CHAPTER 2
DESIGN MATTERS—HISTORY AND EVOLUTION
“Design must reflect the practical and aesthetic in business, but above all, good design must primarily serve people.”
—Thomas J. Watson
Every day, we interact with objects, products, services, and people. These interactions not only allow us to live our daily lives but also to connect with people, places, and goods.
These interactions are always the result of someone trying to generate an action, or an intention, and they are designed! Even the simplest thing, like holding a cup of tea, is the result of design. The cup holder is there to generate interaction—in this case, helping you avoid getting your hands burnt when the tea is hot. This was designed to generate that effect.
Definition of Design
From Wikipedia:
A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process, or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product or process. The verb to design expresses the process of developing a design. In some cases, the direct construction of an object without an explicit prior plan (such as in craftwork, some engineering, coding and graphic design) may also be considered to be a design activity. The design usually has to satisfy certain goals and constraints, may take into account aesthetic, functional, economic or socio-political considerations and is expected to interact with a certain environment. Major examples of designs include architectural blueprints, engineering drawings, business processes, circuit diagrams and sewing patterns.4
My definition:
Design is the relationship that governs the interaction between entities.
For years, executives and corporations have associated design with the cosmetic and aesthetic element of “how things look.” Design has been regarded as an art—sometimes too crazy and abstract to be understood. Corporations then have opted to see design as a way to “enrich” their value propositions, to make them more saleable and more attractive.
However, design is much more than how things look. It is not just a cosmetic element that comes at the end of the creation process. It is not just “art.” Design is a driving element of behavior, which can be used to shape business visions into experiences that can really transform organizations and industries.
Anyone can create a beautiful design. But the important thing is that we create a design that drives behavior—that helps you, as an organization, achieve the goals and objectives that you have for your business. Design must fulfill a need and must be compelling in the way that it can be consumed. We also need to think about the usage and the end user of that design. On the one hand, we can be extremely focused on the brand; on the other hand, we can concentrate on the customer.
Think how the design of a ketchup bottle has changed. Instead of having to flip the bottle upside down, tap it on the bottom, and hope some ketchup emerges, now you simply squeeze the bottle, and out comes the ketchup. This is an example of design focused on the end user rather than the brand. We can say that design is a creative activity that must deliver objects that are useful and aesthetic.
Now that we’ve established that, let’s go back in time together to examine the history of design. As we continue through this chapter, we will consider the evolving impact of design from the Industrial Revolution through to the start-ups revolution. By comprehensively understanding design, we can unlock a crucial tool to create new value propositions and discover why it is critical to the success of your business.
Design and the Industrial Revolution
Prior to the Industrial Revolution, manual laborers learned their trade by going through an apprenticeship under a master craftsman, often taking years to progress from novice to master. Most production depended on water, wind, or human energy, and the businesses that existed were known as cottage industries. This term reflected the fact that most goods were produced in limited quantities by workers in their own homes.
By the mid-1700s, new methods of production were being developed, leading to the factory system. These new factories became centralized in industrial towns and cities. By the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, automation by machines was introduced, driven by the improvement in the steam engine and its integration into manufacturing. Steam had the ability to power large machines capable of producing goods in large quantities at low prices.
The manufacture of textiles is an example of this shift from a cottage industry to factory-based production. Before steam, the manufacture of textiles was performed on a limited scale by workers in their own homes or workshops. Spinning and weaving were still done in households for domestic consumption, and any surplus was sold to clothiers passing through the village or town and sold on.
The mechanization of the textile industry through the introduction of new steam-driven machines replaced the craftsmen, resulting in faster and cheaper production but often sacrificing the quality of the product. In fact, The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations in London in 1851 drew criticism for the shoddy and poorly designed products created by these industrialized methods.
This revolution in industry meant that machines were now crafting the goods while the worker’s role had become much less specialized. I
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