Design your business strategy

Yariv Sade  (June 2011)
The author is the Design Director of IGLOO DESIGN STRATEGY, which specializes in user-experience research, strategic industrial design, and product development. He is a lecturer at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology's M.Sc. industrial design course and is a guest lecturer at various universities and in industry. He holds a M.Sc. in industrial design from the Technion, a B.Sc.T.E. in industrial design from the Holon Institute of Technology in Israel, and a teaching certificate in design from Tel Aviv University. He has received international design awards for several of his works.


Introduction
During the last decade, the product has moved to center stage. Consumers are no longer led astray by marketing campaigns and ads that promise them the world. They want the real thing in hand, one that both works properly and affords total user experience! They are no longer satisfied with a product that only works satisfactorily. They are looking for added value – a product that is attractive and inspiring, that they are proud to own; an appealing product that is enjoyable to use, well designed, and provides positive user experience. Companies that appreciate these insights and develop products that not only work well but answer the emotional and experiential needs of their target markets are promised loyal consumers willing to pay more for their products.
But this will not happen by chance – if they are working haphazardly, even a talented team of designers will find it difficult to come up with a winning design to dominate the market and sell large quantities at higher prices than the competition. It can only happen when meticulously-arrived-at business policies integrate design as part of the companies' strategy!

The Evolution of Industrial Design
Industrial design, in the form familiar to us today in the West, has grown and evolved as an independent discipline parallel to the evolution of modern industry, beginning in the mid-eighteenth century with the advent of the Industrial Revolution. Since then design has been associated with industry through various styles and fashions that through the years have been influenced by art, architecture, engineering, and industry.
In the final decades of the twentieth century, the emphasis in new-product development was to advance and improve usability and reliability through engineering and technology. This was an outgrowth of the common perception that a product's quality and competiveness was largely the result of performance and reliability. Consumers chose products rationally and pragmatically according to "What do I need?" and manufacturers invested in and developed products principally on the basis of demand (Bouchard, C.; Lim, D.; Aoussat, A. 2003). Companies advertised their products by emphasizing their functional and performance capabilities. Products were treated like technical objects whose function was to perform, in the best possible manner, the tasks it was intended for. Quality was almost only tested according to measurable functional parameters such as strength, speed, and lifespan.
All of the attention of the manufacturer – management through R&D, production, and quality control; marketing and advertising – was focused on the technical and functional quality of the products. Marketing experts searched for new functions; R&D departments, predominantly staffed by engineers, strove to provide the best technical solutions for the usability and reliability of the product. Production departments searched for technical solutions to make production more efficient and to lower production costs. Quality control departments consisted of testing equipment with which technicians could check the functioning and reliability of products. Manufacturing companies focused almost entirely on the hard characteristics of products – those characteristics that chiefly influence the functioning and reliability of the product, characteristics that can be tested with objective measuring tools (for example, calibrators, scales, and volume meters). Design during this period was for the most part concerned with the visual and decorative aspects of the product.
For example, manufacturers of electronic entertainment equipment produced VCRs with innumerable functions and options, based on the understanding that products are judged according to their capabilities. Manufacturers during this period competed in the marketplace by adding a large variety of functions to VCRs, disregarding the fact that most users had no idea how to use these functions. Such a plethora of options confused and frustrated many users, sometimes causing them to abandon the product entirely.
In recent years we have been witness to a true revolution in the world of consumer products, a revolution that caused branding, design, and user experience to take center stage and relegated technology and performance to the back. If in the past demand for quality products on the functional level was of utmost importance, today the demands of the market are changing. Manufacturers understand that while product performance and reliability are necessary to be present in the marketplace at all, it is no longer sufficient because today's consumers expect product gratification and total user experience, beyond usability and reliability. User experience is by large measured emotionally and experientially. "I want" has taken the place of "I need," and satisfaction with a product is principally influenced by user experience, with performance and reliability taken for granted (Bouchard, C.; Lim, D.; Aoussat, A. 2003). The change is most prominent in the consumer products market, though it has also penetrated professional technological markets, such as for industrial products and medical and security equipment.

