Design Isn’t Everything, It’s The Only Thing

A fabulous product always has a longer shelf life than fabulous marketing.

If your team is planning the creation of a new product,
promotional tool, piece of software, tactile delight item, sharing device or
social object, consider thinking like a designer asking a few of these
questions first.

How could we make something people want to use? How could we
turn the product into an object of devotion? How could we design the product so
it gets better with use? How could we plug the design into natural human
behavior? How could build interactivity into every part of the product? How
could we build the product as something that entertains society? How could we create
the product as an instrument for social enhancement?

How could we package the product as a form of theater that
creates a story? How could we make the product so beautiful that people want to
leave it on display? How could we use the product to make people famous, recognized
and part of something? How could we build the product as something cool people
talk about to increase their status? How could we design the product as
something that invites fondling and makes you want to lick it?

How can we offer intellectual playfulness that demands
active participation? How could the design induce a delayed response that
creates curiosity and intrigue? How could we make something familiar enough to
be understood but unusual enough to be engaging? How could we go beyond surface
value where the more you look at it, the more it will repay you?

The
point is, design isn’t everything, it’s the only thing. It’s not a veneer your company
applies after the hard work is done.

Design
is the hard work.