Downturns and design
I’m reading subject to change by the good folks at Adaptive Path right now. It’s an interesting book that discusses features and design and why people like using what they like using. It’s all round good stuff.
At the same time I’m reading a lot about the credit crunch and how people are no longer spending as much as they used to how people are looking for a bargain and how places like Asda and Aldi here in the UK are gaining market share as users try to save more on their expenditure. That makes sense for every day goods that people need like bread and milk and other daily necessities, but it doesn’t hold true for the success of the iPhone 3G - which even Swisscom has run out of. If people are tightening their belts why are they spending on an iPhone?
Here’s my hunch, design is a powerful tool against downturns in the economy. When you spend a lot of attention to detail on design and build something that users want – and sure marketing and inventory controls probably have something to do with it – you’re likely to see off the headwinds and do okay. Building more features which ratchet up the price of a good isn’t a good strategy. Design is about making things simple and elegant, and during a downturn less is definitely more.
Farhan -
I think it’s the cool factor. The success of the iPhone, iPod, iRobot…opps.
As i was saying, if a product is cool (design, pop culture-ish, a “must have”) then it will be successful. That’s why the Blackberry years what it took the iPhone seconds to do.
And it further explains why people leave comments on your Facebook and not here. Facebook is just a lot more cooler than you or me.
kk
p.s. Thanks for your help on my article. It may be published in the Sept08 edition of REM.
July 29th, 2008 at 9:49 pmDesign makes things cool, sure marketing and messaging have a hand in it as well, but well designed things that people might never see - like having the most amazingly designed bed - should also be able survive a downturn.
As for f’book v the blog, that has to do with distribution I think… might be the subject of a future blog post!
July 30th, 2008 at 11:16 amLOL! I have my blog postings sent to f’book as well. What I’ve done to drive people back to the blog is disable comments on f’book and ask pple to leave comments on original post.
look forward to your next blogthought!
kk
July 30th, 2008 at 6:49 pm