The March 23, 2000, Time Magazine cover story was entitled "The Rebirth of Design" and subtitled "Function is out. Form is in." The article claimed that in the world of consumer products, the era of competition on the basis of function and performance had ended and an era of competition based on a product's character and the user experience it provides had begun.

For example, if in the recent past a computer was considered a technical implement judged largely according to its performance and reliability, today's consumers treat their P.C. much like a friend. People choose one computer over another because they think it is pretty, they "like it," and they enjoy working with it, based on its color, appearance, and the user experience it affords. Apple was able to take advantage of this insight and produce computers people love to love (including veritable idol worship of its products), because of experiential and friendly design, both of the product and the software (Turner, 2007). In the words of Don Norman, former Vice President of technology at Apple from 1993-1998: "Attractive things work better! When you wash and wax your car, it drives better; doesn't it? Or at least it feels like it does."

These market trends brought about a change in the criteria for developing products and in the marketing perceptions of manufacturers. The user became the focus of attention, and industrial design developed from being of secondary importance, mostly dealing with esthetics and decoration, to becoming a prime and guiding force in developing new products. Industrial design moved from the development and production spheres to supporting marketing and as well as company strategy. Leading companies learned to take advantage of design, which took center stage and became a fundamental tool, since industrial design is the field on which the character of the product and its user experience depends (Gobe', M.; Zyman, S., 2001).
If in the past the accepted practice was for the industrial designer to drape a design on an engineered product, today the order has been reversed and engineers must modify their plans to conform to design requirements. In recent years, it has become common to see industrial designers serve as project managers for new product development teams in cases when the product is not a technological breakthrough and the design element is dominant (Green, W.S.; Jordan, P.W., 2002).

Hard and Soft Attributes
During the design process, two types of product attributes – hard and soft – are of concern, and they are radically different in nature. Hard attributes are objective and measureable and have to do principally with the functioning and performance of a product; for example, strength, speed, weight, and price. They are mainly the purview of engineers. In contrast, soft attributes are subjective and emotional. They are described using words like attractive; young; sporty; pleasant; and feminine, and cannot be quantified or measured by objective means. For the most part these attributes have to do with the character of the product and the experience it offers the user. Soft product attributes are the purview of industrial designers.


The early twenty-first century marked the beginning of an era in which market competition changed from being based on functionality to being based on design and user experience, and from being based on the hard attributes of a product to being based on its soft ones. Effective product design management of aspects relating to the soft attributes of a product has a huge influence on if the product is attractive and well-suited to its target markets, and consequently on its ability to compete in the marketplace and its commercial success.
How can the soft attributes required for a successful product be characterized so that they accurately match the target markets?
How is a product's characterization of its soft attributes transformed into a product design using sketches, rendering, and models?
How is evaluation carried out and how are decisions made regarding the design quality vis-à-vis its soft attributes?

