Monday I had the fortunate opportunity to hear a presentation from Upstream strategist Jeff Mulhausen about the impact of a design philosophy in marketing practice. Mulhausen shared a brief history of the evolution of design philosophy over the past two centuries and concluded with five key takeaways for a successful marketing strategy:
1. Design the System
2. Design for the Majority
3. Design to Empower
4. Universal Design
5. Design for Simplicity
What struck me as odd about Mulhausen’s insights was that they seemed simplistic and easily incorporated into a marketing strategy. However, this is what I believe made his presentation so intriguing. The fact is many entrepreneurs and companies fail each year because they deviate their marketing plans from these critical design methods.
For instance, the final point of designing a product for simplicity has become an ever-present problem in today’s society. Consumers want as much functionality as possible in every product they purchase. At what point, however, does giving a consumer everything in one device become overwhelming? These days cell phones are no longer simple telecommunication devices; they are mini-computers, cameras, video cameras, etc. all in one. Several of these cell phone designs have proven more successful than others for the key reason that with so much functionality in one device, they are simple to use.
One such example of a thriving cell phone design has been the iPhone. What is unique about Apple iPhones (and all other Apple products) is that none of them come with a user’s manual. This is because Apple feels it is pertinent that their designs be simple enough to pick up immediately by any consumer. Now given, the iPhone has become successful for many reasons besides its simple design, but it is noteworthy to realize that the functionality of iPhones have become almost exponential, and yet by incorporating all of Mulhausen’s design philosophies, they have not overwhelmed customers.
Following Mulhausen’s presentation I read a toolkit called “Human-Centered Design.” The document provides step-by-step guidance through the design process to help marketers develop products and services that best address the needs/wants of their consumers. To do this, the toolkit stresses three main issues when designing a new product/service:
1. Desirability
2. Feasibility
3. Viability
To be sure that all three of these issues are addressed throughout the design process, the marketers must hear from consumers to gain insight into current problems and desires, create frameworks, opportunities, solutions, and prototypes based off of this customer insight, and finally, deliver their solutions to the world.
I found it particularly interesting that this toolkit was not only an exceptional resource for “Big Idea” people, but also for any designers looking to simply modify or upgrade their existing products. It seems that many times, companies simply release an upgraded version of a product without really incorporating the needs and wants from the consumers. Their motivation? Profits. In fact, many times an upgraded version is just a previous version of a product, but without the glitches and viruses that came with the first line.
To carefully deconstruct the design process into the three stages highlighted in the HCD Toolkit, companies could effectively optimize the functionality of their products. This streamlined process would not only make the companies more efficient in generating products/services in a tailored timeframe, but would lead to greater profits. This can be assumed because the likelihood that a poor product would make it all the way down the assembly line would be very slim with such a thorough process in place.
I think a great example of how blowing off certain aspects of this design process can be harmful was seen when Microsoft released Windows Vista. Microsoft was so accustomed to releasing an upgraded operating system every few years that they did not take the time to focus on what a good upgrade meant to consumers. Instead, Vista was released and consumers were forced to by into this system that was filled with viruses and glitches. We, the consumers, were outraged. In fact, I personally was so dissatisfied with my Vista experience that just this past year I packed up my PC and switched to a Mac. Now whether the Mac is better than a PC can be fiercely debated, but this is not the point I am trying to make. My point is, Microsoft realized the error of their ways and discovered that by taking the time to implement a powerful design philosophy they could satisfy customers with a new product design: Windows 7.
So where does this leave us for customer insight? Well let me just start by saying it is extremely frustrating when people ask me why I’m majoring in marketing since it is all just “common sense.” Honestly, it is hard to refute these statements at times when Mulhausen’s insights and the HCD Toolkit’s process seem so incredibly simple. However, I then ask these people, if marketing is just “common sense” then why do 95% of new products fail each year? I think that if inventors, entrepreneurs, marketers, and decision makers took the time to create an airtight design philosophy, we could see a dramatic drop in this statistic.
