Bringing ideas to life

Bringing ideas to life

Today, there are so many competitive products jostling for attention that there is an ever urgent need for differentiation, stand out and innovation.
Traditionally, designers would focus on the creation and embodiment of a product, whether that be a consumer or FMCG pack or product. They would be given design briefs that were fairly well defined with regard to objectives, functionality, target users, markets and so forth, but they would have had minimal involvement prior to that point. Today, there are so many competitive products jostling for attention that there is an ever urgent need for differentiation, stand out and innovation. And this is where the designers remit has changed. Now, design is more deeply embedded in the front end, ahead of the brief - finding new uses, new markets, new opportunities derived from consumer insights and new ways to create value - and in the navigation of that whole process.
Confidential. Seymour Powell Limited, 2010. All rights reserved.

Michael Webster, Associate Director

Design now involves scoping, defining and coordinating opportunities, as well as embodying them - in short, innovation. Design is more than just the physical manifestation of something - there are numerous factors that need to be considered. First, there is the brand - how should that be expressed through not only the physical form, but also the interaction and experience of use. Then there is the user - who is this and what are their needs? You then come

to the product itself - what is the context for its use? Why is it needed and what affects how or where it will be used? And how will it benefit the business? Next up is the manufacture - how will it be made? Of what? And where? And what technological advancements can we learn from other industries? And, of ever growing importance, there is the environment - how can we design it to be sustainable? And what does sustainable mean? Designers need to juggle all these factors as they design a product, but how do they manage this process? One way is to break the process down into three areas of focus - clarity, vision and delivery. Clarity: The first step is to understand the space, both physical and emotional, that the product will occupy. Before you can make something better, you need to know who, what and where you are. There are various tools available to find the truths to inspire and focus our creativity in the right direction. One tool is ethnographic research, where consumers are observed on what they actually do rather than what they say they do! This is how to learn about people - their latent, as well as their real needs and emergent behaviour - within the real life situations in which the product will be used. Another tool is brand DNA. This is the definitive expression of a brands design essence both its tangible and intangible elements. It defines
Confidential. Seymour Powell Limited, 2010. All rights reserved.

the relationship between product and brand, and enables consistency between user and brand. Fully understanding your brand DNA brings clarity and precision to otherwise subjective and emotional issues and embeds emotional understanding throughout the business. And finally, there are trends. It is important to understand the way the world is moving if youre not going to be left behind, beyond the comfort of your market. By looking at the world around you, sitting at the heart of people, society, business and technology, design involves having a full understanding of the context and relevance for new products, both now and in the future.

Vision: The next step is to define what the product should be, or could be, and why - a vision for the business to get behind, where future scenarios are worked out and relevant solutions provided; and where clarity of context and the ability of the designer to envisage a better future fuel creativity, the lifeblood of design. Vision is crucial to the successful implementation of a project. It provides something tangible for the business to believe in and work towards. It gives confidence and reassurance that it is making the right decisions. And it can help the business to see beyond the way things are now, and towards a better future that can transform its long-term prospects. Delivery: Once a vision is in place and people have bought into it, the final step is to deliver on that vision; to preserve and champion its original intent and develop it into an implementable reality. This is not just a question of how it performs (aesthetics, interaction etc) but also how it works (mechanically and practically) and is to be manufactured. That means building, testing and prototyping to learn empirically and iteratively, working with partners when necessary to make it happen. This is the heart and soul of innovation - it is not enough merely to talk about innovation, or just to generate concepts around consumer insights, it has to be delivered if it is to profit the business. And that managed systematic creative process is what brings ideas to reality. A fluid, non-linear process that combines thinking with doing,
Confidential. Seymour Powell Limited, 2010. All rights reserved.

inspiration with perspiration and experimentation with expertise.

Ideas are brought to reality by a managed, systematic and creative process. A fluid, nonlinier process that combines thinking with doing.

To find out more please contact nichola.rinks@seymourpowell.com