Producing a product characterization of a product's hard attributes and transforming it into a design is direct and relatively clear-cut. For example, if we are designing a backpack for hikers, the hard attributes are quite obvious – the product must be strong, light, and resistant to bad weather. Transforming the characterization into a product is also more or less clear-cut – the product should probably be made of light, strong materials and be manufactured using reliable production processes. But what about the soft attributes of a backpack? How are its appearance and character defined? Does it need to be sporty, or perhaps have a military look, or maybe be elegant? Let's say that we've reached the conclusion that a sporty look is the most appropriate. How do we transform sporty into form, color, and material? Are red straight lines sportier than blue curved lines? Is a coarse texture sportier than a delicate texture?
Regarding soft attributes, the design process is neither simple nor easy. Because designers have no formal methods or guidelines to follow, most employ intuition – they characterize the product and make decisions intuitively in keeping with their experience and personal taste.
After many years of design experience with clients from a wide range of industrial sectors, we realized that when dealing with soft product attributes the prevalent intuitive process left much to be desired. Decisions that have crucial consequences for the success of a product (and sometimes for the future of the entire company) are made using gut instincts and unrestricted intuition in an environment full of distractions: visual distractions – a good rendering of a mediocre solution will leave a much better impression than a mediocre rendering of a good solution; personnel distractions – since there is no way to verify information, there is a tendency to adopt the opinions of the dominant (personality- or hierarchy-wise) participant; and personal taste distractions – each participant brings to the discussion his or her personal taste, which is not necessarily relevant to the case at hand.
If, for example, we analyze a typical design meeting with hard product attributes on the agenda and the participants must choose from several alternatives for future development of a product, most of the participants come to the meeting prepared and the discussion will usually be relevant, practical, learned, and reasoned. (When this isn't the case, the reason is usually managerial and not professional). In contrast, when soft product attributes are on the agenda the situation is completely different. Most of the participants will arrive at the discussion unprepared (since there is no theoretical material available about the topic) and the discussion will be carried out without defined criteria; irrationally, with sentences such as "I like this more" frequently heard. Decisions will be made accordingly.
From interviews conducted with industrial designers and marketing experts and from an extensive study of the product characterizations of various products, it was discovered that most product characterizations for industry do not refer to the soft attributes of the products, and if they do, reference to them is sparing and unfocused. Thus, designers define the character and soft attributes of a product according to their past experience and interpretation, completely unfettered (and sometimes inadvertently). Later on in the design process, evaluation of the result is by and large carried out intuitively as well.

The Design Process
Until not so long ago, design lurked hidden inside R&D departments and had minimal influence on company strategy. The situation today is totally different, at least in those leading European and American companies that have come to appreciate design's capabilities for contributing much beyond its traditional function as an implementing tool for developing appealing products.
Industrial design is a wide and diversified field. It is multi-disciplined – interconnected with the world of art on one side and the world of engineering on the other. The design process is complex, multi-dimensional, and non-linear. In developing a new product, design begins with research and defining goals and demands, and ends with production and market penetration. The design process requires relating to a wide variety of fields, such as esthetics, ergonomics, material selection, production processes, user experience, and technology, to name just a few. Only a design process that is focused and effective and concerned with the soft attributes of a product as well as its hard can produce innovative and attractive products with high perceived value – products capable of competing with market rivals while maintaining high profitability and strengthening brand identity.

The design process can be divided into three stages:
1.  The information stage
The information stage involves strategy, marketing objectives, research, and product characterization, which itself includes defining and formulating the goals and demands (both hard and soft) of the product. It is also concerned with the various stakeholders and the marketplace.
The information stage does what its name says: its objective is to obtain information, produce insights, and characterize the product as precisely as possible to appeal to its target markets as defined by the marketing department. The information stage is probably the most important stage in the design process since this is when strategic decisions about design are made.
In order to formulate a precise product characterization for a new product at the start of the development process, comprehensive research on the product, category, and target markets must be carried out. The research includes quantitative research and a thorough review of existing informational materials, but mainly includes Qualitative User Experience Research to study the interaction between the different stakeholders (customer, user, operator, service provider, etc.) and the product during various usage scenarios. The research includes observation, questioning, and physical trials on the product and competing products. User Experience Research has enormous value in drawing insights in preparation for formulating the product characterization. Manufacturers who have sold a product for years have abundant quantitative and statistical information on the product and the market (quantities, prices, trends, etc.), but usually know little about the user experience of the various stakeholders. Is there a difference between left-handed and right-handed users? Is the appearance of the product suitable for women as well as men? Do adults understand how to use the product? How do users react when they experience problems? How is the product disposed of at the end of its usefulness? These and many more questions must be answered during the information stage – questions that must be translated into insights in the product characterization, insights that will influence user experience in important ways.
Most manufacturers know how to characterize the hard attributes of a product, but find it extremely difficult to characterize their soft attributes perceptively, when in today's world their marketing and economic value is enormous. Consequently, the contribution of designers during the information stage is essential and crucial to the marketing success of the product.

