Ic3 Letter-10 Design Economy

Marketing Technology Letter

September 2006 – NO.10

The design economy Introducing a new tool: a practical design yardstick A different way to explore essential parameters that affect the rational and emotional aspects of a design —— Partly published in our blog at http://ic3.squarespace.com/

Design is not only the way to express creativity, but also a means to implement new ideas (i.e. innovate) with maximum impact.

While innovation is one of the main ‘engines’ of the new economy, design is playing a increasing role in the development of competitive products and systems and, by extension, in the creation of marketing materials and programmes, and of documents of all kinds. Design is a key factor that differentiates winning companies and products from average ones. The ‘design economy’ is a major subset of the new economy. MINI CASE STUDY: Why is the Apple iPod a market leader in spite of its premium

price? Primarily because of its superior user-centred design, don’t you agree? Probably also because the Apple brand leverages a long history of design prowess. For Apple, design is a critical success factor. Now, why is the iPod design superior? At first glance, because the little box is simple, attractive and, for most users, likeable. The product catches immediate attention through its aesthetics. However, a further analysis shows that the iPod also stands out because it offers an appropriate set of functions; because it is easy to understand and to use, following the long Apple tradition in superior usability; and because it fits well (and feels nice) into one’s hand, with all functions accessible through the thumb. In other words, the iPod design scores high in both subjective and objective domains. Have a look at the five-category design yardstick we have developed: the iPod scores high in all five categories. That’s why we think it’s a superior design, with a near- perfect balance between reason and emotions.

design yardstick: a simple, practical tool enabling the evaluation and the implementation of good designs that balance objective and subjective factors

Imagination is more important than knowledge Albert Einstein

Our design yardstick touches on the main rules and principles from domains as diverse as engineering, usability, aesthetics, psychology and other disciplines. Engineers and industrial designers tend to approach design from a rational point-of-view and focus on measurable parameters. Artists and other ‘creatives’ work on the other side of the spectrum; but they also have to master the technical aspects of their discipline (how to mix colours for a painting; how to combine harmonies in music; how to set up a camera; etc.). Reciprocally, in the last ten years or so, scientists and engineers have ‘discovered’ the importance of feelings in the design of successful products (examples of this trend include books such as Emotional Intelligence [1] and Emotional Design [2]). That's why we think that our yardstick can help engineers, product developers, marketers and other professionals to design superior systems, products, software, websites, marketing materials and programmes and so on. It is fairly simple, practical and complete*. What do you think? [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_intelligence%20 [2] http://www.jnd.org/books.html#&Dbook_notes * our blog (http://ic3.squarespace.com/) contains several examples on how to use the yardstick

CONTACT US :

IC3 Limited

www.IC3marketing.com

tel : +44 (0) 20 8339 0709

Copyright IC3 Limited 2006 – All rights reserved

e-mail : [email protected]