Robbie Robertson, founder of design consultancy Mash Up, recently spoke at the Design as Strategy Forum, and was one of the few speakers to address how design can sustain prosperity.
September 3rd, 2014
People interpret prosperity differently. It is guided by where we live, what we do and how we live. At Good Design Australia’s recent Design as Strategy Forum, speakers talked about achieving prosperity through design and how we could collectively; identify triggers for positive social and economic impact. Companies such as Blackmagic Design and Fisher & Paykel highlighted the role of good product design in achieving prosperity as a community.
Product and service design cannot operate in silos any longer. There is a greater need for the two to integrate and create a seamless journey that delivers great experiences, resulting in positive engagement and brand advocacy.
In a retail sense, great experience is often confused with the application of multi-touchpoint or omni-channel strategy, and not enough importance is given to intuitively making people’s lives easier. Especially in Australia where 70% of customers shop using multiple channels. The physical, digital and brands spaces often operate in silo, focusing on the delivery, rather than the experience. The end result is often a broken narrative across different spaces such as the store, online portal, social media pages, home delivery service or even the parking lot.
In a digital age where most stores validate or end the journey that started online, customer experience needs to be elevated to connected experience®. We need to take a step back to analyse how to create great experiences that make people’s lives easier.
Take 107 year-old sneaker brand Nike as an example. The brand has reinvented itself as a leader in delivering connected experience in the US by engaging with customers where they are and focusing on conversations rather than on using new media in traditional ways. Channel strategy for Nike is not the end, but the means to the end.
A lot will change for retailers in the next three to five years as brands adapt to evolving behaviours of a growing population. Showrooming will become the norm. Channel agnostic thinking will become instrumental to creative, sustainable and cost effective solutions that overcome retail challenges. Strategic design will go beyond visual aesthetics to great experiences. Connected experience will be a reflection of our behaviours where integration between physical and digital spaces becomes a way of life.
Most importantly, in a world where we are bombarded with messages, content, choices demands and complexity, simple usefulness will make our lives better. Making people’s lives easier is the new prosperity.
Mash Up
mashup.com.au
A searchable and comprehensive guide for specifying leading products and their suppliers
Keep up to date with the latest and greatest from our industry BFF's!
Channelling the enchanting ambience of the Caffè Greco in Rome, Budapest’s historic Gerbeaud, and Grossi Florentino in Melbourne, Ross Didier’s new collection evokes the designer’s affinity for café experience, while delivering refined seating for contemporary hospitality interiors.
Sub-Zero and Wolf’s prestigious Kitchen Design Contest (KDC) has celebrated the very best in kitchen innovation and aesthetics for three decades now. Recognising premier kitchen design professionals from around the globe, the KDC facilitates innovation, style and functionality that pushes boundaries.
In the pursuit of an uplifting synergy between the inner world and the surrounding environment, internationally acclaimed Interior Architect and Designer Lorena Gaxiola transform the vibration of the auspicious number ‘8’ into mesmerising artistry alongside the Feltex design team, brought to you by GH Commercial.
From Cattelan Italia comes two new bookcases that honour the rich history of Italian design, and pay tribute to the premium materials of their composition.
Les Morilles in Beijing is a must if you’re passing through that famed city. The interior is pared back but not austere and colour has been used to supreme effect.
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
Eccentricity and refinement blend at Giant Steps Wines’ new Tasting Room – a picture-perfect place for guests to wine down.
London-based Carmody Groarke and Paris-based TVK have been announced as winners of a milestone competition for the new Bibliothèque nationale de France conservation centre.