Pay Attention

January 19, 2012

Pay attention and improve.

I was reading a book about design and creativity. The author suggested that a serious product designer should always carry a notebook and keep an eye out for the product that is designed badly. You make a note, take it home and improve it. And then you are supposed to send the design idea to the company so they can make the improvement.

Wouldn’t that be lovely.

Now my first question would be why the company should care. Obviously they don’t or they are not aware of the product flaw or otherwise we have to assume they would not try to sell us the inferior product. But if they are and have just been waiting for me to send in my idea – will they be paying me? (Well in a scenario where they have been waiting just for me they probably do send me a check right away when they get the idea).

At the 2011 summit of the IoPP Chris Mau, brand design director of family care brands at Kimberly-Clark, talked about her experiences and achievements – and how hard it was to convince her company to believe in and execute design ideas.

Her mantra is that we can make an impact through package design. Because the design also includes functionality. And she has proven it with her work – Kotex and Kleenex Tissues just to name a few. The re-packaged products sell more at a higher price – good for them – and the consumers love it.

We read daily about innovation of products that consumers seem to have been waiting for (even if they didn’t know it yet) in the technological arena. It would be great if this innovative mindset that believes that we can achieve more and get our consumer more excited with better offerings would play out in many other aspects of our lives.

That would be lovely.

“Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it’s really how it works.” – Steve Jobs

— Ines Kuhn