The Value Proposition
Design—good design—is not cheap. You would
be better served to spend your money on something else if you don't
place a high value on what it can achieve. There's a view in Buddhism
that there's no "good" karma and no "bad" karma,
there's just karma. The same can't be said for design. Karma is
a universal condition. Design is a human act (which often affects
conditions) and, therefore, subject to many variables. When the
word design is used here, it is always in the context of good design.
A lot of famous people have written many famous books on the importance
of design and creativity. The subject matter ranges from using design
and creativity to gain a strategic advantage or make the world a
more livable place—and more. Much more. The focus here is
on how to make the process of design work in the business environment
so that the end product lives up to its potential. We live in a
time of sensory assault. Competing for "eyeballs"—which
is to say, customers—is more than just an Internet phenomenon.
The challenge for companies everywhere is to attract consumers to
their products and services and keep them in the face of fickle
markets. The answer to this challenge starts with each company's
people, products and services, but it doesn't end there. How companies
communicate to their markets and constituencies is becoming the
primary means of differentiation today. Never, in fact, has effective
communication been more important in business. And it has increased
the pressure within companies to establish environments and attitudes
that support the success of creative endeavors, internally and externally.
More often than not, companies that value design lead the pack.
What design is, and what design isn't
Design often has the properties of good looks, which perhaps
is why it's often confused with style. But design is about the underlying
structure of communicating—the idea, not merely the surface
qualities. The late, great designer Saul Bass called this "idea
nudity"—messages that stand on their unadorned own.
Certainly, it's possible for a good idea to be poorly executed.
But bad ideas can't be rescued. When, for example, a global fashion
house put verses from the Koran on the back pockets of its designer
jeans for all the world to sit on, that was a bad idea before it
was ever designed and produced. And the outcry of indignant Muslims
worldwide loudly attested to this. Using a different color or type
style wouldn't have changed the outcome.
Ideas give design its weight, its ability to influence audiences
positively, negatively or not at all.
The object of design
Design is about the whole, not the parts. If you wear your $2,500
Armani suit with the wrong pair of shoes, you are apt to be remembered
for the shoes and not the suit. Inconsistency raises doubt and doubt
makes people wary. This might not matter much if customers didn't
have alternatives, but customers do. And they know it. So?
So, it isn't enough for a company to have a great logo if the communications
effort isn't carried out across the full spectrum of the company's
interaction with its marketplaces—from how the telephone is
answered to corporate identity; branding; packaging; print materials;
advertising; Internet, intranet, interactive multimedia and Web-related
communications; and environmental graphics. The "swoosh"
didn't make Nike a successful company. Nike made the "swoosh"
an iconic reflection of a carefully orchestrated approach to the
marketplace. (For better or worse, the marketplace is now deluged
with "swoosh"-like shapes identifying companies ranging
from sportswear to software. It's the frame of reference for what
many think of when visualizing the word "mark.") It's
unlikely the "swoosh" would be so memorable had it stayed
confined to, say, hangtags on shoes.
Books about design and business.
• 6 Chapters in Design, Saul Bass
• Advertising the American Dream, Making Way For Modernity,
1920-1940, Roland Marchand.
• AIGA: Professional Practices in Graphic Design, AIGA
• Being Digital, Nicholas Negroponte • Blur: The Speed
of Change in the Connected Economy, Stan Davis & Christopher
Meyer
• Bradbury Thompson: The Art of Graphic Design, Bradbury
Thompson
• The Cluetrain Manifesto, the End of Business as Usual,
Christopher Locke
• Gain. AIGA Journal of Design for the Network Economy
• The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual,
Christopher Locke
• Creating the Corporate Soul: the Rise of Public Relations
and Corporate Imagery in American Big Business, Roland Marchand.
• The Death of Distance, Francis Cairncross
• How Buildings Learn, Stewart Brand • Jamming: The
Art and Discipline of Corporate Creativity, John Kao
• Land of Desire, Marchants, Power, and the Rise of a New
American Culture, William Leach.
• Leadership Jazz : Composing Voice and Touch, Max Depree.
• The Lexus and the Olive Tree, Thomas L. Fiedman •
Looking Closer: Classical Writings on Graphic Design, ed. Michael
Bierut
• Magic Motorways, Norman Bel Geddes
• Manager's Guide to Excellence in Public Relations And
Communications Management, David M. Dozier.
• New Rules for the New Economy, Kevin Kelly
• No Logo, Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies, Naomi Klein.
• Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool's Guide
to Surviving With Grace, Gordon MacKenzie
• Organizing Genius, The Secrets of Creative Collaboration,
Warren Bennis & Patricia Ward Biederman.
• Slave in a Box: The Strange Career of Aunt Jemima, M.
M. Manring.
• Thoughts on Design, Paul Rand
• Where the Suckers Moon, The Life and Death of An Advertising
Campaign, Randall Rothenberg.
©2004 AIGA