(book review) The Designful Company

The Designful Company: How to build a culture of nonstop innovation by Marty Neumeier
New Riders, Berkeley-USA, 2009

The Designful Company takes off from Neumeier's previous books - The Brand Gap and Zag. Like his previous books, this one too, is a little, not so wordy, comprehensive book that you can finish reading on a short train ride.

Neumeier throws some light on the competition that business face in today's world while attacking the obsolete strategies of the industrial age that companies tend to use even today. He convinces that a firms needs to make innovation a  permanent strategy to stay in the game and that companies today need to integrate design practices in businesses to better position themselves against competition and to stand out of the crowd. This would mean empowering designers in the company and giving them a platform in the company where they can canvas their ideas.

The Designful company sure talks about designers and design thinking, but the most important part is that design drives change or rather, design is change. Creativity leads to innovation.

I liked the reading list at back of the book - gives some relevant good read titles, listed subject-wise.

I liked this book, but not so much as The Brand Gap.

(book review) A Fine Line

A Fine Line: How Design Strategies are shaping the future of businesses by Hartmut Essligner

Jossey-Bass, SFO-USA, 2009

'A Fine Line' is written by Hartmut Essligner, the man behind the ace design company - Frog. Overall, the book talks about how the company developed, how design is now an important and respected field in the business field, the life-cycles of various products and projects that Frog did and did not. I like Essligner's work - he is the founder of Frog and has worked on some of the world's biggest brands like Apple, Sony, Disney, etc.  But as far as the book is concerned, I wish he went into more detail on the projects he describes. 

I like the way he describes his journey - defending and making successful design solutions. He spends a lot of pages writing about Frog's work with Apple, which is interesting. The book also gives some glimpses into blends of design and businesses. 

This book is a fine read, but I wish there was more written on how the projects were developed and delivered. Rather, the book mainly boasts about Frog's success and they way they got their clients and the way some companies lost on their businesses as a result of rejecting Frog's advise. I hope Essligner writes another book with more emphasis on the actual processes in design, strategy and business. 

(Ruta Writes...) Unique Experience - The brand mantra

With our basic needs served (food, shelter, clothing) and with multiple choices at hand (work, health-care, relationships), we still think we need “something” more. “Something” that is not perfectly defined but something that has to do with the very fact that we are humans. To satisfy the higher order of things that has to do with emotions, recognition and education. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Need


Recall the last couple of hundred years or the industrial age - we progressed rapidly and built factories, safe homes and invented faster means of transport. All the basic needs were served. It was as some call it - the blue collar economy, the 'one size fits all' approach. But, then, the computer generation or rather the information economy sprang up and made the blue collar economy obsolete. Serving basic needs is taken for granted in this age and what this economy looks to serve is the “higher needs”. The blue-collar workers of the industrial age are the white-collared men of today (the information age). The kind of work people do has changed. A person no more has to spend his entire life in a factory setting doing the same repetitive thing over and over again to earn a living. Today's jobs require education, specialized skills that one learns in school or at work and at the least, an ability to take some decisions. One needs to be able to think independently to succeed today.

Therefore, the way companies grow has changed too. Brands are no more symbols or 2D marks that just tell the name of the company – they are identities that personify the company, talk about its values and what it represents and much more. No one has seen what Intel core looks like (except may be the computer guys) – but when we see the Intel sticker on a computer, we know that there's “Intel inside... ♫ ting ding ting ding”.  The brand race has changed. Industrial age was when companies decided what the consumers should have. Companies commanded and the consumers followed. But, with all the basic needs served and options available today, consumers demand and the companies need to serve. The one-size-fits-all approach does not hold foot anymore. (Of course, most of the thoughts I have discussed so far, apply to the Western developed countries)

With globalization and people moving all across continents, the markets are more diverse than ever. Companies need to define, focus and then serve target audience out of these markets. One-size cannot fit all - the more the targeted the audience the easier for the company to set objectives and give more personalized and targeted products. Its no more about just serving needs - needs are served anyway - its no more just about price - people pay a lot of money for the brands/ services they like/ want - Its about giving the experience. Its about making the consumer feel “special”. I like the way Marc Gobe puts it in Emotional Branding - “Cultural Relevance + Meaning + Emotional Connection = Loyalty.”

As we know, life in the information age is complex - of a higher order. We live in cities full of people and in big apartments with 100s of neighbors around, and don't even know who our neighbor is. We look to satisfy our need for recognition and our emotional needs. Relating to a brand that satisfies these needs is a manifestation of the same trait. This is natural for us. A brand that gives a unique identity and relates to our needs and gives unique experiences will succeed in today's information economy.

(book review) Brand Sense

Brand Sense: Sensory Secrets behind the Stuff we buy by Martin Lindstorm
Free Press, NY-USA, 2005 (Paperback edition, 2010)

I have always been fascinated by Martin Lindsotrm's ideas – especially after I read his 'Buyology'.

'Brand Sense' is a informative and enjoyable and yet a quick read – one that you could complete reading in 2-3 hours. While most content of the book is thought-provoking and is full of fresh ideas, some small parts of the book are basic (may be interesting to a reader new to the idea of branding).

Typically, marketers rely on vision and sound to create a marketing mix for a brand. Lindstorm unleashes new ideas on using other 3 senses as well – touch, smell and taste. He rightly points out that more the consumer is engaged in the brand experience, more likely he is to buy the brand's product/ service. In this cluttered world of advertisements, brands should create a unique story by engaging as many senses as possible to create a lasting impression.

The book contains some interesting real-life examples on brands like Microsoft, Toblerone, Coke and Apple. He highlights the use of each sense with an example. One of the examples I enjoyed was that of Toblerone. He goes ahead to explain the shape of Toblerone – the shape is what makes the product – you would not associate the same taste and experience with the same ingredients presented in a flat bar.

All in all, definitely worth a read. Would recommend this book to anyone interested in branding, marketing or in general growing his business.