How do you use design to improve your business?

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Music and links from this episode

World Take by Drake Stafford

All Your Organs Get A Laugh by Mystery Mammal

Good Grief by Mystery Mammal

Line-by-line notes

After my last couple of episodes about politics

I’m leaving all that alone for a couple of episodes now

And I’m going to return to talking about some less controversial topics

Although…some people might see this one as a bit controversial

Especially if you’re in business

And you don’t really appreciate the value of design and design thinking

By the end of this episode, I think you might appreciate design a little bit more

Today I’m talking about how design can improve businesses

And the power that having a design first mentality can bring

This is AADA, and I’m Craig Burgess

MUSIC

I’m going to start with a really overworked example of how design is used in business

But as much as it’s overworked, and overused to explain how powerful design and business can be

It’s a great example

Throughout the years, there’s been lots of businesses that have put design at the heart of their company, and made a lot of money from it

Think Braun, Dyson, Airbnb, and the king of it all, Apple

Apple is the example I want to start with

But first, let me explain what I mean by a business that puts design first

Essentially, they design amazing products, be them digital or physical, and spend all their effort designing those products

Or at least, outwardly to the public they appear to be doing this

They value design inside their business above almost everything else

And no how valuable a well-designed product is

To return to the Apple example

Think about the difference between a £300 Windows laptop, and a £1200 MacBook

The Windows laptop will feel cheap, usually made of plastic

It’ll start breaking away almost as soon as you buy it

And it’ll be full of bloatware and software you just don’t need

Compare that with the MacBook

As soon a you see the packaging, you know it’s a quality product

Apple even spend stupid amounts of care and attention on their packaging, to give you the exact impression they want you to feel

Quality

And then when you open it up, and feel that MacBook, you know you’re handling a quality product

It’s made of aluminium, feels premium, and you instantly know you’ve made the right choice

Even when you boot up the MacBook for the first time, the software is easy to use

It’s clean, functional, and guides you through the entire process

This has all come about because Apple care about the entire design experience

They care about designing and manufacturing really good products, and it shows in everything they do

And that’s because they value design above everything else

They value profits too, which is why they’re one of the largest companies in the world in terms of money made each year

But even if you don’t like Apple, and you hate their laptops and their phones and their stupid watches, you can’t deny they’re well-designed products

Jony Ive clearly has always wanted to leave a legacy around his products

And you get the impression that their current range of products will be looked back on in 20 years by product designers and still admired

Just like the original iMac is today

And other design-led companies are just like this too

Look at Dyson

James Dyson and everybody else at Dyson is utterly focused on making the best products possible, just like Apple

Even if you don’t buy one of their vacuum cleaners, fans or desk lights, you look at them and they’re just damn cool

You know they’re products that are at the top of their game

And one of the major advantages of all this design led thinking, and trying to produce the best products you can

Is that it makes your company unique in your marketplace, even if you’re making the same things as everybody else

And also… you make more money. Apple, Dyson, Braun… none of their products