Blog 1

I am really interested in the idea of integrating design philosophy into marketing. According to the guest lecture, Jeff Mulhausen, industrial design is the “service of creating and developing concepts and specifications that optimize the function, value and appearance of products and systems for the mutual benefit.” I believe the concept correlates immensely with the aspect of customer insights. The idea of customer insights is a “fresh and not-yet-obvious understanding of customers that can become the basis for competitive advantage” (from article- “Insights into Customer Insights”). It is the knowledge of consumer wants and needs, even if they are unaware of it. This idea is pivotal in the competitive world. To me, a key factor in good marketing is knowing your consumers and knowing what they want in order to build a relationship with them. To strengthen their relationship, however, companies need to better understand the feelings and needs of consumers. Therefore, the concept of integrating the insights of consumers into the design of the product is ingenious. Not only will the company understand the true needs of the consumer, but they will also be able to put those needs into action, thereby bringing about the perfect product for consumers.

Laptop for Third-World Countries

An interesting characteristic of design theory presented by Jeff Mulhausen is the five philosophies that drive today. 1) Design for the whole system, not just for the consumers. An example he gave is Car2Go. The smart car is not only a new car line, but it helps the city transportation problem. 2) Design for the majority. Jeff stated that we normally cater to “top 10% of the population.” The Life straw is a good example he gave that is beneficial for a different segment of people in less developed areas that need clean drinking water. 3) Design to empower; in other words, provide products that can help better people’s lives. I believe that the laptop that was invented for third world countries is a brilliant initiative. The research team designed a laptop as economical as possible in order to enhance children’s education in developing countries. 4) Universal Design- a design “usable and effective for everyone.” The iPod, for instance, is set up so that anyone can figure out how to use it. 5) Design for simplicity-the idea of focusing on perfecting one main thing. An example from Jeff is the Flip Camera. Instead adding a million features, the camera catered to the world’s needs. I believe that all the ideas about design could help marketing practices by providing more products that fit the consumers.

I really like the concept of making a product that can improve the life of the consumer and the world. Both Jeff and Dr. Walls noted that it is important to make products that are beneficial and do not merely add more unnecessary things to someone’s life. The world today, and particularly the U.S., is presented with so many choices in even the smallest of things, such as what soap to buy. I believe it is imperative that companies begin focusing on the effect a product can have on the world. Fortunately, the whole idea behind design philosophy is to improve a product and make it more beneficial for everyone. By placing more emphasis on the design aspect, companies can begin to narrow down their products to become more simplistic, less wasteful and more beneficial.

A somewhat conflicting idea is the design for the majority of the population. Nevertheless, the majority of the products made cater to only 10% of the world’s population, and that is where the most money is made and where the new technology takes us. I don’t believe that companies should completely abandon that market segment because I feel that it helps us grow more in product development. However, companies can easily get caught up in making the most money possible through the 10%. I agree with Jeff’s statement that a business’s success will soon be as equally important as the social benefit it provides. While business success and social benefit had been separate at one point in time, the two will soon become interchangeable. It is a growing trend as well a possible necessity in the future of the market. Likewise, the growing technology has the ability to produce products that can benefit the rest of the population. If the majority of the world’s population is in poverty, it would be unsustainable if companies didn’t use their abilities to the benefit of society.

Dieter Rams product-left,
Apple product-right

One thing I found interesting from both the reading and the lecture: Apple was mentioned to be one of the company’s most successful in design and customer insights. Apple has constantly held a competitive advantage by coming out with products that have ‘wowed’ consumers. As Dr. Walls stated, you know a product is brilliant when people ask themselves, ‘why have they not thought of this before?’ Apple is always one of the first companies to think of products and has taken leaping strides in technology advancement. They have studied the market carefully to discover the true wants and needs of consumers. It is evident in the creative design of their products that they cater to the consumers. Among the philosophies mentioned earlier, they are loyal to the universal design and the design for simplicity. Apple products do not contain an instruction manual because the product is designed in a user-friendly fashion that anyone should be able to figure out. Likewise, the design of the products is simplistic and basic-exactly what consumers want and need. The idea of simplicity is based off of the works from the designer Dieter Rams. One can even see the similarities between the products from the two.