Designer speak

I have great respect for product designers. Whichever model of the marketing mix you subscribe to, if the product’s a flop, all else is moot.

In a slight deviation from our main job descriptions, my colleagues and I have recently been working with a bunch of them to develop and refine something that will be announced mid- year.

They’re cheerful, inspiring and obviously adore what they do. Tough customer as I pride myself on being, it’s sometimes otherworldly to be perched in their design lab while we bounce concepts, with scams and prototypes strewn about. It’s difficult to fault the thinking and testing that underpins each whoop-ass product.

Earlier in this blog, I made reference to the brand gap that exists between business strategy and creative work. Design Sojourn explores this theme eloquently and intelligently from the perspective of a designer.

Granted the author is an industrial designer who’s probably been around the block. But because the principles are universally applicable, I’d suggest designers in any discipline, at any stage of their career, and people who work with them, have a pop at it.

Key among the sermons are:

Bridging the language gap: who cares about my design?

Don’t blame us designers; it is just how we are wired. All our lives, we are taught to justify our designs and design work. What they did not tell us was justifying designs was really meant for designers to learn how we came about creating said designs. It was about structuring and giving meaning to design, not for defending it. More >>

What is strategic design?

Strategic design captures all aspects of a product’s requirements (consumer needs, marketing and business plans, design language, brand identity etc.) and then uses these requirements to influence the final design solution. More >>

Five secrets of strategic designers

1. They are great zoomers. The strategic designers’ pathway around the design process oscillates from a bird’s eye view of things to a telescopic focused one and then back up again.

2. They know the design process like the back of their hand.

3 and 4. They are able to do everything, but also know that they don’t have to.

5. There is no job too big or small. More >>