t h o u g h t f u l d e s i g n

1
Corey McPherson Nash
thoughtful design
for integrated communications
2
Who We Are

• Founded in 1983
• 9 employees
• 20 employees company-wide
• Boston-area headquarters
• Branding, advertising, print interactive design
• Technology, professional services, education
  entertainment

3
Who We Are - Expertise

• Branding
• Print
• Interactive
• Technical
• User-Interface Design

4
Who We Are - Branding Capabilities

• Brand Strategy
• Naming
• Positioning
• Brand Identity

5
Who We Are - Print Capabilities

• Brand Identity/Corporate Identity Programs
• Brochure/Literature Systems
• Corporate Collateral
• Visual Standards Systems

6
Who We Are - Interactive Capabilities

• Transactive Web Sites
• E-commerce Solutions
• User-Interface Design and Integration
• Convergent Media Design
• Intranets/Extranets
• Multimedia Presentations

7
Why CMN - Our Values

• Produce work of the highest possible quality
• Serve our clients as best as we can
• Make work enjoyable
• Hire good-hearted people

8
The value of design in todays business world

• If you are feeling undervalued, is it because
• Clients are not smart enough or sophisticated
  enough to recognize the value of good design?
• The design profession is not doing a good job of
  showing how good design leads to better business
  results?
• The graphic design profession is too narrowly
  focused on formal solutions without embedding
  these solutions in business strategy?

9
The value of design in todays business world

• Most clients do understand the value of design.
  They ask the following questions
• Is design mission-critical right now?
• Is it possible to link investment in design
  directly to financial performance?
• Is it necessary to hire the best (most
  expensive) designer to achieve my immediate
  goals?

10
The value of design in todays business world

• The gulf between the values of business and the
  values of design
• The overlap between the values of business and
  the values of design
• How the practice of design adds value to business
• Practicing design to reinforce the role of design
  in business
• Branding design to show its value to business

11
The value of design in todays business world

• The gulf between the values of business and the
  values of design
• Goals
• Education
• Skills
• Motivation

12
The gulf between business and design

• William Addison Dwiggins
• A Technique for Dealing with Artists (1941)

13
The gulf between business and design

• An artist is an anomaly in the present
  civilization because he is moved by a craving
  outside the universal and rational craving to
  make money.
• . . . the pleasure the artist gets from
  manipulating materials or marshalling ideas the
  pleasure of seeing things take shape under his
  hand.

14
The gulf between business and design

• product as merchandise something to sell
• product as something to be used
• One measures it in terms of exchange value the
  other measures it in units of performance value.

15
The gulf between business and design

• Why does art have market value?
• What do artists value?
• An artist values style in a design or
  construction or performance.
• Style is the simplest, the most graceful, the
  most forceful way to apply the effort and
  accomplish the end.

16
The gulf between business and design

• Do artists think?
• Your proper artist is always half engineer.
• If an artist is actually an artist not a mere
  esthete you may rest easy about his
  rationality.

17
The gulf between business and design

• William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement
  in England

18
The gulf between business and design

• Industrial Revolution, beginning around 1750
• Crystal Palace Exhibition 1851
• Alienation of the artist from material culture
• - historical eclecticism
• - lack of creativity
• - meaningless ornament

19
The gulf between business and design

• Two options
• Change the culture (Morris, Ruskin)
• Change the relationship between art and industry
• - Deutsche Werkbund (Muthesias)
• - Bauhaus (Gropius)

20
The overlap between business and design

• What values do designers and business managers
  share?
• Both are essentially creative activities Busines
  s managers organize resources to deliver a
  service or product to a market.
• Designers influence how that product or
  service is delivered and experienced by the
  market.

21
The overlap between business and design
Product Service

• Business

Market
Revenue
22
The overlap between business and design
Product Service

• Business

Market
Revenue
23
The overlap between business and design
Design
Product Service

• Business

Market
Revenue
24
The overlap between business and design
Design
Product Service

• Business

Market
Revenue
25
The overlap between business and design

• Thomas J. Watson, Jr.
• Good Design is Good Business(1975)

26
Good Design is Good Business
27
Good Design is Good Business

• What my father wanted was to win a place for
  IBM in the estimation of people, and he realized
  we had to earn it not only by what we did, but
  also how we looked.
• Long before we had enough money to launch a
  design program, we tried to look more successful
  than we really were.

28
Good Design is Good Business

• Olivetti-envy ?
• Style a quality of a performance
• Image how we are regarded by our customers, our
  employees, our community, our peers
• Is good design a sign (effect) of good business
  rather than a cause of good business?

