Creating Design Strategies for businesses

A brand is a manifestation of design experiences. So are the products, services and marketing communications such as packaging, corporate websites and advertisements. The glass of water with your company logo that you serve your clients is one of them too.

Following this line of thought, it is almost easy to conclude a Design Strategy sounds very relevant to any business. Yet, Design Strategy is relatively rare in businesses outside of the creative industry especially SMEs in Singapore. My guess is that this is a relative alien or new concept where the definition and benefits are not very clear. We need to know what Design does first.

Design in business is hard to define yet its manifestations abound. From the way the logo, brand, tag line and the experience it delivers, it is like a light bulb which produces light but you do not feel it is really there. Increasingly, design in businesses is getting a heads up as we know what it can achieve. Design grows a business and ensures its sustainability.

 
Razer which designs gaming mice and peripherals is a testament of good design and branding. Gaming and mice are both not new categories yet Razer managed to capture nearly half of gaming peripheral market share in a matter of years. This model above is one of the fastest wireless mouse in the market. By this design alone, it is remarkable.Razer understood the language of gaming tribes and dived in deep. Designing true experiences for gamers by gamers which is also its brand tag line.

The Strategy aspects talks about a plan or model which Design is road-mapped like a business strategy. Hence, Design Strategy is about utilizing design or design thinking to help businesses gain competitive advantage over competitors.

In the next 3 posts, I will investigate how Design Strategy can impact businesses with examples.

Please leave your comments, if any. Image taken from Razer website.

Challenging your belief or stance

Beliefs are the makeup of our knowledge, views, culture and norms. As individuals or tribes, our actions are a direct translation of our beliefs. For example, you shake hands with another stranger as a belief of goodwill (I hope at least on your part). Brands try to shape your beliefs about them through advertising and other marketing activities.

It is a fact that we depend a lot on our beliefs and took it for granted. Questioning your beliefs can be fundamentally unnerving. Post September 11, it took a while for Americans to change their beliefs about homeland security. Beliefs are sometimes radically shaped by circumstance. Here are some beliefs that have been shaped over the last decade.

1) Commercialization of space travel. Virgin Galactic
2) Electronic books changing the entire publishing industry.
3) Consumers telling brands what to do.
4) You can make a living out of publishing your life online.
5) Designer office chairs that can cost up to S$2,000 each.

You can probably think of more.

Your beliefs or stance of the world is a powerful subconscious inner voice that guides and alters your decisions and actions. At the same time, altering these deep seated beliefs can potentially impact your lives. One of the most powerful result of changing your beliefs is to solve difficult sticky situations and problems. Relationships, careers and health. Taking a alternative discourse to solve them. In short, changing your stance for the better.

In the book Integrative Thinking, Roger Martin challenge readers to review and change your stance. Has it stifled your thinking and vision? If it is, probably time to reassess and think about reshaping it. Your own beliefs might be the single greatest barrier and tool for creative thinking. In the business world, changing stance can help deliver better experiences for customers or tribes. For example, if we change our beliefs that a hair salon can do more than hair related services, this business model will not look for other complementary services like pedicure and manicure services.

Engaging a coach might be a possible avenue. Here is Enrico Varella & Associates where change development is carefully shaped and mentored in the hands of experts.

Please leave your comments, if any.

How do we become more innovative?

Aeron Chair from Herman Miller Inc.

Attract more Design Centers, less Business Centers. Design leading businesses.
Build a proper Art School. Uplift the notion of being a designer. We need design maestros.
Brand innovation as a culture rather than an approach. Creativity is never an algorithm.
Gather tribes to promote innovation, TED.
Put a designer in every business meeting.
Design thinking with T-shape employees.
Encourage Validity over Reliability. Take risks. Fail forward.
Advocate design consultancies.
Government to rally in.
Involve the SMEs.

Please leave your comments, if any.

Battling Adversity

Today, I received news that a fellow triathlete Enrico Varella is involved in an accident during one of his 230km training ride. He is knocked down by a taxi and suffered some minor fracture, bruises and cuts. Being a fellow cyclist, such news came eerily frequent as we increasingly spend more time on the roads than average recreational cyclists. Fortunately, he is all right and will be back on his feet pretty soon. Being a multiple time Ironman Finisher, I believe he can dig deep to battle this adversity.

Adversity is a rather discouraging word. It is sometimes call The Dip, the deep valley and dark tunnel that creeps into our lives. It can happen in the worst of times, it hits us like a car from the rear. Fast, unexpected and shocking. Enrico's accident comes 25 days before his 9th Ironman race in Taupo, New Zealand. This is his second return to Taupo after his first ' half bake' attempt due to weather changes which significantly shorten the race. No fault of his.

In times like these, we can't help but wonder what can help us overcome adversity? Tribes who share the same passion and love for sports, movements, visions and brands certainly make this a lot easier. They offer the support, insights and encouragement to help fellow tribe members make it through. The barrage of well wishes and support he received is a testament of this.

Enrico, get well soon! - From your ENR tribe.

Brand Success Factors in Singapore

1) Boldness and being remarkable. Take a leap of faith and be bold in their offerings. For example, I noticed nearly all local optical shops look and feel the same. Where is the differentation here? If customers cannot find the tipping point, only their shop appearances and price matters.

2) Design matters. Design their own line of products to innovate and differentiate themselves. Design gives a huge competitive edge in brands. More importantly, they need to harness design thinking to solve their business challenges.

3) Customer Service or User Experience. Singaporeans have a huge gap to fill in this aspect. No brand experience is complete if staff are not trained to deliver the critical human touch. Stop talking Singapore Airlines, be Singapore Airlines.

4) Building a Brand platform. We are talking about customer engagement here. Brands should think about serving customers beyond the store. How can brand engagement START after customers END their purchases with them. Start them thinking about the next 3 visits. As the marketing mantra goes 'It's always easier to retain than to get new customers'.

Please leave your comments if any. Image taken from Nanyang Optical Website.

Test-bed for innovation?

Yesterday I read an article about turning Singapore into Asia's consumer-business hub. Mr Heng Swee Keat, a member of the Economic Strategies Committee (ESC) elaborated on recommending setting up several consumer insights, marketing and branding bodies to support testing new products in Singapore. He argued that given Singapore small market, we make an ideal test-bed to try out new products for different Asian markets. Adding on that we have a common culture with the rest of Asia with a good grasp of Asian consumer psyche.

I cannot help but think that the focus on innovation creation should be the focal point first before we position Singapore as a test-bed.

The key challenge lies in innovating products by Asians for Asia. Taking our understanding of Asian culture through consumer research and fuse the insights with creative design. Supported by marketing and branding that can resonant with Asians. Testing though important, should be part of the entire creative innovation process.

Can Singapore have an innovative culture? That is when we get the ball rolling.

Please leave your comments, if any.