Good business outcomes treat design as a holistic process that pulls in savvy marketing and research, as well as smart ideas, says IDEO’s Diego Rodriguez

Good design does not always equal good business. But good business outcomes—especially when the goal is to create new sources of value in the world—are most often achieved through a well-structured design process that is more holistic and inclusive than the notion of good design.

All of the energy fed into the debate about the value of good design to the world of commerce would be better spent building ways to make holistic design a routine activity in business—and society. Here are three ways to get us there:

Stop Treating Design as A Noun

When we talk about it as such, the world stops listening and starts wondering which color the designers are going to pick for the drapes. Unfortunately, good design has come to stand for something akin to “style,” largely a relativistic judgment of aesthetics and semiotics informed by a constantly shifting zeitgeist. I’m as much a fan and consumer of aesthetically pleasing things as the next guy, but I fear that much of what passes for good design is actually a class of shallow luxury goods aimed at a specific set of market demographics and psychographics. And these goods don’t represent the creation of lasting value in the world: In the parlance of soul group Tower of Power, what is hip today quickly becomes passĂ©.

Instead, we would all be better off treating design as a verb, a process, a way of approaching challenges which designers and nondesigners alike can learn to use to create positive change in the world. Throughout history design as a verb, also known these days as design Thinking, has created things of enormous value to humanity. The Bill of Rights, the Aravind Eye Care System, Medecins Sans Frontières, and the Marshall Plan will never show up in a Design Within Reach catalog. And yet each of these amazing achievements of humanity was designed.

Rethink the Relationship between Design and Market Success

Success in the marketplace is a complex endeavor which requires methods of creation that go beyond the limited scope of good design. Apple (AAPL), a company justifiably known for its design, must be applauded for the way it lets its designers and engineers design things to the hilt. But how Apple has created and captured shocking amounts of market value in the music (iTunes + iPod) and telecommunication (iPhone) industries is due as much to skillful systems engineering and infrastructure development as it is to compelling aesthetics. Success has many parents, and good design is only one of them. For every success like the iPod, there are scores of beautiful market offerings that failed because no one bothered to think about how to manufacture, deliver, sell, support, and retire them in ways that met people’s needs. Since market success depends on the complex interaction of so many variables, it is silly—even naive—to try to pin it all back to just good design.

Use Business Constraints as Inspiration

Potential market value creation should be treated as a generative part of the design process, not as a post-rationalized output with suspect causality. At any given time, a team using design thinking should be able to give a sense of how strong a business they are creating. Let’s take the essay about the U.K’s National Health Service that prompted this Bloomberg/BusinessWeek special report. Before blowing cash on a logo redesign, a team using design thinking would quickly test the relationship between brand recognition and the ability of the service to help individuals reach healthy outcomes. They would run a series of quick experiments to generate evidence, and only then embark on a full rebranding initiative—if that turned out to be the way to create the most value from scarce resources.

This approach fundamentally shifts the dialog away from a reactive posture of “how much value did design create?” to an expansive notion of “how much value can we create?” as well as “how might we maximize the odds of that potential value coming to fruition?” This systemic view of the creative challenge is the signature characteristic of design thinking. When we use design thinking to balance desirability, feasibility, and viability, we unlock the measures of value creation so desperately sought after by the world of good design. Impact in the world becomes the focus of designing.

Whether or not you call yourself a designer, when you work to relate people’s needs to broader webs of individual, social, and economic factors, and pour your energy into creating better outcomes via an evidence-driven process, you’re using design thinking to increase your odds of success in the world. That sounds like good business to me.

site: http://www.businessweek.com

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Few people realize that the business card has its roots all the way back to the 16th Century in Europe (and the 15th Century in China).

In Renaissance Europe, the servants of aristocrats would present “visiting cards” to the servants of other aristocrats, the first step in any formal social interaction between the wealthy and powerful.

Victorian England, the “calling card” was absolutely essential in polite society. When calling on someone, even a close friend, the visitor provided a card printed with their name. People collected these cards as a way of keeping track of friends who visited, so they would know to whom they were socially required to pay a return visit. It was also a way of screening out unwanted visitors — once presented with a card, the host could simply refuse to admit the person, without having to deal with them face-to-face. (When the telephone was first introduced in England, there was an uproar because now anyone could talk to you without providing a card, or without following any of the other countless rules.)

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1. Don’t return their calls for at least a week

Don’t be fooled by thinking that when a client calls you about something, they are actually in a hurry to get a task done. They’ll understand how important it is that you fix that flat tire on your motorcycle, go for a quick ride, and then finish that movie you started a few days ago. When you do finally call them back be sure to remind them they need to follow your example and prioritize their life.

2. Finish their projects at least a day late

Clients always give you deadlines that are a few days early because they know you will give it to them late anyway. Three or four days late may be pushing it, but finishing a project a day late isn’t really that big of deal. (Do you have a client who’s really pushy and demands their projects be finished on time? Tell them they don’t know anything about the design industry and you have more important things to do.)

3. Tell them you hate their current logo or identity

Clients always appreciate your professional input when it comes to decisions they have made about their current identity. Make sure you tell them every little thing that might be wrong with their company’s identity, logo, and design. This works especially well with new clients whose trust you have yet to gain.

4. Choose only a few hours a day to be available

Your clients will understand that you are a freelancer and therefore, you choose your hours. Let them know that if they have a problem at any time of the day other than from 1-4 pm, they’ll just have to wait until the next day (or Monday if it’s a weekend) to tell you their problems.

5. Follow the one-week-old email rule

Every good designer looking to get rid of their clients knows the “one-week-old” email rule. No client expects their emails to be returned sooner than within one week’s time. Explain to them that if we were still using the pony express, they would have to wait even longer. They should thank you for a quick response when you follow the one-week-old rule.

6. Bill your clients for time you spend on twitter or other social media

In today’s busy lifestyle of twitter, facebook, digg, and other social media sites, clients have come to accept that, as a designer, you will be spending countless hours a day doing, well, nothing online. Be sure to bill the client for what has come to be known as “cyberslacking”. It’s just part of the job. If you would like to include these details on your invoice, it will help with a more rapid loss of clientele.

7. Let them know you work in your pajamas and at your kitchen table

Be sure to let your clients (especially the new ones) know that you don’t even bother to change out of your pajamas in the morning before you get going on their projects. In fact, to be more effective, you may want to let them know that sometimes you sleep in, do your work from bed, or while watching your favorite movie. This will assure them they are getting the least possible out of their freelance designer. They’re sure to drop you! (If that doesn’t work, start up charging them for your morning coffee.)

8. Tell them their ideas are worthless

When a client approaches you with an idea on how to make something better, explain to them that you went to school (or at least took a few community classes) and know way more than they ever could about how their company should look. Design is the only business where the customer is never right.

9. Let them know “that’s just not your job”

It’s possible your client may ask your opinion on the best internet hosting service or printer around. Be sure to give them a detailed explanation outlining why it is not your responsibility as a designer to help them with other aspects of the project. Let them know you are simply a designer and “that’s just not your job”. (Be sure to spend lots of time explaining over the phone so you can bill them for it later too.)

10. Ask them not to call too early because you’ll be sleeping in (oh and not on the weekend either)

Make sure your clients don’t inconvenience you by calling during the early hours of the day, on the weekend, national and state holidays, your birthday, mother’s day, april fool’s day, Ash Wednesday, and any day you just don’t feel like working. They will admire you for your boldness.

website: http://graphicdesignblender.com
by: Preston Lee

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