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How to create design distinctiveness

1. Power up your products Start by taking a look at your design and assessing its functionality, emotional appeal and symbolic value with a critical eye. Could its task-based, technical specifications be improved to add value to the user? How about its emotional value? Craftmanship and aesthetics add meaning and resonance to products and services that sets them apart. Smeg’s iconic refrigerators are a colorful case in point. Finally, your product’s success could hinge on its symbolic value. Be it the ‘wow factor’ or the prestige and status that it confers upon them, customers will pay more to own its allure. 2. Allow data to lead design If you have not yet considered the potential of digital design then now is the time to start. Begin by figuring out what you want to emphasize first: functionality, emotional appeal or symbolic value? Once you have decided, it is time to work out the kind of data you will need on customer usage to inform your design decisions. Very often, the data is already held in-house and it is simply a case of unearthing it. Take a step further by embedding sensors into products and services to enable a data feedback loop between you and your customer’s journey with the product. This perpetual flow of data enables products to be refined, segments to be defined and customer engagement to be enhanced. “Iteration is no longer one dialogue but a prolonged interaction. We have moved away from delivery and we have moved towards something that people have come to call co-creation,” said Reinmoeller.

3. Red pill, blue pill You must make a choice once you have embarked on the digital journey and it is one that involves your firm’s purpose. Is your goal to sell products and services or is it to sell the customer data you are gathering? How does your goal align with your company purpose? Someone out there will be willing to pay for your customer data in order to impact their own revenue streams, so it is a lucrative choice. However, it also signifies the point of no return because with it, we risk losing customer trust. “Imagine all the movies that you have seen on Netflix, which give a lot away about you: What you like, what you don’t like, when you turn off and when you fall asleep. Do you want Netflix to sell this data to your future employer, when you are searching for a job? Do you want Netflix to develop a massive new revenue stream with its millions of users? Netflix doesn’t, will you? That’s the question that you have to answer for yourself as a company,” said Reinmoeller.

PATRICK REINMOELLER