I. Welcome to the Age of “Ohmygod!”

1. Design = Differentiator #1Design Management Institute:Design-Based Leadershipin the 21st CenturyChatham MA 25October2000 [Version 01.22.01]

2. THE BASE CASE: I am a design fanatic. Personally, though not “artistic,” I’m a cool-stuff guy. I love what I love and I hate what I hate. [Openly.] But it goes [much] further, far beyond the personal. Design has become a professional obsession. I - SIMPLY – BELIEVE THAT DESIGN PER SE IS THE PRINCIPAL REASON FOR EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENT [or detachment] RELATIVE TO A PRODUCT OR SERVICE OR EXPERIENCE. Design, as I see it, is arguably the #1 determinant of whether a product-service-experience stands out … or doesn’t. Furthermore, it’s “one of those things” … that damn few companies put – consistently – on the front burner.

3. I. Welcome to the Age of “Ohmygod!”

4. NOW THAT’S B-I-G!“The period 2000-2002 will bring the single greatest change in worldwide economic and business conditions since we came down from the trees.”David Schneider & Grady Means, MetaCapitalism

5. Um … Eduardo Kac and Alba, the glowing* bunny rabbit!*You can thank one selfless jellyfish and several French scientists!Source: Rutland Herald (10.01.00)

6. “In 25 years, you’ll probably be able to get the sum total of all human knowledge on a personal device.”Greg Blonder, VC [was Chief Technical Adviser for Corporate Strategy @ AT&T] [Barron’s 11.13.2000]

7. The [New] Ge WayDYB.com

8. “The corporation as we know it, which is now 120 years old, is not likely to survive the next 25 years. Legally and financially, yes, but not structurally and economically.”Peter Drucker, Business 2.0 (08.00)

9. Message: Everybody’s scrambling. Nobody’s “got it right.”

10. II. The 3B Problem:BetterButBoring!

11. Quality Not Enough!“While everything may be better, it is also increasingly the same.”Paul Goldberger on retail, “The Sameness of Things,” The New York Times

12. “We make over three new product announcements a day. Can you remember them? Our customers can’t!”Carly Fiorina, CEO, Hewlett Packard

13. “The ‘surplus society’ has a surplus of similar companies, employing similarpeople, with similar educational backgrounds, working in similar jobs, coming up with similarideas, producing similar things, with similarprices and similarquality.”Kjell Nordstrom and Jonas Ridderstrale,Funky Business

14. Message: Find an edge. Or else.

15. III. We Must Lead: Different or Doomed!

16. “If you worship at the throne of the voice of the customer, you’ll get only incremental advances.”Joseph Morone, President, Bentley College

17. “These days, you can’t succeed as a company if you’re consumer led – because in a world so full of so much constant change, consumers can’t anticipate the next big thing. Companies should be idea-led and consumer-informed.”Doug Atkin, partner, Merkley Newman Harty

18. “The good 10 percent of American product design comes out of big-idea companies that don’t believe in talking to the customer. They're run by passionate maniacs who make everybody’s life miserable until they get what they want.”Bran Ferren, Applied Minds/Wired 1-2001

19. “Our strategies must be tied to leading edge customers on the attack. If we focus on the defensive customers, we will also become defensive.”John Roth, CEO, Nortel

20. “Future-defining customers may account for only 2% to 3% of your total, but they represent a crucial window on the future.”Adrian Slywotzky, Mercer Consultants

21. Message: You are paid to lead. So … lead!

22. IV. Design: The No.1 Source of PassionateAttachment!(Or undying despair)

23. Design “is” … WHAT & WHY I LOVE. LOVE.

24. I LOVEmy ZYLISS Garlic Peeler!

25. Design “is” … WHY I GET MAD. MAD.

26. Wanted: Dead [preferably] or Alive: THE DESIGNER OF MY RADIO SHACK PHONE. Major Reward!

27. Design is neverneutral.

28. Hypothesis: DESIGN is the principal difference between love and hate.

29. “We don’t have a good language to talk about this kind of thing. In most people’s vocabularies, design means veneer. … But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation.”Steve Jobs

30. Message: Engage your Client in an examination- exploration of why we care about stuff. Or don’t.

31. Compare 10 order forms or data fields at a Web site.Save great and awful junk mail.Go on a <$10 shopping spree.Pay attention to signage. (And instruction manuals.)Start a notebook. NOW.

32. V. Design is a Great Story!

33. “Car designers need to create astory. Every car provides an opportunity to create anadventure. …“The Prowler makes yousmile. Why? Because it’s focused. It has aplot, a reason for being, apassion.”Freeman Thomas, co-designer VW Beetle; designer Audi TT

34. “Experiencesare as distinct from services as services are from goods.”Joseph Pine & James Gilmore, The Experience Economy: Work Is Theatre & Every Business a Stage

35. Hmmmm(?): “Only” Words …StoryAdventureSmile FocusPlotPassion

36. PlotWilliams Sonoma = 6 [was 10]Crate & Barrel = 8Sharper Image = 9+Smith & Hawken = 8+Garnet Hill = 9L.L. Bean = 5 [was 9+]Land’s End = 7+Colonial Williamsburg = ?

37. Great Design is “Cheeky”CEO Richard Branson’s stated hurdle for any new Virgin product or service: best quality, good value, innovative, challenge existing alternatives, sense of fun or cheekiness

38. Message: “What’s the plot?” is a compelling exercise!

39. VI. DesignDefined

40. “I wish more money and time was spent on designing an exceptional product, and less on trying to psychologically manipulate perceptions through expensive advertising.” – Phil KotlerSource: Design Council [UK]

41. “Design is a way of demonstrating how beautiful something can be. It has a very profound quality. Design is a way of changing life and influencing the future.”– Sir Ernest Hall, Dean CloughSource: Design Council [UK]

42. “It was a revelation to discover how design could change people’s behaviour. I learnt that simply by altering the graphic content of an exhibit you could double the number of people who visited it.”– Gillian Thomas, The Science MuseumSource: Design Council [UK]

43. “The future will fascinate. A place where experience becomes more important than information, truth more important than technology, and ideas the only global currency.” - Ralph Ardill, ImaginationSource: Design Council [UK]

44. “What’s imperative is the creation of a style that becomes a culture linking you to the community. You can only do that through good design.”– Anita RoddickSource: Design Council [UK]

45. “Outstandingly good design in service industries is not an optional extra. It is an essential part of everything a company does, and what it stands for.” – Richard Dykes, MD, Royal Mail “Design is one of the few tools that, for every $ you spend, you actually say something about your business. You have it in your power to use design to further the wealth and prosperity of your business.” – Raymond Turner, BAASource: Design Council [UK]

46. “Designers are people who think with their hearts.” – James, age 10. “If there were no design there would be nothing to do, and nothing would progress or get better. The world would fall apart.” – Anna, age 11. “My favourite design is the Nike ‘tick’ because it makes me feel confident, even though I am not so good at sports.” – Raoul, age 11.Source: Design Council [UK]

47. VII. Great Design is Respectful

48. User …STOP BLAMING YOURSELF!(Don Norman/Design of Everyday Things)

49. “Sometimes I have episodes of wild fury in rental cars. It’s not road rage. It’s more like design rage.”Susan Casey, www.ecompany.com

50. Paradox [?][!]Great Design = WOW! + GRACE[usability writ large]