The Power of Design by Manuel Saez

09:14 pm | 0 recommendations | 2 comments

Managing Creative People to Achieve a Common Goal

Building and running a creative team is one of the greatest challenges for any manager.  Creative people are passionate and have a tendency to think they are right, better, and more humble than the others around, but the truth is that the nature of creative work requires to them to be individualistic and fight for their ideas and beliefs.  The challenge is when several of these personalities get together and need to be managed to achieve a common goal.

In my professional and personal life I have had the opportunity to build and run creative teams, always experiencing these challenges.  Through the years I developed a set of working values that helped me maintain peace while busting creativity.  Today at our office, prior to hiring  a new team member we always share with them the following working values, clearly explaining their meaning in the context of the office and setting up clear expectations on behavior.

Our working values are: Humility, candor, optimism, ambition and responsibility.
 
Humility: The state of being humble and unpretentious. Being humble is the best predisposition to learn and teach. This allows the taking and receiving of feedback in an open manner, always thinking positively and in the best interest of the group and considering the individual’s personal growth. A healthy dose of humility always lets you put the overall good of the team first.
 
Candor: Straightforwardness in words and message. Clear, honest communication is crucial for personal and group growth. Using frank, respectful language speeds and focuses any communication. Directness is a virtue.
 
Optimism: Optimists believe that people and events are inherently good and things will work out in the end. A positive attitude will always get positive results. Problems are opportunities.
 
Ambition: An eager or strong desire to achieve and improve on past accomplishments. Ambition is about self-growth, self-development, self-expression, and self-improvement. Ambition provides the motivation, energy and willingness to pursue goals. Without it, nothing will be accomplished.
 
Responsibility: Be accountable for a job well done. Each individual is the most qualified person to oversee their own performance. Success is tied to a sense of responsibility for things within your control.

Certainly these values are not a silver bullet to avoid conflict in the creative office.  However, they are a solid foundation to foster creativity and help lasting relationships.

manuel
manuelsaez.com

07:19 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

Design/Art

Design/Art

Last week, in a conversation with a colleague, I felt a little disappointed about a negative comment he made about the “Tuyomyo” bench designed by Frank Gehry for Emeco.  He said it was “impracticable and dangerous” even though he may have been right about the product functionality I believe he missed the point of the reason of being for that particular bench.  Besides the noble purpose of creating a piece that will be auctioned to benefit the Hereditary Disease Foundation (HDF). The product is beautiful and challenges the aesthetic and the overall concept of what a bench is, and finally it is a brilliant move on emeco’s part to bring awareness to their company, after all we are talking about it right now.

Industrial designers tend to have a clear and definite vision of what good design is.  Something that looks good; that can be manufactured; that serves the end user well; and that makes money for the client. However many times we see the media celebrate products that do not fit this definition, products that are more of an art expression (design/art) than design for mass production, yet they are claimed as great design, and off course creating unrest within the (industrial) design community.

Although I understand my peers on how and why they feel this way, I believe that design/art is a valuable and absolutely necessary source of inspiration and a force needed to move the design profession forward, similar to concept cars in car shows. These works of design/art always question the status quo and plant seeds for new and more exiting designs that can be produced and brought to the masses.
More importantly, design/art also serves as a way to ask the public in general “what do you think about this?” and has the ability to reach business people and decision makers at companies and tell them that it is OK to risk and to take a chance on new edgy designs that look somewhat different than what currently exist.

As designers we should welcome and embrace design/art as what it is, a refreshing view of the ordinary, a source of insight and a window into the future that give us the freedom to take the everyday design work to new levels.

manuel
manuelsaez.com

02:26 pm | 0 recommendations | 1 comment

Is China becoming a global design superpower?

In recent years concern has risen about the potential of China as a global design superpower and the threat of China becoming a design source for the west, threatening the livelihood of thousands of designers and designers-to-be in the US and Europe.  

Perhaps this is the inevitable evolution of the design profession where the creative input becomes a commodity with no real lasting value beyond it seasonal life span.  Or perhaps this broadens the gap between design as a commodity and great design that is driven by context.

China is well structured to support its design needs, according to a study published by the IDSA (Industrial Designers Society of America) by Professor Tsai Lu Liu, IDSA, from Auburn University, China has over 230 design schools and more than 11,000 graduating industrial designers each year, that is certainly enough people to support the design needs of the east and west as well.

However dark this picture may seem for western designers, I see this as an unavoidable event and an opportunity that must be embraced, knowing that understanding context is key to producing great design work. 

Although I never lived in China, for the last seven years I have been there more than twenty times and I have become familiar with their culture, thinking and values.  
Last month I was invited as a guest speaker at the GAFA (Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts) where I had the chance to meet great designers with outstanding skills and an impressive work ethic.  At the Q&A session after the presentation and based on the questions I received, I realized that it is unlikely that China will become a global design superpower given that most Chinese designers do not have an intimate understanding of the western consumer, their way of life and the cultural context that a western designer understands, because he/she have had a lifetime of exposure to the context in which their designs are going to be used. Great Designs are the result of an intimate understanding of the context.  Without a clear understanding of the market, the user and the social drivers, a designer relies on guesswork and luck in order to produce a meaningful and lasting design.

