Slides from a talk at Web 2.0 Expo in NYC 2011. Investing in design should be a top priority for VCs, CEOs and employees. Design is not a department and it cannot be bolted on...it is a mindset that makes every aspect of a business better.
and design is something I have always loved… The web is waking up to design A company that focused on speed and honored engineers above all is now pushing more design updates to more people Oracle has an entire section on their site dedicated to design Box.net has been built to differentiate on design consumer centric, design focused companies will lead disruption in the next 3-5 years
Design can drive financial results AAPL chart Investing in design driven companies makes a lot of sense
Design can not be bolted on It is not a logo change It is not a name change It is not graphic – a great engineering organization is a design organization Investing in design is a fundamental shift to consumer centric business priorities Companies need to be designed and built for design
Mindset more than skillset It is not enough to hire a UX/UI guy Deeply understand your consumer Put them first in every decision you make product/design/engineering/ops/marketing…
Imagine you are delivering a commodity product… How do you stand out? Price is a slippery slope to the bottom In this world design is accepted as competitive advantage
when the building blocks are available to everyone, differentiation is consumer driven Commodity product Same materials – leather, foam, ruber – from same suppliers… Differentiate with design Resonate with the consumer because you know him better You are more skitsophrenic then the competition
AND 1 story – Damn Factor product testing at AND 1 – old school product creation damn, look at this vs. how many people liked the shoe Test and learn – bracket your answer and narrow in Look for emotion – throw away the rest
Modern company building = lean = traditional design process Iterative Inductive Test and learn Throw away the ones that don’t work – why willing to do this?
Evolution in company building enabled by platforms Can build more and more and more for less and less and less Modern programming languages Cloud Services Social distribution
Former competitive advantages become commodity Tech stack is being commoditized – stand up a web site Scale (not architecture) is commoditized – buy boxes/provision vs. aws Distribution (access to it, not ability to go viral) – advertising and PR vs. social Where is your unique Advantage?
Anything can be built quickly and copied even faster… More noise in the market More clutter for consumers New world of web services as a commodity category
Love is the only path to survival Get the consumer to love you Make it emotional
Design is THE competitive advantage in commodity categories Design is consumer centric thinking Consumer-centric priorities lead to brand Brand is differentiation in commodity categories Brand Drive enterprise value Accept that your product is commodity Figure out how to elevate design mindset within the org 4 ways to do that…
Bring the vision holders closer to the customer Cut out steps in the process Inject design into every step – mindset not skillset AND 1 -- Designer at focus group – tochillin = $50m line Birchbox – curation, content, commerce – surprise and delight – show everyone how they are part of the delivery mechanism – that what they did matters to the customer
Freedom to move the crowd Zappos – service people are empowered Everyone should be CEO of something – Zynga/Pincus story of receptionist and phone system. Create problem statements, don’t give solutions to be built/implemented
Make mistakes, don’t make the same one twice Collaborative culture of “yes and” not “no because” Best idea wins – ego at the door. This drives creative culture – lean forward vs. lean back Trash-talk T process – became the process – Individuals – create. Groups edit. Respect shared understanding of mission/Engagement in the mission. Ship product – get it out in the real world in a real way for a real test that everyone owns
Honor craft Every touchpoint matters from marketing to the website to the product to service and all have to be designed Product/marketing/design/engineering/ops – all in balance – all collaborating Etsy – honor through understanding – engineer on boarding – spend time in marketing, service, community, finance Fitness game – engineers working with designers and trainers (on product and fitness) – build with a design mindset
Honor design Companies that invest in design are built for design It is mindset, not skillset that matters across the organization 1. Bring vision holders closer to the customer 2. They let individuals move the crowd 3. Embrace “edit, undo” 4. Honor craft throughout the organization It is THE competitive advantage Impacts the customer at every touchpoint They are consumer centric and for them design is a behavior, not a role or a department. These are the companies I love and this is what I mean by investing in design