29
the overlapping of interest and concern

• Charles and Ray Eames

30
(No Transcript)
31
How design adds value to business
Research Naming Writing Branding Marketing
Strategy Usability
Project Management Design Art Direction Photograph
y Illustration Production Supervision
32
How design adds value to business
Counselor Partner Fan Student Teacher Synthesizer
Interpreter
33
How design adds value to business
Can the value of design be objectively
measured? Are good design and good business
causally related? Is it possible for good design
to co-exist with poor business? Is it possible
for poor design to co-exist with good
business? Is it possible for poor design to cause
poor business? Is it possible for good design to
cause poor business?
34
How design adds value to business
Form follows function Form expresses
function Form expresses meaning Form expresses
appropriate meaning
35
How design adds value to business
All things which can give ordinary life a turn
for the better are useless affection, laughter,
flowers, song, seas, mountains, play, poetry,
art, and all. But they are not valueless and not
ineffectual either. David Pye, The Nature of
Design
36
How design adds value to business
At its best, design is the ability to transform
empathy and understanding into serviceable
form. Ralph Caplan, By Design
37
How design adds value to business
Visual identity assignment Visually distill the
full complexity of the corporate offering,
culture, audience and vision into a single
graphic identifier to be applied across all
visual communications in every medium in a manner
that all stakeholders can embrace.
38
How design adds value to business
Process Define - interviews with managers and
stakeholders - interviews with customers -
review research - review industry literature -
conduct competitive audit
39
How design adds value to business
Process Define - present findings and
implications for identity - conduct visual
Rorshach test
40
How design adds value to business
Representational Image - Immediate recognition
and affinity - Connects the brand to a familiar
person, place or thing - Built-in brand
attributes and personality
41
How design adds value to business
Abstract Metaphor - Communicates an idea,
attribute, or personality - Allows for broad
interpretations - Memorable when well-done, but
difficult to make distinctive
42
How design adds value to business
43
How design adds value to business
dimensional
organic
flat
44
How design adds value to business
contemporary
traditional
45
How design adds value to business
serif
sanserif
46
How design adds value to business
47
How design adds value to business
48
How design adds value to business
Creative Brief - assignment - goal -
audiences - big idea - tone - mandatory
requirements
49
How design adds value to business
Avoid becoming an exotic menial. If the
clients role consists merely of bankrolling the
project, the designers role is that of an exotic
menial. He is menial because his services are
required for low-level objectives, to be
considered only after the real decisions are
made, and exotic because no one really
understands what he does. (Ralph Caplan)
50
Evaluating design
Relevant criteria for evaluating a graphic
identity solution Functional Criteria -
works in one color - holds up at low
resolutions - flexible for all applications -
scales large and small - easy to fabricate in
signage - standard color palette
51
Evaluating design
Relevant criteria for evaluating a graphic
identity solution Semantic Criteria -
connotes industry - connotes brand personality
and culture - differentiates from
competitors - appropriate formal connotations
(style) - embraced and accepted by employees
and customers (over time)
52
Evaluating design
Irrelevant criteria for evaluating a graphic
identity solution - does everyone like
it? - does it improve business results?
53
Design as a verb
Design adds value by engaging the client in the
process of interpreting their business in visual
terms. The designer is a medium for helping an
organization toward a clear image of who they
are. The key concept is appropriateness.

54
Appropriateness
Appropriateness is the fit between the problem
and the solution that integrates functional
requirements and symbolic resonance to express
meaning to a receptive audience.
how-it-should-be-ness
55
Practicing design to show value to business

• Keep the design process as open and transparent
  as possible (minimize the magic)
• Engage the client as a team member, and be open
  to suggestions from the client.
• Widen the spectrum of your practice to every
  level of the business process.
• Where possible, measure the outcome of your work.
  

56
Practicing design to show value to business

• Demonstrate business values in the way you do
  business.
• - Talk openly about fees and budgets and
  contracts.
• - Negotiate openly and honestly.
• - Have a clearly defined process and stand by
  it.
• - Be flexible, but not weak.
• - Be consultative, have a point of view.
• - Look for opportunities to show your value to
  clients.
• - Learn as much as you can about your clients
  industry (send clients news clippings
  about their industry)

57
Defining design
Planning
58
Defining design
Function
Planning
59
Defining design
Meaning
Function
Planning
60
Defining design
Style
Meaning
Function
Planning
61
Design the Brand
62
Design the Brand
63
Design the Brand

• Brand Personality
• Empathetic able to see things as clients do and
  as customers do
• Service-oriented not an order-taker, but giving
  clients your best effort
• Curious eager to learn new things
• Imaginative able to envision alternative
  futures and alternative solutions
• Articulate  visually and verbally
• Skilled understand the craft and materials of
  making things

64
Design the Brand
65
Design the Brand
66
Design the Brand
67
Design the Brand
68
Design the Brand
69
Design the Brand

• Brand PromiseThe design process,
• a dialogue between designer and client
• and between situation and form,
• will add value to the clients enterprise
• by discovering the most appropriate
• forms to communicate value to the
• clients customers, employees and
• stakeholders.

70
Design the Brand

• Brand PositionAt its best, design is the
  process of making things right.
• Ralph Caplan, By Design

71

• Thanks!

72

• www.cmndesign.com
• client login
• username ottawa
• password valueofdesign