For this same reason Chinese designers are the best suited to design for the Chinese market.  Although some western-designed products (mostly with a strong brand behind them) break into china they seldom take on mainstream and the Chinese version of the product is quick to follow with a much greater reach.  

Commodity design may move to China, to India, or other countries and that may be unavoidable, but what western designers need to know and understand is that they are the best suited to produce meaningful long-lasting designs for the west and that observing and asking the right question to gain greater awareness about their environment and behavior is key to success.

manuel

manuelsaez.com

08:28 pm | 0 recommendations | 1 comment

Design: Europe vs. US

Many see Europe as the source of great designers, but knowing that the United States is constantly producing great designers who produce great design work, I wonder why are we not hearing about them?

When I look through US based design publications, blogs, and websites, the majority of the coverage is centered on European designers.  American designers are left in the shadows, seemingly not able to keep up with innovation, intelligence, and aesthetic sensibility that happen across the ocean.  However, American design and European design are not comparable.  Design that is considered to be “good” in Europe is not always “good” in America.  Good design is all about context.  

American designers are in disadvantage to their European counterparts.  Besides the fact that most countries in Europe have state funded programs to support and promote design, American designers are faced with a vicious cycle that traps and prevents them from breaking into their own playing field, to gain the necessary recognition, and successfully reaching their greatest potential.   

This cycle can be divided into three key parts:  a cultural lack of design awareness, low corporate design investment, and an under-developed relationship with the media.  

The American population is hard wired with a quick fix, “bigger-is-better” mentality.  We are supporters of mega retailers that sell products that are cheap in terms of both price and aesthetic quality.  This lack of design awareness has left American consumers with a different set of values and buying criteria.  We do not ask -or demand- to buy good design because we do not understand what good design is.  

The industry in turn plays to this set of criteria, creating more of the same cheap products.  Corporate understanding and trust in design is low.  True, there are companies that are exceptions to this rule- such as Apple, Method, Nike, P&G- and as a result of their successes, a slew of companies are rushing to follow suit.  Unfortunately the majority of these companies do not understand the commitment, leadership, courage, perseverance, and pure guts that it actually takes to pull off such a transformation.  Once design is not in alignment with the bottom-line or creates too much friction with the traditional structure of the company, design and designers get pushed to the backburner.  

The game-changer in this situation is the media.  There are many talented designers in the United States but the public is not aware of them.  The amount of European design-related magazines and periodicals greatly outnumber those available in the US, and US design publications tend to cover the stories and successes of European designers.  

American media needs to look within for compelling examples of good design that are pertinent for Americans and further define a new category of great design: American Design.  We need to realize that we are not the same as our overseas counterparts and therefore are not comparable.   If we can continue to highlight design in America that is specifically designed for Americans, our consumers will become more educated, will demand better design, and eventually, great design will become mainstream in our lives.

Manuel Saez
www.manuelsaez.com

06:31 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

Reasons

Most product designers would agree that, on a philosophical level, the purpose of our profession is to solve important problems in effective and responsible ways, and products should only be designed and produced if they bring true value to someone. However, reality presents us with a different picture, and it is often difficult to stick to our values.

The perceived need of the market, the economic situation, new trends, etc., are all factors that influence our client’s decision making. Most executives are evaluated on a quarterly or yearly basis and have pressure to improve the bottom line, so it is natural for them to perceive priorities in different ways than designers do. The risk in this scenario is that it is easy to fall into a reactionary mode and create “me too” products that do not bring lasting value to the user (and most likely little return for the company).

We must engage in the design and creation of new products with a clear understanding of why we do it. What is the underlying reason for creating something new? Profit? Beating the competitor? Being the first? These are all valid reasons, but if what we create does not have true value—meaningful products that bring an advancement to the user and society—time, money and resources will have been wasted.

Our duty as designers is to ensure that our work has a positive impact on society and brings an honest benefit to the user. By advising our clients, and by balancing all factors and interested participants, we will end up with lasting solutions that are honest to users and society, and that our clients will profit from. Profit is the reason all companies are in business. At the end of the day, profit means to benefit from, and benefits can be attained in more than one way.

Manuel

manuelsaez.com

05:18 pm | 0 recommendations | 2 comments

Measuring and Compensating Design

Evaluating and measuring a design’s worth, and determining a designer’s compensation for the design, are challenges facing every organization that brings original products to market.

The task is not an easy one. Too many variables beyond the designer’s influence are at play. Attempting to arrive at a fair value oftentimes results in, at worst, an unfair arrangement, or at best, an ambiguous result.
In contrast, measuring and compensating salespeople is straightforward. The process is based on quantifiable numbers, and a good year normally equates to a good bonus. On the other hand, evaluating the more subjective work of creative people and compensating them appropriately remains more art than science.

