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.
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Did you hear that I’m working at POKE New York? We’re an innovation and design studio. We solve interesting problems through unconventional wisdom, relentless collaboration and outright invention. And I’m working in the creative strategy department.
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@nametagscott // [email protected] // 314.374.3397
