Good Business is Good for Design

Interesting twist. Many of us have embraced the phrase “Good Design is Good for Business” for years. Thomas Watson Jr, former IBM Chairman, made this phrase popular after Paul Rand inspired him with “Good Design is Good Will” (Yale University, 1987). Good design is absolutely abundant today. Come to think about it, I really can’t […]

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Design-led Innovation and building brands by design, interview with Mauro Porcini

I’ve had many opportunities to collaborate with Mauro Porcini, SVP & Chief Design Officer, PepsiCo. We developed a conference together in Milan, have been speakers at conferences in Seattle, Boston, London, Copenhagen and a small town in Norway, Advisers to DMI, and attended many other activities. I’ve deep admiration for what he has accomplished professionally, […]

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Why are design firms stagnating?

Recently wrote a post for FastCo Design, Why are Design Firms Stagnating. It seems to have struck a cord, with 2,700 likes so far. It’s a pity really; we all have worked so hard – including design firms – to help see design become a more strategic tool, and now the design firms are challenged. […]

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Seven Design Drivers for Business

I have a great deal of respect for Raymond Turner. He has held posts as the Design Director for Heathrow’s Terminal 5, the Heathrow Express high speed rail, the Principal Design Manager consultant to Eurotunnel, Managing Director of Wolff Olins in London and Design Director of London Transport. He’d been a pioneer in defining the […]

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5 Trends Spotted At The Olympics Of Product Design

A shorter version of this post ran in Fast Company Design. What do 4,928 products from 56 countries have in common? They are all thought to be examples of good design by the companies that make them, and were shipped to Essen, Germany to compete in the Red Dot Product Design award competition “Red Dot […]

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Design Parity at Red Dot

This blog post was based on my post in FastCo, to read more about Design Talent and Competition on their site. I recently returned from a week in Germany, where I was a design judge for the Red Dot design competition in Essen. It was no small task – there were 4,428 product entries from […]

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How Design-driven Innovation helped Intuit grow to #1

The current issue of the Harvard Business Review (January-February 2015) features a great case study about the amazing growth and success of Intuit, and how the company focused on design-driven innovation as it’s platform for success. I have a personal interest in Intuit, since I’ve helped them recruit some of their UX Design Directors, and […]

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Fast moving design methods

There has always been a lot of focus on fast moving consumer goods, but what about fast moving ideas? Having recently helped create and run the “Tsinghua-DMI International Design Management Symposium” in Hong Kong, I think it’s time to talk about fast moving design methods. I am very impressed with the advancement of design management […]

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