Fast Talk: Better by Design

Made to Measure

Alex Lee

President
OXO International
New York, New York

If you can design a product that appeals to people's brains and hearts, you can get them to pay a great premium. Most people already own a measuring cup, right? But in 2001, we launched our version. Like every OXO product, it began with identifying an everyday pet peeve. If you've ever used a liquid measuring cup, chances are you've had to bend down to look at the mark, to see if it's too high or too low, and then keep bending to make several adjustments. You can't even lift the cup, because then you're not sure if the cup itself is level. You're trying to hold it steady in midair. And you've probably come to accept this as a fact of life. Our solution came in the form of an angled inner ramp with markings that you can look down on while you pour liquid into the cup. You can read the increments and know when to stop.

Ultimately, what sells the product is the emotional side of design. We aim to create products that intrigue people, invite a question: There's something different about this thing. What does it do? The critical moment is when they smile and say, "A-ha!" If done right, the process makes people feel clever. They think, "How come nobody ever thought of this before?" They get it, and somehow, they belong to this exclusive club of people who get it. That club could have 10 million members, but it doesn't matter.

OXO has sold more than 2.5 million Good Grips Angled Measuring Cups--or $9 million worth--since the product's launch.

Building Consensus

Henri Termeer

Chairman, president, and CEO
Genzyme Corp.
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Can the design of the workplace make a company more productive? We asked that question a few years ago when we began building a new headquarters. We're not designers. We work in the science area. But the strategic value of architecture is not frightfully complex. It really has to do with access and ease of access. We looked at the building from the inside out. In our old space, everybody was behind closed doors. People weren't really aware of one another. When people did walk around, they had to walk long distances, and it was actually rare to see anybody along the way because of the building's layout. Last November, we moved into our new space. Now, if I have a half an hour, I take the stairs down all 12 stories and then up. It's a large open atrium, so I can see all kinds of activity. When we first moved in, people would say, "Wow, we haven't seen you for a long time." So we'd have a bit of catch-up. Now the response is, "We see you all the time." The conversation picks up from there. Beyond that, those unplanned, informal interactions translate into an absolute increase in decision making, in getting the right people to say, "Yes, let's do it," sooner. Ultimately, a company's ability to compete relates to its ability to make decisions and gain confidence in them.

Genzyme's headquarters was designed in the hopes of Receiving the highest rating under the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standard.