Design Means Business / Business Means Design

[Katrina Neufeld]

With The Ignite Series¹ "Snuff your competition with style" workshop, less than a month away, I find myself deeply engrossed in exploring the exciting and evolving relationship between design and the economy.

Since I am writing this on my iPhone and am flying 20,000 feet above the ground, rather than a formal blog entry I offer the following insightful quotes from my in-flight reading material: A whole new mind: moving from the Information Age to the Conception Age by Daniel H. Pink.

"Design is a classic whole-minded aptitude. It is...a combination of utility and significance...today utility has become widespread, inexpensive, and relatively easy to achieve--which has increased the value of significance." (Pink, 70)

"Companies traditionally have competed on price or quality, or some combination of the two. But today decent quality and reasonable price have become merely table stakes in the business game--the entry ticket for being allowed in the marketplace. Once companies satisfy those requirements they are forced to compete less on functional or financial qualities and more on ineffable qualities such as whimsey, beauty, and meaning." (Pink, 77-78)

"For every percent of sales invested in product design, a company's sales and profits rise by an average of 3 to 4 percent, according to research at the London Business School." (Pink, 78)

"[One] of design's most potent economic effects is [the] capacity to create new markets. The forces of Abundance, Asia, and Automation turn goods and services into commodities so quickly that the only way to survive is by constantly developing new innovations..." (Pink, 81)

"Design is a high-concept aptitude that is difficult to outsource or automate--and that increasingly confers a competitive advantage in business. " (Pink, 86)

Here are two other quotes on the topic by respected business people:

"At Sony, we assume that all products of our competitors have basically the same technology, price, performance, and features. Design is the only thing that differentiates one product from another in the workplace."
- Norio Ohga, Chairman, Sony

"Manufacturers have begun to recognize that we can't compete with the pricing structure and labor costs of the Far East. So how can we compete? It has to be with design."
- Paul Thompson, Director, Cooper-Hewitt Museum

Viva la design!

1. The Ignite Series is a collection of workshops designed to teach businesses how to increase earnings through design. The series is organized by Nick Gundry through a partnership with Fresno Design Alliance and Central Valley Business Incubator.