2. The Generation Stage
During the generation stage the product designer transforms the product characterization from a written text into material, form, and color through sketches, renderings, and models. This is the magic of design creation, when the spirit becomes tangible and ideas become products. The principle challenge during this stage is to come up with a design that fulfills all of the requirements laid out in the product characterization while at the same time causing that elusive gut feeling of excitement.
Most of the public, including professionals in the field, believe that the crucial responsibility of designers is exercised only during the generation stage. Their impression is that designers are limited to drawing nice sketches, building models, and planning products; they are unaware that in recent years the scope of industrial design has expanded substantially beyond product generation. Design and designers now make an enormous contribution as knowledge producers and decision-makers during the information and the testing and evaluation stages, despite that in these stages the work is largely text-based and ostensibly does not require the traditional talents of a designer.

3. The Testing and Evaluation Stage
During this stage, the design result is evaluated and points are raised regarding the future of the development. Discussion regarding the soft attributes of the product is usually open-ended and intuitive. Each of the participants brings his or her own personal opinion to the discussion on the level of "I like (or don't like)" the solution. In an effective process, however, solutions must also be evaluated in a learned manner according to the product characterization and target markets. Intuition has enormous importance and must be used during the design process, but cannot be the only tool in use. How correct, for example, would be the intuition of ten over-fifty-year-old men sitting in a boardroom deciding on the design of a product meant for girls on a different continent?
There are very significant differences between the work processes taking place during the three design stages, beyond the fact that the first stage feeds the second and the third tests and evaluates the result of the first two. The first stage is the "problem" stage, in which researchers strive to understand and define what is required of the product. The second stage is the "solution" stage in which options are suggested for solving the problem. The third stage "evaluates." The first stage is both closed and open-ended – some information is static and does not change, and some can be updated later in the process; the second stage is open-ended; and the third stage is closed.  Transformation from the information stage to the generation and production stages, philosophically speaking, is the fascinating juncture between spirit and material, between planning and realization, between problem (written in text) and solution (executed in materials, form, and color).



Conclusion
With the dawning of the twenty-first century, design has become one of the strongest growth engines in industry and the world economy. Design underwent a transformation from being an implementing tool to a marketing and strategy tool that has influenced and is influenced by marketing and strategy decisions in all spheres touching the product policies of a company.
Research carried out in Britain between 1994 and 2004 discovered that the economic performance of companies that invest in design is significantly higher than companies that do not do so, and that the average return on investment (ROI) for design stands at 1:19 (each dollar invested in design pays back an average of $19).
A company that aspires to be a leader in its field and to extricate itself from debilitating price-based competition must accept that good technology and efficient production is no longer sufficient to stay in the marketplace, as it was in the past. In order to lead the market with products that are better and more attractive than those of the competition, investment must be made in innovation and design. Design must be an integral part of the worldview and strategy of a company, beyond its role as an implementing tool in the development department. Designing products that look good is no longer enough. The must exactly match the expectations of the target markets and even surprise them with new capabilities and experiences beyond their dreams.
Bringing innovative and unique products to the market, products that function well and give the consumer total user experience, requires a comprehensive and professional design process that includes three stages of development – information, generation, and testing and evaluation. This is an interdisciplinary work process that combines all relevant spheres of an organization (management, marketing, R&D, and production, to name just a few).
There is no doubt but that investment in design is one of the wisest and soundest investments a manufacturer that develops products can and must make.
 
Bibliography
Bouchard, C.; Lim, D.; Aoussat, A. (2003). Development of a KANSEI ENINEERING SYSTEM for Industrial Design. Journal of the Asian Design International Conference , 1.
Gobe', M.; Zyman, S. (2001). Emotional Branding: The New Paradigm for Connecting Brands to People. New York: Allworth Press.
Green, W.S.; Jordan, P.W. (2002). Pleasure with Products: Beyond Usability. London: Taylor & Francis.
Turner, D. (2007, May). The Secret of Apple Design. Technology Review.

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