Design is everywhere, do you see it?
by
Design is everywhere. It influences every part of our lives. You might not notice it all the time, but it’s there. From the kitchen sink to the signs on the road to your business cards and other marketing materials. Design usually gets overlooked. Things that are designed well, often don’t get our attention… we expect things to be designed well. It’s either when they’re not designed well, or they’re designed differently… that we take notice.
Look in front of you. That computer monitor went through many pain-staking design processes before being approved for production. So did the case of your computer, its keyboard and mouse. The chair you’re sitting on, same thing. The watch on your wrist. The cup that holds your coffee. The telephone. Start looking around you. Do you see it? Every single thing you see has been designed.
I don’t mean engineered. That’s different.
I’m talking about the way you interact with it. The way it makes you feel as you use it, look at it, learn from it…
As an exercise for the next few days, I encourage you to start looking at the design of the things around you. In addition to how you feel about these things, also look at them through the lens of their design teams, their marketing teams. As you do, ask yourself a few questions about it:
- Is it effective? Does it accomplish what it set out to do? What was it set out to do?
- How much effort seems to have gone into the design?
- Is it unique or different? If so, does that hinder its effectiveness?
- What could be improved?
- If I were the designer or marketer, what would I have done differently?
As you’re probably expecting, next week I’m going to ask you about your marketing materials… but I don’t want you to think about those yet. Just wait. Open your eyes to other things first. Feel free to look at other people’s marketing tools if you must, but keep your eyes off your own for just a few days… Next week we’ll get back to you.
Technorati Tags: design, effectiveness, unique, different, improved, marketing
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Tara says:
Hi there, thank for the link. Its true some of the best designed things do go unnoticed, because they work so well.
Jun 7th, 2007at 1:45 pm
Chris Punke says:
Hi Tara,
You’re welcome! I enjoy reading your blog quite a bit. Glad to see you swinging by.
Design is hard for non-designers to understand. Hopefully we can help people understand what is involved in design… and just how much hard work is involved in creating GOOD design.
Hope to see you around more often!
Jun 7th, 2007at 2:47 pm
Aaron Weiche | Prime Blog says:
Good design stems from great usability, that seems to be what you are summing up here Chris. When something new or unique has the power to change how something is used, viewed or accessed … then that is wonderful and powerful design. Good post.
Jun 7th, 2007at 2:51 pm
Chris Punke says:
Hi Aaron,
Yes. That’s essentially what I’m getting at… I want to encourage people to try to notice design, in an effort to better understand the value of design and ultimately to strive to improve the design of their own marketing materials, products, packaging, etc. I’ll venture into brand a bit too in coming posts, but for now I’m pushing for a few baby steps.
Thanks for your comments! (Looks like I owe you a return meme for your recent TAGGING - I’ll have to give that some thought… stay tuned)
Jun 7th, 2007at 10:31 pm
Mike Sansone says:
Great post, Chris. One of the best designs (for me) is my wireless mouse. Fits my hand perfectly and doubles as a pointer during presentations.
Now, about that chair…I could use one of those (I’m a side-to-side rocker:-)
Jun 10th, 2007at 6:55 am
Chris Punke says:
Thanks Mike! I appreciate your comments!
I’ll see what I can do about that rocker…
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