Designer compensation is in many cases tied to commercial success. It’s a measurable metric, yes, but is it the best metric, or even a fair one? The fact that a product is a commercial success does not necessarily mean that it is a good design or even a successful design. A successfully designed product or service meets and surpasses customer expectations, connecting with them at both the rational and emotional levels. The design is only as good as the design brief that originated it, and a design brief is only as good as the insight that helped create it.

Any number of external factors can influence a design’s success: the marketplace, the economy, the marketing support, the launch timing, the current state of the brand. Designers usually do not drive the overall sales and marketing strategies, so in a way, they rely on the performance of others to be compensated.

In my opinion, design can only be evaluated and measured fairly by how the design responds to or addresses the problem stated on the design brief. Ideally, the designer works closely with the business team to create a design brief, if not a business brief, that takes into account how the product goes to market as well as its anticipated return on investment. Only through this type of knowledge sharing and collaboration can a design’s true value be measured.

Manuel Saez

manuelsaez.com

08:24 am | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

Great Design – Defined

What is good design? I asked friends and colleagues what good design is. Most of them answered naming a few products or mentioning a designer’s name. I felt that these answers were not getting to the essence of what good design is or even better, what great design is. Read below my attempt to answer this seemingly easy question.

Great designs are those that successfully balance beauty and function in the context they are going to be used.

There is a very fine line between successfully balanced designs and other designs in which the aesthetics or the function are misused or overdone. A balanced design is evidence of maturity and common sense when making decisions about the appropriate amount of beauty or function a specific design needs.

Context is very important since one particular design is unlikely to be successful in two different scenarios. Context can be defined by time: what worked yesterday may not work today; by culture: what works in the West may not work in the East; by economic situation: what is successful in thriving economy may not be pertinent in a recession.

I believe this definition applies to all types of designs in different segments of the industry: graphic, fashion, product, interiors and architecture. However, if you think there may be some exceptions, I invite you to share your thoughts and hopefully contribute with additional insights on this topic.

Manuel Saez
www.manuelsaez.com

08:35 am | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

The Home Depot Experience

In the last two years I have seen a consistent and ever growing decadence at big box retailers in the US. Recently I found myself choosing NOT to shop at Home Depot, but instead to visit a smaller retailer further from my home cutting out an hour from my day. The reason I switched is clear. I favor a better shopping experience over convenience. So do a lot of people I know. Some are even forgoing lower prices.

Home Depot is not alone; Staples, Wal-Mart and even Target are literally a jungle. Many customers are left to fend for themselves. To get what they need they have to wrestle product information and availability out of ill-informed salespeople (if you can find one) who lack a positive attitude. Low prices have been driving the big retailer’s decisions and choices, but to some extent have sacrificed critical customer needs. And even with store “credos” and “customer service statements” posted on receipts and checkout counters, customers are less inclined to believe the store will deliver.

As a designer, I see the opportunity to bridge the gap between what retailers want and what customers need. Using design as a holistic tool, considering store design; process design; product design and graphic design, all working together to enhance customer service and create value, for the retailers and the customers.

Manuel Saez

www.manuelsaez.com 

09:29 am | 0 recommendations | 4 comments

Service Driven Product Design

For a long time customer service has been a strong strategic tool for many service-based companies like USAA Insurance Company and the Four Season Hotels and resorts. However, today, product-based companies like Apple and Lexus are relying more on customer service as a complement to their products. The strategy works, although the line between product and service has become blurry. Today, what matters more is the total experience.

This is great from the consumer point of view but it could be a costly proposition for a company if the products are not designed to work well and support a customer service driven structure.

It is here where the power of design can bring enormous value. A well-crafted design/business brief that considers aspects normally ignored such as return policies, warranties, shipping information, maintenance and service. By combining these entities into the design/business brief, companies are able to provide a tangible and instructive resource from which everyone including the customer benefits.

manuel saez

http://www.manuelsaez.com/

04:57 pm | 0 recommendations | 1 comment

Design Brief vs. Business Brief

The Design Brief, which states the parameters of a project in relation to the user/consumer, is a common document that guides designers through the process of product development. However, designers seldom have the opportunity to work in a broader context that offers more insight into the life of the product and its business aspects.

I find it more useful to create a Business Brief rather than a Design Brief. The Business Brief in contrast looks at the overall business strategy of the product with a particular focus on business markets, sales strategies, distribution channels, etc. This approach allows designers to answer several basic questions such as: Where will the product be manufactured? How will the product be shipped? Where will the product be warehoused? What distribution channels are available? What is the return policy? What is the recycling strategy? Questions like these broaden the definition of the user. In other words, the user is defined as every one who comes in contact with the product throughout its life cycle. In a way the product is designed with the point of view of the assembly worker, shipping clerk, the recycling person, etc.

The Business Brief brings a broader understanding of the problem by providing new insights for better product development. Having this information available to the design team can make a big difference in the final result. Considering external factors and the people that come in contact with the product throughout its life simplifies the design process and focuses innovation.

manuel saez

www.manuelsaez.com