Liquid Creativity

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The thinking behind design

Design is used to improve many aspects of a business. The Design Council (UK) researched some leading companies including Alessi, Microsoft, Starbucks and Sony to find out why these companies invested so much in design. Focusing on how they used design and how the process delivers on their desired outcomes, the common theme to emerge was that design helped them answer some common business challenges:

Good design:

  • makes products more competitive
  • allows for higher selling prices
  • builds trust in the brand
  • appeals to customers and encourages them to return for more


 

What are the other attributes of design?

  • Design can take some abstract thoughts and ideas and make them tangible.
  • Designers think about the real people who use a product or service. They create an experience
    that these people can aspire to. They consider how the product or service can meet their needs.
  • Design has the ability to communicate a message in its simplest form.
  • Design can engage and express the heart of a message with personality and emotive qualities
  • Design allows collaboration between non-designers and designers to communicate in an effective way
  • The design process involves research, strategy, development of ideas and then choosing words, images and messages to communicate effectively and thereby influence the right audience for a product or service.

The power of design does not just relate to the success of the world’s leading companies. The same principles and benefits can also be applied to smaller businesses.
 

Starbucks uses design as an integral part of their business in order to create a distinctive experience for their customers. Their creative team regularly changes the design themes but the new concepts are always based on the company’s specific set of values. Starbucks judges all design concepts based on five words that capture the essence of their brand. The team includes a mixture of graphic design, fine art and illustration specialists and encourages designers to think like a business owner.

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