So here comes some fresh stuff for the weekend: A few minutes ago BusinessWeek Online has released their latest online edition devoted to Design. >>>
While observing that BW has even named Bruce Nussbaum as Editorial Page Editor for Design Topics, it seems that this is the decade where particularly US/UK magazines like: FastCompany, Newsweek, BusinessWeek, Business 2.0 and the likes have discovered “Design” as a hot topic. This year “Many of the winning entries … for Industrial Design Excellence Awards spring from a close observation of the customer.”
Those of you who’ve ever attended one of my workshops know that I’m a fan of Sweden’s IKEA. Sure they sell a lot of crap as well as every mainstream manufacturer does, but beside the fact that I think that IKEA understands their customers very well (wait until you have a child; you’ll love their Smaland while having a coffee in the restaurant) they always come up with well designed and far more important affordable products for the masses.
From a strategic perspective offering “qualitative design solutions” which are calculated on an economies of scale basis are far more complex than the usual “design as a niche” approach where design addresses a differentiation strategy with all the consequences for price, branding, customer service etc.
Consequently BusinessWeek also created the “Catalyst Award Winners” category where “products get the prize for also adding to the bottom line”:
“There is no greater testament to the power of design than its ability to deliver on the bottom line. The Catalyst Award goes to previous idea winners that really succeed in the marketplace. A jury screens candidates for market and financial performance as well as strategic, industrial, and social impact. This year’s jury was composed of Ken Musgrave, director of industrial design at Dell; Walter B. Herbst, CEO of Herbst Lazar Bell Inc.; and Sam Farber, founder of Copco, Oxo, and Wovo”
Interestingly you might remember that I’ve selected Sam Farber’s definition of Design in my last posting ;-) Is this coincidence?
