Design Finds You by Mark Dziersk

01:10 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

A Bigger Design Tent

A while back I went to a lecture by Enzo Mari, the extraordinary Italian designer. It was a terrific talk. When asked to name the best American designers of the last one hundred years he named, Edison, Buckminster Fuller, Eames. While not necessarily classic “designers”, these people were known for solving problems and using “Design thinking” to do it. That is what has sustained their reputations and our admiration over all this time. I thought Edison was the most interesting choice, and Mari made the point, "some of you may not think of him as a designer". But a true Design Thinker he certainly was. I believe because Edison knew that success was in the method as much as the idea.

Another thing that Mari did, a method he used, he gave the entire lecture using only a blackboard and a piece of chalk as visual aid. He never showed us any of the great objects or furniture he designed only the quality of his thinking. Using a piece of chalk to create sometimes-rudimentary diagrams and flowcharts of his ideas. It reminded me of DaVinci who invented the contact lens and the helicopter on paper centuries before technology made it possible to get there. The journey is as important as the destination. The lecture needless to say, was captivating.

I've always thought of design being more important when thought of as a verb. Recently working with a colleague on the topic of raising design “Quality” on a program, that is to say, the quality of the ideas some teams were generating, we decided one approach would be to institutionalize the protocol of “early and often”. Rough sketches, scribbles, word pictures before committing to the idea. This got me to thinking how relatively easy it is for everyone who wishes to be able to participate in design thinking and on design teams, to in fact participate. The point down the road where a “trained designer is called upon to execute is just that, “down the road. The “big tent” means using non threatening methods to invite more participation. After all 5 minds working on a problem for an hour will almost always yield a better answer than one person working for 5 hours.

Mark

Just for fun - http://vimeo.com/1778399

11:54 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

another turning point

Earlier this year I served on a jury. The IDEA jury, (the Industral Designers Society of America /Businessweek)sponsored competition. It was a great experience and a well qualified jury by any measure.  In that competition my company Brandimage, entered a design, a paper water bottle concept. (you can see it here; www.brand-image.com  Or just Google it). It didn't win one of the big awards, ( I was recused from the judging by the way), but it did make finalist. Once the IDSA announced the entire list of winners, the concept was put onto the internet, more specifically, the blog-o-shpere.

Once into the blog-o-sphere, the concept was viewed and judged, not by a group of international jurors, but rather, by everyone.  Many were big fans. So many infact, that the concept went viral. So many people grabbed the concept and then catapulted it to other sites and blogs. It became the single most effective P.R. piece we have ever experienced. Literally hundreds of posts seen by thousands.

I am struck by how the power of sharing, enabled by the internet, and the recognition of the idea by the many, superseeded the opinion of a few. Even, if you will, the qualified few.

My wonder is, is this kind of exposure an indicator of the future of judging good/great design. Are the days of passing judgement by juries, and the value of that kind of judging, the thing of days gone by.....

Mark

10:55 am | 1 recommendation | Be the first to comment

Perception vs. Reality

Going through the blogs on the Fast Co site, I was particularly struck by the insights contained in a blog entitled: Fish on Friday: Two Dramatic Statistics Bracket Today’s Sweet & Sour Economy.

The writer, Charles Fishman explains:

“Earlier this week, Whole Foods Market, which runs the nation’s most entrancing and most expensive grocery stores, reported its quarter at $1.5 million in total profit." Doing the math Mr. Fishman has figured out that those numbers, based on number stores etc..... deliver $6.40 an hour in profit, if the store is open 10 hours.”

And he goes on;

"Yes, Whole Foods’ quarter included some one-time charges, but the next time you’re in your local Whole Foods, pondering both the prices and the experience; remember that the whole place could be earning the company less than minimum wage. And if you spend enough, you could easily provide the profit for the hour."

In the old school of the Design and Brand business it was often said - perception is reality. In other words, how something appeals to consumers will determine its success or failure just as much as how much it costs or performs.

In the new school of design thinking, there's a shift: the consumer experience determines success or failure. Whole Foods is undeniably a great shopping experience. It is also sometimes referred to tongue in cheek as "Whole Paycheck".

The fate of this canary will be interesting too watch with the turn in the U.S and Global economy. Will the mandate of design as consumer experience run into the re-emergence of Don Draper and his ilk? My guess is that the dip will pick off a few high flyers but that due to the way that consumers are informed today the shift is here to stay. One hopes a great experience like Whole Foods can ride the wave Also, on a larger note, that enough traction has been gained to encourage companies headed down the "Design is Consumer Experience" path to stay the course.

06:03 pm | 1 recommendation | 2 comments

Buy.ology: Why We Buy What We Do

It seems that I spend a great deal of time these days talking about the subconcious emotional drivers of designs. It turns out that there are very good reasons we all "buy" what we do. Reasons that are tied into our biology, culture, and our individual manner of nuture.

