Ten Principles for Good Design

By Dieter Rams

Back in the early 1980s, Dieter Rams was becoming increasingly concerned by the state of the world around him – “an impenetrable confusion of forms, colours and noises.” Aware that he was a significant contributor to that world, he asked himself an important question: is my design good design?

As good design cannot be measured in a finite way he set about expressing the ten most important principles for what he considered was good design. (Sometimes they are referred as the ‘Ten commandments’.)

Here they are.

Good design is innovative

The possibilities for innovation are not, by any means, exhausted. Technological development is always offering new opportunities for innovative design. But innovative design always develops in tandem with innovative technology, and can never be an end in itself.

Good design makes products useful

A product is bought to be used. It has to satisfy certain criteria, not only functional, but also psychological and aesthetic. Good design emphasises the usefulness of a product whilst disregarding anything that could possibly detract from it.

Good design is aesthetic

The aesthetic quality of a product is integral to its usefulness because products we use every day affect our person and our well-being. But only well-executed objects can be beautiful.

Good design makes a product understandable

It clarifies the product’s structure. Better still, it can make the product talk. At best, it is self-explanatory.

Good design is unobtrusive

Products fulfilling a purpose are like tools. They are neither decorative objects nor works of art. Their design should therefore be both neutral and restrained, to leave room for the user’s self-expression.

Good design is honest

It does not make a product more innovative, powerful or valuable than it really is. It does not attempt to manipulate the consumer with promises that cannot be kept.

Good design is long-lasting

It avoids being fashionable and therefore never appears antiquated. Unlike fashionable design, it lasts many years – even in today’s throwaway society.

Good design is thorough, down to the last detail

Nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance. Care and accuracy in the design process show respect towards the consumer.

Good design is environmentally-friendly

Design makes an important contribution to the preservation of the environment. It conserves resources and minimizes physical and visual pollution throughout the lifecycle of the product.

Good design is as little design as possible

Less, but better – because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials.

Back to purity, back to simplicity.

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Internet Marketing Tips to Help Your Product Survive the Digital Rat Race

by Marnie Ochs-Raleigh

So you’ve created the latest, greatest, gotta have it product, and now you are trying to market it. Great! And you realize just how large of a customer base the Internet can provide, with total online retail sales in the US estimated at around $400 billion. But where do you start? Who do you talk to? What tools do you use?

What Is Internet Marketing

Internet Marketing is communicating to customers a company’s message, culture, image, and products. Who you are will inform how you present yourself, so if your company want to have a better image online, you need to create it, or, let it develop naturally if it’s already well established. Like all marketing, it is focused on conducting research and selling goods and services but in a digital space. Time also plays into this aspect – how much time do you have verses how large is your marketing budget?

Evolve Marketing

What’s new with Internet marketing? Internet marketing is remarkably different than traditional marketing, but rooted in similar ideas. Traditionally you would market a product or a business using newspapers, yellow pages, flyers and circulators, or just strong word of mouth grassroots campaigns. On the Internet, these marketing techniques have been replaced with search engines, social media, ads, and “word of type”. The more creative and viral your message is, the better chance you have your marketing efforts will pay off.

Let Others Work For You

Is your product similar to other’s products? One of the best ways to market something new is to research how similar products have been marketed on the Internet. Let your competitors do the heavy lifting! Often others have done the trial and error to discover what brings in customers and what doesn’t; a thorough Google search will save you hours and dollars in marketing fees.

Word of Type

Are you on the Internet and have the time to engage in social media? Twitter and Facebook are great tools to use to draw customers and potential clients in with discussion about the features and strengths of your product. Talk about your product. Search for others who need it. Mention it’s applications with people, and listen to them respond. But be careful to follow the rules of social media: discussion about the weaknesses and cons of your product will occur as well. The open communication of Twitter and Facebook is what makes them such great marketing tools. Also, no one wants to listen to a soapbox speech in social media; they are here to discuss, not be sold to.

It’s A Google World

Have a budget for marketing? A paid service, Google Adwords allows you to run search relevant text and picture ads to the sides of every Google search. Google provides a wealth of information regarding how many people see your ads, what the click through rates are to your website or product, as well as offering suggestions on how to improve your ads for the greatest impact.

Talk About Your Product

Have a website? Whether or not you have a website dedicated to your product, it costs nothing except time to set up a blog or WordPress account to talk about your product. And that time you invested in the blog will be paid back to you through the material you create. Try doing a series of blog posts on the exceptional features of your product! If you do the work on the blog, you’ve essentially just created a whole new marketing package that can be shared with customers both online and in printed form. Plus, a blog will allow new customers to come and discuss your product, creating great word of mouth and “word of type” connections.

Online Retail Sales Companies

Where are you selling your product online? Is your product being sold on Amazon, Ebay, or other online venues? Check to see what people are saying about you and your product, and respond to them, addressing their concerns and thanking them for their praises! Find out wherever your product is and be involved in the discussion. But be careful not to do draconian damage control: let their grievances remain, and discuss with them. Don’t try to force someone to be silent.

Different Strategies for Different People

Are you taking different buying demographics into account? Men and women shop differently and look for different features. At minimum it’s probably wise to have up to five different marketing campaigns going at once, divided between generic, men, women, young, and old consumers. Leverage the strengths of your product toward each group. Rarely is there anything that is one-size fits all.

