what is the value of design today?
DESCRIPTION
Has the value of design decreased or increased in recent years? Have clients and designers begun to approach the design process differently? Who should really be responsible for establishing the value of good design? How does value affect a client, a designer and the design industry itself? You won’t receive a PHD in Psychology from this discussion, but you will gain some practical thoughts and ideas about the value of design. This discussion will be mixed with equal parts of history, philosophy and evaluation. Presented by Kevin Brindley for an AIGA Charlotte BuzZ Discussion on Aug 03, 2011.TRANSCRIPT
AIGA Charlotte
BuzZ August :: What is the Value of Design Today?
Aug 03 2011
Has the value of design decreased or increased in recent
years? Have clients and designers begun to approach the
design process differently? Who should really be
responsible for establishing the value of good design?
How does value affect a client, a designer and the design
industry itself?
You won’t receive a PHD in Psychology from this
discussion, but you will gain some practical thoughts and
ideas about the value of design. This discussion will be
mixed with equal parts of history, philosophy and
evaluation. Presented by Kevin Brindley for an
AIGA Charlotte BuzZ Discussion on Aug 03, 2011.
Let’s start off with a quote...
“The Creative Revolution is over. Everybody is just
holding onto their jobs and no one is ever going to say to
a client... ‘Buy this or I’ll resign your account.’ You don’t
do it anymore. It’s now, the majority of the time... ‘How
do you like it? When can I change it for you?’”
– Jerry Della Femina, Chairman & CEO, Della Femina / Rothschild / Jeary + Partners
What are your initial reactions to this quote? How does it
make you feel from the perspective of a designer, a client
and the design industry in general?
Familiar with Jerry Della Femina?
Jerry Della Femina is one of the original advertising
industry icons. He founded Della Femina Travisano &
Partners with Ron Travisano in the 1960’s. Over the next
two decades they grew the company into a major
advertising agency, billing $250 million per year.
Other colorful quotes from Jerry Della Femina...
“There is a great deal of advertising that is much better
than the product. When that happens, all that the good
advertising will do is put you out of business faster.”
And...
“I honestly believe that advertising is the most
fun you can have with your clothes on.”
Familiar with the Creative Revolution?
In the early 1950’s, copywriter Bill Bernbach began
working with Paul Rand, mentor of the New York School
of Design. That successful team relationship inspired Bill
to form Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB), highly regarded as
the first truly creative advertising agency in history.
This team philosophy placed a stronger focus on the
creative process and swung more leverage from Account
Executives over to Creative Directors, Art Directors,
Copywriters and Designers. And in doing so, DDB began
to place more value on concept creation and design.
Let’s talk about the design industry specifically...
Let’s go back to Jerry Della Femina’s quote...
“The Creative Revolution is over. Everybody is just
holding onto their jobs and no one is ever going to say to
a client... ‘Buy this or I’ll resign your account.’ You don’t
do it anymore. It’s now, the majority of the time... ‘How
do you like it? When can I change it for you?’”
– Jerry Della Femina, Chairman & CEO, Della Femina / Rothschild / Jeary + Partners
What’s your reaction to this quote from a design industry
vantage point? Does this approach strengthen or weaken
the design industry? As professionally trained designers
and creatives, are we diminishing our expertise with this
approach? As designers, we communicate on behalf of our
clients in regard to their...
...businesses, products and services. Like a close family
member or friend, shouldn’t we provide our honest
opinion, suggestions and creative solutions?
Or, should we simply say...
“Yes, and do you want fries with that?”
The industry is much more complex today, than in
generations past. There are more channels, technology and
trackable statistics, which all provide more possible
solutions and strategic options to offer clients today.
Let’s look at another quote...
“I can find a social group that you belong to, I can find
music that you’re interested in, I can find things that
you’re already plugged into, and I can insert myself into
your life. By the same token, those advances in
technology have also created an incumbent problem...
...which is that, I believe that work today has become
almost entirely execution-based and not conceptually-
based. I think people have become so enamored of the
ways of producing things right now. With all the new
forms of media, sometimes...
...you forget in order for that to be meaningful, you got
to have an idea behind that, which always has to stem
from the product and its advantages. I think that’s one
of the things that the business has forgotten today.”
– John Bernbach, President & COO, Not Traditional Media
Reactions to this quote? Is there too much for one person
to know all of the options today? Have we lost the ability
to conceptualize? Do we focus more on technology and
less on creating the “Big Idea?”