I first became aware of this kind of thinking when studing the work of Rudolph Arnhiem- and his seminal book on Art and Visual expression as an undergrad at the University of Michigan. Now comes Author Martin Lindstrom, with an amazing new lense on the topic, using neuroscience to get an even tighter perspective. The info below from a Time magazine review of his new book " Buy.ology".

What do Rosary Beads and Red Bull have in common? A lot, it seems. Marketing guru Lindstrom and his team hooked up 65 people to special MRI machines to find out what their brains revealed about the connection between religion and brand loyalty. For days, the researchers ran images--like those of the Pope and a bottle of Coca-Cola--by the wired subjects. The resulting brain scans were arresting. It turns out that there is virtually no difference between the way the brain reacts to religious icons or figures and powerful brands. Nike is a goddess, after all.

The experiment is quintessential Lindstrom. The author, who spends 300 days a year on the road, teaching major companies how to market their brands, has an original, inquisitive mind. His new book is a fascinating look at how consumers perceive logos, ads, commercials, brands and products. Lindstrom conducted a three-year, $7 million neuromarketing study (sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline and Bertelsmann, among others) that measured the brain activity of 2,000 volunteers from around the world. Some of the results confirmed marketing-industry hunches; others flew in the face of conventional wisdom. A few findings from the well-traveled savant:

• Product placement on the TV or movie screen is generally useless (unless you are selling it). Viewers tune it out like white noise. It works only when the product is fundamental to the story line.

• Cigarette warning labels not only do not deter smoking but actually encourage smokers to light up. The reason? The nucleus accumbens, or the "craving spot" in the brain, is stimulated by the sight of the warning.

• Is subliminal advertising still used? You bet. There are even stores that play music containing concealed recorded messages prodding shoppers to buy more or not to shoplift.

• Contrary to popular belief, sex usually doesn't sell products. But controversies about sex in ads do (see Calvin Klein or Abercrombie & Fitch).

The author insists he doesn't study buyology, which he defines as "the multitude of subconscious forces that motivate us to buy," to help companies launch nefarious marketing schemes. Rather, he says, "my hope is that the huge majority will wield this same instrument for good: to better understand ourselves--our wants, our drives and our motivations--and use that knowledge for benevolent, and practical, purposes." Well, maybe. But then again, he has nothing to sell us.

01:27 pm | 2 recommendations | 4 comments

Innovation's true character....

So the economic crisis is in full force and juxtaposed against what also currently appears to be a full commitment to Design and Innovation by business.  In front of us, there is a moment of truth. The question now becomes, will the commitment to innovation survive the enevitable onslaught of cost cutting and retreat to safer ground?

How many newly minted Chief Innovation officers will be able to make the case and continue to take risks and advance and nuture a vision of the future?

I am teaching a class tonite in which the core topic is Bang & Olufsen, the Danish company that has always lead from a design standpoint. More than a few lessons to learn there, and the case study (Harvard Business School 9-607-016) is an inspiration in light of today's new realities. A company who's true commitment to design and innovation has survived trial and success.

10:25 am | 1 recommendation | Be the first to comment

The answer my friend...

There is a change in the wind. I am just back from a recent design conference, the IDSA National Conference, and one has the sense that two dramatic changes are in play. First, the idea that design's service to society should be its primary purpose, not design as leverage for commericial purposes. If this is to be the future, the question then becomes: how is it funded? I wonder if anyone has thoughts on that.

The second change I sensed is the refreshing and amazingly low-key attitude and profile of the attendees. The setting, the Arizona desert, might have had something to do with that, but this was not business as usual. In fact it was more of a get away than business at all. (Two things I'd never seen before - celebration of past success and casual conversations from the stage). As competition tightens and design takes its "seat at the table", do you find that design and designers are becoming more casual in approach? Your thoughts?

Mark

03:41 pm | 1 recommendation | Be the first to comment

A Glass Half Full...

I was speaking with my colleague Rob Swan who found most of the following on Mark Sigal’s Blog. A simple, yet profound truth. I believe that most designers are naturally disposed to think this way. Of course, not all designers and not all the time. That said, when teams are all disposed to think this way that's when the real magic happens...

".....I learned to always assume positive intent. Whatever anybody says or does, assume positive intent. You will be amazed at how your whole approach to a person or a problem becomes very different. When you assume negative intent, you're angry. If you take away that anger and assume positive intent, you will be amazed. You don't get defensive. You don't scream. You are trying to understand and listen..." Indra Nooyi, Chairman and CEO of Pepsico.

Think of the assumption of positive intent as a kind of 'pose,' and noodle for a moment on the ripple effect that it creates.

For one, adopting this pose validates the general desire that others have to be perceived favorably. It's a simple truth, but when your body language is favorable to others, they are more likely to ACT favorably to you.

Two, by adopting this pose, you soften your heart, relax your muscles and open your ears. My experience is that greater outcomes tend to come from openness, optimism and agility than narrowness, skepticism and tension so adopting such a pose is less a matter of idealism and more one of self-interest.