Talk About Everything…Except Your Product

Are you too focused? This is one of the hardest Internet marketing concepts for traditional marketers to grasp, but on the Internet, sometimes it’s best to not talk about yourself or your product. But how will that help me sell my product? By talking around your product. If you establish yourself as an expert in your field and show you care about all the many facets of your industry instead of just about yourself and your products, people will begin to listen and trust you more as a reliable source. One of the best ways to do this is to take the time to write articles and other news items that can be shared on various platforms such as Digg and Delicious.

Find What’s Best for You

These were just a few techniques Internet marketers are using to drum up excitement and support for their brand; there are many more. Most marketing can be done with just simple time commitment and little financial revenue; however, stronger results can always be bought. Search the Internet. Start looking around and listening to others. Establish a comprehensive strategy that meshes with what you are doing offline. And then engage.

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How to Ensure Your Product Instructions are Enhancing the Customer Experience

Rob Eddy, principal at Infographics, offers tips for improving instructions

In 15-plus years of working closely with product designers, engineers and quality assurance professionals in many consumer-product industries, I’ve found that a critical factor affecting manufacturers’ success rests with how they value consumer opinions.

One oft forgotten but pivotal aspect of consumers’ product experience centers on instruction manuals for assembly, use and maintenance – or, what many people have grown to dread as incomprehensible directions that, in theory, are supposed to make a product work.

How many of us have struggled to the point of total frustration with archaic instructions offering no help whatsoever with a new product we’ve just purchased and anxiously await to use? The experience is practically universal – just ask any parent who has struggled until 4 a.m. Christmas morning with a child’s “some assembly required” toy.

The fact this consumer nightmare is so commonplace should tell all of us in product development fields that many companies are doing something wrong . . . specifically, failing to make a consumer’s initial product experience an enjoyable one.

Why should companies take notice? Consider these realities:

• Companies that offer clear, concise and well-written product instructions (also known as “post-purchase” communications tools) generally experience fewer product returns. Conversely, customers faced with poor instruction manuals sometimes decide that assembling a complicated product is not worth their trouble and demand their money back. (As a matter of fact, I worked with one company that was struggling with a 50 percent non-defective return rate because consumers could not understand how to install and use its product.)
• Manufacturers also reap benefits of lower customer call center demand when product communications provide inclusive information. In addition, good assembly and usage instructions offer a solid foundation for consumers and customer service agents to communicate – facilitating smoother and clearer support.
• For a company’s legal department, fewer product liability claims due to injury or poor performance arise when consumers correctly assemble, use and maintain their new purchase.
• In dealing with products distributed to international markets, manufacturers can also realize lower translation costs and less confusion across cultural boundaries when they employ proper use of universal symbols and understandable graphics.
• An improved brand perception often follows any company that makes the consumer’s assembly experience an easy and “painless” one. That brand perception can have residual effects, such as a consumer’s desire to purchase other products of the same brand or to recommend a brand’s products to friends.
• Better product instructions typically result in much better ownership experiences, which, at the end of the day, can easily parlay into increased sales, higher profitability and greater market share.

So how can companies evaluate their product instruction performance from the consumer’s vantage point and make necessary improvements? Several steps facilitate the process:

• Determine the appropriate department and specific manager(s) within your company to guide product communications. Frequently, tight product launch schedules and a lack of clearly defined responsibility can lead to hastily developed post-purchase communications tools. Establishing ownership for the development of these components can make a significant difference.
• Communicate internally with other managers and functions to gain buy-in across departments. Quality assurance and customer service functions most often deal with shortcomings in the area of “post-purchase” communications. However, these functions seldom lend input on creating these tools; instead, usually product development, marketing and/or engineering drive instruction manual development. By establishing cross-functional teams and collecting multiple perspectives interdepartmentally, companies can enhance product manuals significantly.
• Research how your product’s instruction manual currently performs by collecting direct customer feedback (i.e. product registration cards, product packaging inserts, customer call center questionnaires, etc.). Evaluate factors like readability, quality of illustration, accuracy of instruction, whether or not the entire informational piece is “intimidating” (too much complex information) or inadequate (not enough information to be useful). Focus groups can also provide a wealth of insight. If possible, try to compare your product’s informational performance with those of competitors’ products.
• Establish metrics that will allow you to measure and quantify the results of making improvements, such as volume/content of call center inquiries, reasons cited for product returns, litigation cases attributed to “faulty design” that may have originated as assembly/maintenance issues not addressed adequately in product literature, etc.
• Consider working with a third-party design expert specializing in consumer product communications, via both written copy and graphic illustration/design. Check the company’s references for a track record of performance with large consumer brand names, highly technical products and multicultural communications.

While the notion of providing understandable product instructions to consumers is a simple idea, it’s not necessarily a simple process. That’s probably why so few companies achieve it consistently. However, for those that do, the benefits can manifest themselves from the retail line to the bottom line, with big cost savings and revenue enhancements for companies that make the effort.

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Facilitating Great Design: A How-to from World Renowned Product Designer Walter Landor

Narrated and Produced by the great Product Designer himself, Walter Landor takes us back in time to witness the genius behind the design of the Old Fitzgeral Whiskey bottle. Watch these real-life Mad Men fully conceptualize, reasearch, design and prototype this idea from start to finish. From the first design meeting on the sundeck of Landor Studios on Sanfransico Bay, until the final prototype is produced, this nostalgic video gives insight to the intelligent processes, creative imaginations and extensive practices of the founders of the design industry. Watch Video

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