Familiar with John Bernbach?
John Bernbach has had a long, steady and successful career
in advertising. Son of Bill Bernbach, John spent his first
22 years working at DDB, before branching out on his
own to create a few very successful agencies.
Let’s look at two more quotes that address developing
concepts and coming up with the “Big Idea...”
“Everything I did was looking for the Big Idea, but you're
not going to get to an idea thinking visually in most
cases. You have to think in words, then add the visual.
Then you can make one plus one equal three.”
– George Lois, Co-Chairman of the Board, Co-Chief Executive, Lois/USA
“Great ideas can't be tested.
Only mediocre ideas can be tested.”
– George Lois, Co-Chairman of the Board, Co-Chief Executive, Lois/USA
Familiar with George Lois?
George Lois is a famous Art Director. He's in the Art
Director’s HOF, Creative HOF, and received the AIGA
Gold Medal. He has started numerous successful agencies
during his long career. More on George Lois later...
Let’s talk about clients specifically...
Back to Jerry Della Femina’s quote...
“The Creative Revolution is over. Everybody is just
holding onto their jobs and no one is ever going to say to
a client... ‘Buy this or I’ll resign your account.’ You don’t
do it anymore. It’s now, the majority of the time... ‘How
do you like it? When can I change it for you?’”
– Jerry Della Femina, Chairman & CEO, Della Femina / Rothschild / Jeary + Partners
What’s your reaction to this quote from a client vantage
point? Have clients evolved into wanting to direct more?
With increased accessibility to design applications and
volume discount, crowd-sourcing design websites, has this
created more self-proclaimed "design experts?"
Has more “design experts” devalued traditionally trained
design professionals? Have clients become more analytical?
Do clients base more decisions on statistic research and
data analysis today than in the past?
Let’s look at a great article by Alexis Madrigal titled “Why
GM Couldn't Be Apple, According to a Former
GM Exec”, which is based on the book...
Car Guys Versus Bean Counters: The Battle for the Soul of
American Business, by Bob Lutz.
According to Bob Lutz, the former Vice Chairman of
Global Product Development for GM... “Product planners
approach a new car design as if it was a Harvard Business
School case study, creating beautiful, profitable
spreadsheets that don't translate well to the real world.”
Bob Lutz explains how it works in practice,
with this following quote...
“In the planning process for a new car, you've got a
design that's kind of ready. It's going to be a new Chevy
Malibu and everybody has agreed that we'll plan for
220,000 units. So you come up with an average selling
price to dealers of $22,500...
...Everybody signs off on that and the bean counters
start going to work. They work with the product
planners and say, ‘We don't have to put in 12oz
carpeting, we'll put in 8oz carpeting. Why do we need
this expensive protein vinyl? Let's go...
...with regular vinyl. Why are we painting the plastic
parts? Just grain the plastic. It's not going to be that
much of a difference. Why do we have so many chrome
moldings?’ And they all think they are heroes. They'll
say, ‘I was on such and such a program and...
...I was able to boost the returns by two full points.’ And
you'll say, ‘But how did the car do?’ And they'll say, ‘Not
well, I think the marketing guys blew it. But man, it was
a great program’ because it was one that looked
wonderful on paper when they got done with it.”
– Bob Lutz, Former Vice Chairman of Global Product Development for GM
The article continues that... “In pinching those pennies,
the car companies end up ruining the consumer
experience. But, of course, the destruction of the cars'
finish is never projected to impact the sales of the cars
because the look and feel of the cars aren't quantifiable.
Unfortunately, American businesses have become...
...obsessed with the kind of narrow, data-driven analysis
that consultants and MBA-toting quants can do. And
those guys want to hear hard numbers. They want the cars
to have good stats. That would have been like counting
the megapixels or processor speed on the original iPhone,
which would have missed the whole point...
...It's the "If you can measure it, you can manage it,"
ideology gone wild.”
Why did this shift begin to happen? Why are non-design
employees making final design-related decisions? Why
aren’t these important design-related questions being sent
back to designers? Why has the value of design been
reduced in these business operation examples?
Let’s look at another quote from Bob Lutz...
"In all of these industries where you are playing with the
psyche of the consumer and her perceptual capability,
you must have people who understand that industry,
understand those consumers, who can put new things in
front of the consumer and come up with the next...
