Design Philosophy and Insights

I was very surprised by several of the elements of design philosophy. In class, we talked about Dieter Ram’s principle of how “good design is as little design as possible.”  I have always thought that incorporating more features was better, but now I after the lecture, I see how a simple design that accomplishes its purpose is far superior to feature packed item.  I did some research into this and it seems this principle of simplicity originates from a scientific principle called Ockham’s Razor, which basically means that the simplest solution is the best. Because the more features or factors, the more complicated it becomes. Then the less likely the design will accomplish its original purpose. I think a good example was pointed out in the previous class – the iPhone. The iPhone’s interactive interface is a screen and one button! The design is simple it is beyond conceivable before it came out. I remember the pre-iphone era, smart phones had the most ridiculous amount of buttons, they did all sorts of things glide, slide, flip,  pop up features. Yet despite all these features, the iPhone beat them all with one simple yet profoundly elegant design.

Another concept, I found intriguing was “Design the System.” I have really never thought of crafting a system from a business standpoint. The information was quite enlightening. Design philosophy encompassing a whole system could mean that it would better fit the users because the entire system was designed specifically for that use. Whereas most companies, just design a product or one single element and let the rest of system be defined. I thought about how designing the system related with our discussion in class on Friday about the music industry and its flaws. We touched on that the music industry did not see the customer’s needs and continued a business model that was outdated – selling albums. Consumers wanted individual songs that could be delivered instantaneously. But despite knowing this the industry continued to sell albums. And the result was consumers turned to pirating the music because it was free and faster than the service and product provided. However, when we talked about “design the system,” I thought of Pandora.com. This online radio station allows users to search for artists and songs and actual plays similar style music by other artists that was selected. I was amazed when I first found out about it because the musical styles were exactly the same. They designed the system. What they call – “the music genome project.” This system of music distribution allows the user to listen to the entire song and if it really intrigues them they can immediately purchase it for a small price. And it also serves to introduce to the user new artists and songs that are similar. They really did watch how the customers use the products and services and designed a whole system around it. A system that is wildly successful!

This connection I made in class when listening to our discussion really made me think would it not be amazing if companies really focused on innovations that helped everyone s needs. After all, in the class, it was mentioned that most products and services were made for only 10 percent of the population. I found this to be surprising because I thought that most of the products and services out there were useable at some point or another were used by everyone but then I realized when he showed us the water barrel and water stick used in countries with no indoor plumbing that it wasn’t necessarily the case. I really like the idea we talked about in class that “business success=social benefit.” Because after all I believe in the concept of corporate social responsibility where the goal of the business is to create and give benefit and value to the world and people. Not solely to make profit. I mean yes businesses exist to make profit that’s why they are there. But that’s like saying people exist to breathe. Profit is only a function of a business existence. The goal of companies is something else. It is an idea and a dream that is manifested with the company and brand. Like Wholefoods, which started right here in Austin. No one before Wholefoods has even conceived of delivering high quality organic grocery before! Because it was so far outside the realms of thought at the time. But John Mackey, the founder and CEO of wholefoods, brought forth this dream because he wanted to give the people healthier food. Food that wasn’t contaminated with pesticides and chemicals. Food that was healthy and nutritious. And this dream and mission became the iconic brand that we now know today. This dream became a reality that manifested itself through the company by means of corporate social responsibility. And Wholefood’s success was certainly social benefit.