They are making us run SO lean - I’m not sure how any of us could take on more.
@aa that is the correct answer. We have people who bombed on their surveys that are the ones making decisions and are completely set in their ways. What happened to people with terrible survey results? Nothing. They are still making the decisions. We have good designers who are completely hamstrung by leadership.
If OB could design affordable products that were actually good people wouldn’t be leaving Target for Walmart. OB is the worst offender of over developing an item.
Design is a total mess. Design will not improve as long as they continue to report to sourcing and have a person in the head design role that is not respected. Our leadership thinks the vendors offer better design work than their own team and yeah, maybe this is now true when their team has been belittled, gaslit and made to do things over repeatedly to suit someone’s personal point of view vs pleasing guests. How can innovative design work that will bring back the magic come from a VP who openly says they would fire the entire design team, doesn’t take accountability for their numerous failures and blames the entire team for bad survey results? Does anyone wonder why there are more vendor brands on the floor that no guest wants? It’s because design can’t get anything past a miserable roadblock of a human. I mourn the creative culture and spirit that Target once had.
Style/design has been a company priority ever since I’ve been here (10 years). Michael saying this is fluff and means nothing without specifics on where we mis-stepped and what we’re doing differently now
@OP I too continue to hear conflicting information on owned brands. It would be foolish to me to eliminate design of owned brands but I’m hearing that may happen. Anyone have any thoughts?
This is speculation, but nobody knows what departments will be “gutted”. My guess is that within OB, it might be the L8s and above that are causing bloat / overlap. I have heard murmurs over the last few months of “unnecessary” Principle Designers being laid off or consolidating VP or SVP roles because there’s too much overlap. Seeing speculation on how there’s a lot of bloat in merch too. Doesn’t mean all owned brands will be “gutted” though.
@OP do we know if owned brands will be gutted?
@OP are you hearing they are gutting owned brands?