...big idea the way that Steve Jobs does with the iPhone,
iPod, iPad, iPad 2, and who knows what next. Just pick
up an iPhone. It's an object of beauty. And so is an iPad.
You want to own it even if you don't have a clue what it
does. It's much the same way with cars."
– Bob Lutz, Former Vice Chairman of Global Product Development for GM
Let’s talk about designers specifically...
One last time back to Jerry Della Femina’s quote...
“The Creative Revolution is over. Everybody is just
holding onto their jobs and no one is ever going to say to
a client... ‘Buy this or I’ll resign your account.’ You don’t
do it anymore. It’s now, the majority of the time... ‘How
do you like it? When can I change it for you?’”
– Jerry Della Femina, Chairman & CEO, Della Femina / Rothschild / Jeary + Partners
What’s your reaction to this quote from a designer vantage
point? Have designers become too “easy to please” in this
overly-PC conscious world? How do designers gain more
respect and value for their design work? Should designers
stand behind their work more often?
Speaking of placing more value on design, let’s look at a
segment from A History of Graphic Design, a great resource
book by Philip B. Meggs. Back in the 1950’s and 1960’s,
CBS placed such a value on design that design became an
integral part of the CBS corporate culture.
CBS created their own brand, and even designed their own
ads in-house for advertisers to ensure they would fit
within their established brand standards. This next
segment from Philip B. Meggs’ resource book sums up
best the value CBS placed on design...
“Lou Dorfsman was named director of design for the
entire CBS Corporation in 1964, and Vice President in
1968, in keeping with (Frank) Stanton’s philosophy that
design is a vital area that should be managed by the
professionals. Eero Saarinen designed a new CBS...
...headquarters building in 1966, and Dorfsman designed
all aspects of the typographic information, right down to
the numerals on the wall clocks, numbers on the
elevator buttons, exit signs, and elevator-inspection
certificates. These last two items required...
...Fire Department and City Building Inspection approval
before they could replace their mandatory but
graphically inferior predecessors.”
– Philip B. Meggs, A History of Graphic Design, Second Edition
What are your reactions to that segment? How can
designers sell more value for their work, gain more trust
and receive greater respect from clients? Are designers less
passionate today? How far should designers go to defend a
concept, an opinion, or a creative solution?
Speaking of passion for design, let’s consider this quote...
“You make the matzo. I’ll make the ads.”
– George Lois, Co-Chairman of the Board, Co-Chief Executive, Lois/USA
To provide context, this quote was apparently made by
George Lois during a heated client presentation. He also
created a reputation within the advertising industry for
going to great lengths to sell his work, like pounding his
fist on a conference room table to make a point...
...and even climbing out onto a 3-story ledge from a
client’s office window during a presentation to demand
that they buy his poster design.
What are your reactions to this quote? Are designers
willing to show that kind of passion, energy and
enthusiasm to sell their work today? Designers shouldn’t
expect zero questions or revisions and should never defend
their work purely based on an ego-driven stance.
But, aren’t Designers hired to provide a new perspective
while communicating on behalf of a client’s business,
product or service? If designers hold back and don’t stand
behind their work, opinions and creative solutions, isn’t
that providing a poor service to clients, designers and the
design industry?
As promised, more about George Lois, as it relates to the
value of design back in the early days of his career...
In 1960, Oglivy & Mather offered George Lois $70,000
a year to try and lure him away from DDB. He instead
created Papert, Koenig, and Lois (PKL), which is highly
regarded as the second truly creative agency, and the first
to feature an Art Director’s name in the masthead.
George Lois was 28 years old at the time.
According to an inflation calculator, $70,000 in 1960 is
equivalent to approximately $510,000 in 2010.
Founding PKL in 1960, George Lois and his partners
started with zero accounts on their roster, but quickly
grew PKL to $40 million in annual billing by 1967.
According to an inflation calculator, $40 million
in annual billing in 1967 is equivalent to
approximately $258 million in 2010.
By leaving DDB in 1960 and starting PKL, George Lois
is highly regarded by most people in the industry as the
individual responsible for starting the Creative Revolution
that changed Advertising forever.
What is the Value of Design Today?
Presented by Kevin Brindley (@KevinBrindley) for an
AIGA Charlotte BuzZ Discussion on Aug 03, 2011.