Assume Positive Intent

Mark

07:28 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

The Water Cube

Is it just me or does anyone else want to live in the Water Cube? Well not the actual Water Cube, but in an environment like that. If you are not familiar with it, the Water cube is the clean and smart looking modern structure built as the swimming venue for the Beijing Olympics. It, along with the "Birds Nest", (the much heralded Olympic stadium), are making this designer's veiwing of the Olympics a very enjoyable experience. The Water Cube looks a little bit like a giant Apple store. While I am huge fan of modernism and the "New modernism movement, it bothers me that a sports hall, a computer store and my dream home all share the same aesthetic ideals, colors, and even material executions.

Perhaps it's the nagging memory of the first modern movement having been killed by uninspired uniformity. Don't want that to happen again. I'll tell you what, when they do the Starbucks coffee chain over, (and you know they will, they are in a spot of trouble), when they do the interiors over,... they better not come out looking like the Water cube.

Mark

06:43 pm | 1 recommendation | Be the first to comment

Branded in China

Post contribution by Craig Briggs- Brandimage

There are many cliches that exist in people’s minds in the corporate world about other parts of the world. The little we might know of far away lands come from sources that are either superficial in detail or merely steeped in historical generalities. Take Shanghai for instance. Most people think it’s somewhere in China, which is correct. But do you have any idea where? It is located on the same latitude as Georgia. The size of the city of Shanghai is staggering. New York City is slightly over 300 square miles with a population of slightly over 8 million people. Shanghai is well over 2,200 square miles with a population well over 16 million. Every single aspect of its educational, governmental and industry infrastructure is growing. People are becoming more educated, living longer, earning more money, buying more things. Shanghai is one city of 31 other provinces and regions.

Economically, the city and surrounding regions of South East China are on a similar upward growth path. Even during these very difficult times of sluggish economic growth and declining markets, China’s upward momentum is continuing while other economies are either stagnant or in decline. Amazingly, few of us know very little about the city and most of the rest of that region.

I gave a speech to The Chinese Manufacturers’ Association of Hong Kong a few weeks ago. The organization represents thousands and thousands of manufacturing companies throughout this thriving and growing South East China region. 99.9% of the companies you’ve never heard of, yet they are the global manufacturing backbone for a staggering vast array of electronics, durable products, equipment, plastic components, and structural packages for some of the most powerful brands in the world. They are the OEM manufacturer to the world. They hold the power of production for brands worth billions and billions of dollars in sales to companies all over the United States and Europe. As we all know, in the dynamic and cerebral world of high-stakes marketing and world-class innovation, we don’t think of manufacturing and production as the group to lead the charge.

We’ve grow accustom to telling a manufacturer what to make, why, when and even how. They aren’t part of consumer insights, brand and marketplace strategy, consumer interaction and research, the design process, retail and merchandising design, or most executive-level decision making. This is the mindset in most parts of the world and within most of the largest and most powerful branded product and CPG corporations in the world. When you take these outdated yet prevalent ways of thinking, and put them into the context of an area most people can’t find on a map, yet alone visit and spend time with people talking about what they do and want to be doing, you create a cliché of gigantic proportions. So, who cares? What’s the big deal? My brands are invincible, powerful and forever. How could this ever affect me? My friends at the CMA of HK fully understand their place in the pecking order. They also know that as the global economy dips, so does the demand of their services. They are in the growth hot-spot of the world; the center of opportunity; the bastion of unfathomable change – and they are doing everything for everyone else.

The prevailing thought is why continue to do things they way they have always been done? What if manufacturers dreamt of growth in a new and different way? What if they innovated in the area of partnering? In doing so, they would change the rules of the game. What I hear is that is exactly what many, many, many manufacturers are thinking about throughout South Eastern China.

Instead of being the known as “Made in China”, they are seriously investigating the much more profitable game-changing notion of being known as “Branded in China”. What if a substantially large amount of manufacturers decided to make their own brands? What if they partnered with global design agencies and pumped new products and packages into the marketplace? Consider the sheer size of their marketplace. Now consider the enormity of branded competition that would flood out of the region and country and become a new and innovative part of the global marketplace and economy. The largest influx of new products and packages ever seen would be totally new and fresh, relevant and made to be what it should be for consumers, without being hindered to evolve existing brands or be constrained by an outdated or amortized manufacturing and production facility. From a design standpoint, can anyone think of a brand that comes form China? Name one single brand. What if every single United States and European brand had a new competitor from a place that was thriving economically, had unlimited physical growth and the output was controlled by the very people who actually produce it?

05:59 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

Designer Nomads

Designers are everywhere these days. The profession like many others, has become extremely portable.

Designers are often in situation learning about consumer and user experiences. Working from mobile devices. Rendering on tablets instead of tables and sending info and documents real time. It used to be that a busy Design studio was one where it was quite large and there was a lot of activity and milling about. Now I think really successful studios can be smaller and quieter because of how transportable everything has become. No more drawing boards and drawers full of tools. Being there and acting quickly the new norm.

Just an observation but design appears to be on the move in more ways than one these days.

Mark