Designing Success

By RICHARD MULLINS The Tampa Tribune

Published: Oct 1, 2006

What separates an iPod from every other digital music player, or the MiniCooper from all the other small sports cars?

Is it the number of songs the iPod can store or the horsepower under the Mini's hood?

Possibly. But more U.S. companies are starting to realize that something much more intriguing separates the runaway hit product from dozens of runners up.

And that magic ingredient is the somewhat elusive quality of design that combines many things: new aesthetic appeal, innovative approaches and ease of use that can, in turn, create gobs and gobs of money.

"Great designs of products are why people walk in Target saying they want to buy soap and walk out $150 later," said John Remington, a vice president at Target Corp. Customers end up buying toasters designed by superstar architects, ergonomic can openers and prescription pills in funky upside down bottles.

"Target has always had to differentiate itself from Wal-Mart, K-Mart and others," Remington said. "Design is how we do it."

More than just decoration, good product design has become one of the most important factors in whether or not a company succeeds financially - especially as so many products (electronics, soap, etc.) do essentially the same thing as their competitors.

Dell Inc., for instance, recently announced a very public program to hire 60 industrial designers to spruce up its PCs and make them stand out from rivals.

Big Winners

Design can seem a rather obvious concept because every product is designed in one way or another before it reaches the market. But more companies are thinking that well-designed products can do more than just add a few features or a funny color. They boost bottom lines.

•Motorola has sold more than 50 million of its super thin "RAZR" cellular phones, boosting the company's entire financial picture. The name itself seems to convey "thin," as if the word "razor" is too big to fit on its tiny profile.

•Consumer products giant Procter & Gamble has installed designers at every level of the company and credits a new focus on design for products such as the Swiffer dust mop (and making "Swiffer" into a verb) and the Clairol touch-up brushes for hair coloring.

•The Method cleaning products company launched its trademark "teardrop" soap bottle at Target stores in 2003 and now sells its products in more than 15,000 stores in North America. The soap's color became a design element itself, available in dreamy shades of green, blue and gray to match bathroom decor.

•Kenmore several years ago introduced washers and dryers on easier-to-reach pedestals, and in new colors pacific blue, Sedona and Barolo. Kenmore now estimates 25 percent of new washer/dryers in the United States are pedestal versions.

•The iPod has become one of the most successful product designs, selling more than 58 million units, including 14 million in the first quarter of this year.

Even something as utilitarian as outdoor air conditioners are getting attention as targets for a designer's touch.

The York HVAC company last year started selling furnaces and air conditioner units (equipment typically sold in plain, gray metal) that look more like supercomputers, or emblazoned with college sports logos.

"The furnace may sit in the closet or basement," said Mickey Smith, a spokesman for York. "But they're often sold at the kitchen table, over the Internet or on the showroom floor. We need something that's appealing to the eye." New designs now account for 15 percent of York's most popular Affinity product line.

Successful Product Themes

In past decades, popular consumer products sold well because they exuded a space-age sense of modernity (the 1960s), or a playful party scene (the 1970s), or they focused on the technology itself (the 1980s) with dozens of features, buttons and options.

And just as fashions change from year to year, the most successful products now tend to follow similar themes and seem to run counter to this increasingly distracted, scattered and high-tech age, said Alec Bernstein, a senior director of strategy research at BMW Group Designworks USA.

They are simple. For example, they simplify complex tasks such as buying music online or reading work e-mail out of the office (the BlackBerry PDA). Or they exude simplicity in their very form, with just a few control buttons or clean lines and finishes.

They are distinctive. The MiniCooper sports car is hardly larger than a suburban walk-in closet and was introduced in 2001 in the middle of a craze for huge SUVs. BMW hoped to sell 20,000 a year but now sells more than 40,000 annually.

They are a new business model. These products invent a new way to make money altogether, sending DVDs through U.S. mail (Netflix), or allowing people to watch TV shows when they want to (Tivo).

"If you just do one of those three things, but not all, you'll come nowhere near competing with an iPod success," Bernstein said. "You might just come up with an elegant, white Walkman." But it won't change the music industry.

Celebrity Phenomenon

Target has been one of the most aggressive companies in injecting these elements of high design into the realm of discount stores.

"We knew early on that there was no way to beat Wal-Mart on price, so the way we differentiate ourselves is to add something - design," Remington said.

This reverence - if not reliance - on design really took off in 1996 when Target hired well-respected architect Michael Graves to help refurbish the Washington Monument. Graves and Target officials started experimenting with other collaborations.

Normally, Graves' consumer products might command top dollar at boutique design shops in New York or Los Angeles. But Target commissioned Graves to bring an architect's eye to budget-priced items. Graves now is Target's most popular designer, and Target sell Graves-designed toasters, clocks, dog dishes, chess sets and paper shredders.

Good Habits/Bad Habits

Companies that succeed with good design tend to have the same values, though they are not easy to follow.

"Many companies tend not to take risks," said John Maeda, a professor at the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, Mass. "With quarterly profit reports, it's hard to justify investments in innovation. How do you tell a shareholder, 'We want to do something really new.' That's scary to them."

You might not find any products as iconic as the iPod designed in the Tampa Bay area, but there are a handful of companies here proving good design is good business. MTS Medication Technology in St. Petersburg created a new type of blister pack for pharmaceutical drugs that helps medical professionals get the right pills to the right patients in the right doses. Robrady Design in Sarasota has designed consumer and industrial products as diverse as pliers, exercise equipment and personal watercraft.

Companies launching really successful products, Maeda said, invariably have a commitment to innovative design all the way up to the chief executive.

"Bill Ford was an innovator, but it's not working out for Ford," Maeda said. "Corporate America won't let him do the most innovative things. BMW is primarily privately held, and that makes a lot of difference."

Mathieu Turpault, a senior designer with the design firm Bressler Group in Philadelphia, said he's seen common habits among the successful firms he helps with product design.

They use in-depth, independent research to develop innovations that address real customer needs, not just wants. For example, woodworkers might say they want a less expensive table saw that does more things. But through in-depth observations, Turpault found they needed a safer saw - one with a very large "Off" button users could bump with their knee to turn off the saw if something went wrong. (That innovation is now in Black & Decker's line of home table saws.)

By contrast, unsuccessful product companies have similar bad habits, Turpault said.

"They rely on groupthink," he said, and simply copy successful designs (such as iPods) and hope for similar revenue. This also ignores the value of research that seeks to help consumers, not just sell them something.

Turpault said there's one sure sign that more companies are valuing design: Good designers are getting harder to recruit.

"There's a lot of good talent out there," Turpault said. "The problem is everyone is hiring so much. That's a good sign."

DESIGN CONFERENCE

Sarasota will host an international design conference next week, with speakers from some of the most successful product design companies and organizations, including: Target Corp., BMW, Hallmark Cards, MIT, Procter & Gamble and Philips USA. Topics range from designing successful consumer products and better healthcare service to urban planning and sustainability.

WHAT: "Sarasota International Design Summit 2006," sponsored by the Ringling School of Art and Design, SRQ magazine, SunTrust, Fast Company magazine and the Sarasota County Economic Development Corporation.

WHEN: Oct. 9-11

WHERE: Ritz Carlton Sarasota, 1111 Ritz Carlton Drive, Sarasota FL 34236

CONTACT: www.sarasotadesignsummit.com

Reporter Dave Simanoff contributed to this report. Reporter Richard Mullins can be reached at (813) 259-7919 or rmullins@tampatrib.com.