Just stop. Slow down and think a little more about what you are doing and why?
Slow down and think a little more about what you are doing and why?
As the pandemic rages on and companies struggle with spluttering supply chains and what seems like exponential energy and logistics costs, it’s perhaps time to take a breath.
Stop thinking about the design portfolio, how impressive your grid looks and if your website evokes a shade of green in the competition and start thinking more about the outcome of your design actions. What good did we achieve, what value did we really add and was the delivered project/product sustainable, recyclable, and repairable? Did it add value, was it needed by the consumer?
Controversial maybe but as we collectively face a world imploding on itself, change is needed at an alarming rate, and we all need to be accountable.
Why Us?
As Design Innovators and Strategists, we have a duty of care in everything we do.
As leaders in our field, we have the power and indeed the privilege to guide companies to forge new paths that can make the world a better place. The problem is, we have to balance this tours de force with running a profitable business. The need to bring in the cash by serving the capitalised global economy that we have become so entrenched within.
And to that end, are we guilty of becoming more self-serving than people and planet serving?
Can we do more, be more?
All Fur Coat and no Knickers
Design Innovation is not just taking the bland and clunky and making it sleek and sexy. It must also work hard to enhance the quality of lives to those it comes in contact with. It should predict future wants and desires, delight, excite, and bring happiness to the consumer whilst doing what it says on the tin. Form over function it should not be when it has the power to save lives, transform communities, help reverse climate change and revolutionise industries.
We need to grasp these light bulb moments and technological embryos and turn them in to products that shatter boundaries. Drive forward innovation and development that has purpose. Sales for the sake of selling is not enough in 2022. Sustainability is not enough. We must live and breathe circularity and produce meaningful design if our way of life is to survive.
Think Slow but Act Fast
As solution driven designers, the real question we need to ask is, are we solving the right problem. Do we need to challenge ourselves to think a little deeper and push back a little harder on the superficial and non-value adding ‘stuff’ we see pedalled out to the ever-keen consumer?
History has a way of showing us the path if only we stopped to take notice. The recent pandemic accelerated change and innovation, drawing together experts across different continents to develop multiple vaccines in rapid time illustrating that when forced, we can collectively innovate to bring a product to market that will truly have a positive impact. A time when all red tape and unnecessary fluff was cast aside, to allow the focus to be spent on actions that added value, where ingenuity was allowed to take the lead. Driven forward by a higher sense of purpose to succeed, and held to account by a deadly killer seeking out life for every hour wasted, this forced innovation really delivered the goods. So how do we achieve these results consistently without the frantic burnout that forced innovation creates?
Process Driven and User Focussed
Only by following a process that asks the right questions can we identify and then solve the blatant and latent needs. When we take more time at the start of a project we question more, think in more detail, and in more depth. To truly innovate and challenge the market you cannot just settle for the first idea that springs to mind because everyone can do that. You need to push for that second idea and beyond, on to the third idea. That is the one that no one else has thought about yet. That lightbulb moment that helps sets the wheels in motion for real change and innovation. Helping to distinguish you from the rest.
For example, Salts Healthcare who are leaders in Ostomy care wanted to create a product that really answered the needs of their consumers and challenge the current status quo of ostomy care. Whilst a full tear down and SWOT analysis of current products manufactured by them and their key competitors provided valuable insights, Smallfry led innovation workshops dug much deeper. The process helped the team uncover the true value of their products, and ultimately led Salts to re-evaluate their vision statement:
“Caring, Listening and Innovating to Improve Lives”.
By adopting a user focussed approach we could identify the desires and drivers of the people who mattered the most: the users. Taking the time to collate the true opinions of the end users and expert nurses to help create a product that served the user.
What truly makes designers stand head and shoulders above the rest is when we put people and planet at the heart of everything we strive to do.
As a design community, we can and must continue to do more.
People are our passion
If strategic design innovation is something you need support with, why not Contact Kelly on +44 (0) 247 654 5678 or drop an email to start a conversation about harnessing your innovation and building a strategy for success. One that looks after people and planet.
