When I’ve started this blog I promised myself to generate content for the design management community rather than replicating other peoples stuff. For quite a while now I see a growing number of blogs acting more like link repositories than actual content generators. While this is a matter of personal preference I try to avoid simply throwing links at my readers eyes whenever I can.
However times are not there yet, that you can afford a living from just blogging. Accordingly from time to time I have limited my time efforts for my postings to an acceptable level. While last week has been a very active blog week this week my time budget is quite limited.
Anyway, from the various comments being added to the design definitions posting I’ve concluded that this is an issue the design management community is still interested in.
Let’s see if a similar discussion arises from Victor Lombardi’s posting about “Business Design Quotes”. Here is my favourite from Angela Dumas and Henry Mintzberg originally from an Design Management Insitute Journal Article:
This role of manager as designer is hardly mentioned in the literature, and barely acknowledged in business practice. …Managers practice “silent design”…the many decisions taken by non-designers who enter directly into the design process, no matter how unaware they or others may be of their impact.
Now it’s your turn!
Oliver Thylmann Says:
July 5th, 2005 at 8:07Visit Oliver Thylmann
What? you want more quotes? :)
Fifteen years ago companies competed on price. Now it’s quality. Tomorrow it’s design. - Bob Hayes, professor emeritus at the Harvard Business School
or this one …
The last few decades have belonged to a certain kind of person with a certain kind of mind - computer programmers who could crank code, lawyers who could craft contracts, MBAs who could crunch numbers. But the keys to the kingdom are changing hands. The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind - creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers and meaning makers. These people - artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers, consolers, big picture thinkers - will now reap society’s richest rewards and share its greatest joys. - Dan Pink, A Whole new Mind
I mean just think about it, the Apple 20″ widescreen monitor costs roughly $1000. The _exact_ same monitor in black can be had from Dell for $650. Still, I would be thinking about the Apple one because boy does it look good. :)
Hans Henrik Says:
July 5th, 2005 at 13:25Visit Hans Henrik
Ralf;
Don’t excuse you self when linking – or creating link-repositories. Blogging isn’t only about creating new content or new knowledge; it’s also about framing the conversation about and around content produced elsewhere.
One could ague that there is enough data and information in the world already, but linking it together, framing a new sensemaking between people involved in the conversation, is what blogging is also about.
That I of course also strive after creating something that makes a difference in peoples perception or gives them different perspectives on things is obvious, but it’s not a success-rate for me alone…..
All the best
Hans Henrik
CPH127-pilot
Steve Portigal Says:
July 6th, 2005 at 18:07Visit Steve Portigal
I’m intrigued by Oliver’s quote and then his personal example on Apple vs. Dell. If it’s really only about looking good, then Bob Hayes will be disappointed, because I don’t think that’s sustainable, especially at the type of price premium that Oliver cites.
And maybe I’ve just been idealistic, but I’ve always hoped that design can mean something more than just styling. I think the Apple example often gets reduced to styling, but I’ve seen first hand in ethnographic studies of Apple customers about the large meaning of the Apple brand, manifested but not defined by styling. There’s a promise there of something else, something emotional and even if rationally the buyer says, as Oliver does, it’s the SAME monitor, there’s something else you are getting for your purchase. Brand, experience, myth.
Oliver Thylmann Says:
July 6th, 2005 at 20:41Visit Oliver Thylmann
I didn’t mean to only make this out as good looks. It’s much more. Usability, a good feel, experience while using it, extension of the brand, 360 degree completion of the brand. When you ask a writer they will often say that words seem to carry more weight on a mac.
Ralf Beuker Says:
July 6th, 2005 at 20:56Visit Ralf Beuker
Hi Steve,
thanks for your note! Believe me: Coming from the pure strategic & technology management angle I’ve preached for years that the better product or better technology in general does not necessarily lead to successful in the market.- And Apple has always been prefered reference for this. (And Oliver remembers our first real discussion about this topic as well;-)
Today I see things slightly different. While I think Apple is at the top of creating experiences by design (and technology as well) a reference from Olivers Blog pointed my to www.nixlog.com/apple and inspired my eyes (and my brain).
While I think Desgin is one element of Apple’s success these days, its iterative blending of Design, Technology and Customer Experience is the real secret to its success.
Cheers, Ralf.
Steve Portigal Says:
July 7th, 2005 at 1:33Visit Steve Portigal
Oliver - thanks for clarifying and of course it’s so much easier to talk about how it LOOKS than it is to try and describe (using a small type-in box like we have here) the other more elusive aspects of design that Apple has accomplished.
Ralf - thanks for the pointer to that amazing graphic and the interesting blog - more good reading to do! Whew. And the combination of Apple factors is good - for me, the fact that there’s a story there - the company, the personalities, the products, the HISTORY - that is part of the iterative thing you highlight.
Good stuff.
jens Says:
July 13th, 2005 at 10:39Visit jens
“sachlichkeit is not a style.
it is an attitude.”
jkhilgenstock
:)
dennis Says:
July 2nd, 2006 at 13:18Visit dennis
the correct citation by robert hayes ias far es i now: “Fifteen years ago, companies competed on price. Today it‘ s quality. Tomorrow it‘s design.”
Jake Hogan Says:
February 27th, 2009 at 23:34Visit Jake Hogan
That sounds about right Dennis.
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